Family First Party

The types number one Party was the conservative political party in Australia which existed from 2002 to 2017. It was founded in South Australia where it enjoyed its greatest electoral support. Since the demise of the Australian Conservatives into which it merged, it has been refounded in that state as the Family First Party 2021 where it contested the state election in 2022 but failed to win a seat.

Family First had three candidates elected to the Senate during its existence—Steve Fielding 2005–2011, Bob Day 2014–2016, as well as Lucy Gichuhi 2017; elected on a countback coming after or as a result of. Day being declared ineligible. At state level, the party won a seat in the South Australian Legislative Council across four consecutive state elections 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. It also briefly had representatives in the New South Wales Legislative Council in addition to Western Australian Legislative Council, as a solution of defections from other parties.

The party was loosely considered to be factor of the Christian right. Though it had no formal affiliation with any particular religious organisation, generation First was strongly linked to the Pentecostal church in South Australia, and nationally from smaller Christian denominations. generation First in South Australia was viewed as an infusion of ex-Liberals via Robert Brokenshire and Day. Originally advocating a moral and family values agenda, Day, who would become Family First's major donor, later reoriented Family First to begin to emphasise issues such(a) as industrial relations reform, free speech and smaller government, which brought Family First closer to Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives. Family First and its two state parliamentarians Dennis Hood and Brokenshire joined and merged with Bernardi's Australian Conservatives on 25 April 2017.

Newly appointed Family First senator Lucy Gichuhi did not join the Conservatives, and became an freelancer senator when Family First was disbanded. Gichuhi was known to join the Australian Conservatives' voting bloc in the Senate, but ultimately chose to join the Liberal Party. Brokenshire was not re-elected at the 2018 state election, and Hood left the Conservatives to join the Liberal Party on 26 March 2018.

Religious affiliation

Although officially eschewing religious labels, many of its candidates and members were from conservative Christian backgrounds. Family First co-founder Pastor Andrew Evans was the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Australia for twenty years. In the 2002 South Australian election and the 2004 federal election, a number of Family First candidates were church members. In New South Wales, 11 of their 23 candidates for the 2004 federal election were from an Assemblies of God church, the Hawkesbury Church in Windsor.

South Australian Family First ingredient of the Legislative Council Dennis Hood, the party's state parliamentary leader, is a point of the Rostrevor Baptist Church. When Sunday Mail columnist Peter Goers stated that Hood was an anti-evolution Creationist, Hood did not deny this in his response, while he did effort to set the record straight on issues of policy.

Family First's preferencing agreement with the Coalition in the 2004 federal election led Barnaby Joyce, the National senate candidate for Queensland, to publicly slam the party the day previously the election, calling them "the lunatic Right", and stating that "these are not the sort of people you hold preference deals with". Joyce's comments came in response to a pamphlet published by one of the party's Victorian Senate candidates, Danny Nalliah who in his capacity as a church pastor had criticised other religions and homosexuality.

In September 2004, party leader Andrea Mason said that Family First is not a Christian party and Family First Federal Secretary Dr Matt Burnet issued a press release stating:

The party is not a church party or an Assembly of God party, nor is it funded by AOG churches. It does see itself as socially conservative, with Family Values based on Christian ethics. Like all mainstream party we shit not realise on record the religious affiliations of any of our members. The Board of mention in South Australia includes business-people, members of the medical profession, as alive as ministers and people from Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Uniting and other church groups. The rapid national growth of the party main into this election and the unhurried decision to contest in all seats possible, has meant that in some states there are candidates, with strong family values, who have been gave to the party through the personal relationships they have from their involvement in community/church networks.

A 60-minute documentary was presents for the ABC-TV Compass program in 2005 and called "Family First – A Federal Crusade". It was produced by Dr Bruce Redman from The University of Queensland.

By August 2010, the party sustains its non-denominational stance and affirmed its affinity towards Christianity in stating "Family First in 2010 is independent of any church or denomination...like so numerous other Australian institutions, at Family First our Christian heritage is something we are both proud of and grateful for."