Matthew Abraham: The plan by Snelling and Kenyon to rebirth the Family First brand is a complete doozy
It was a change to see some spark from the Opposition leader after a bombshell from two Labor splitters, writes Matthew Abraham.
Opinion
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A timeless comedy sketch sees Rowan Atkinson playing the Devil, genially sorting out the new arrivals in Hell.
Lucifer, or Toby to his friends, works his way through the groups of sinners – murderers, looters, the French, lawyers, fornicators, atheists (“you must be feeling a right bunch of nitwits”) and Christians – until he gets to “Everybody who saw Monty Python’s Life of Brian”. He pauses, then adds: “I’m sorry, turns out God can’t take a joke after all.”
In the Python’s naughty movie, Brian is mistaken for the Messiah and winds up being crucified.
Or so I’m told. I’ve never watched it from start to finish.
Not that I think it’s blasphemous, but we sinners have to hedge our bets. What if God really doesn’t have a sense of humour?
During the week, however, we got a glimpse of The Almighty in a playful mood. Former Labor ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon confessed they’ve quit the ALP and will resurrect the defunct Family First party.
If all goes to plan, it has the potential at the state election next March to create much wailing and gnashing of teeth (King James Bible, Matthew 13:42).
The Christians are revolting.
The Pentecostals are already marching through Liberal Party branches, saying they’ve been abandoned by the Marshall government’s enthusiastic support for reforms legalising full-term abortions and voluntary assisted dying.
They have a champion in Liberal senator Alex Antic and his conservative colleagues who see Premier Steven Marshall as Don Dunstan Lite.
Bob Day, former Family First senator, is taking a different tack.
He argues the best way to change a political party’s direction isn’t from inside but from outside the tent, running candidates and using their preferences to elect like-minded souls in the major parties.
His fledgling Australian Family Party is working on an online “Basic Training Course” to educate the faithful on everything from voter behaviour and marginal seat campaigning to preference deals, fundraising and media spin.
None of this should be unexpected for anyone who’s been observing the Marshall government’s trajectory over the past three and a half years. Newton’s Third Law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The Advertiser yesterday broke the news some Liberals are now seriously keen on reviving the 1930s Liberal Country League as their new conservative home. It book-ended a crazy week.
In politics, the opposite reaction is often not equal – it can flip overboard.
The plan by Snelling and Kenyon to rebirth the Family First brand is a complete doozy.
They are reacting not just to the Marshall government’s policy plays, but shoving it up what they see as the ALP’s surrender to the government’s unexpectedly radical social agenda.
Key Labor figures have either actively helped Premier Marshall round up the numbers in parliament or meekly caved in, as Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas did on the voluntary euthanasia bill.
Little wonder Mr Malinauskas was narky, telling The Advertiser’s Paul Starick he had “little interest in what ex-MPs from a past government do in a minor party”.
It was a change to see some spark from the Labor leader. You could be forgiven for thinking he’s been in lockdown for much longer than a week.
It was Peter and Jack who together knocked on former premier Mike Rann’s door to tell him his time was up as leader. Peter was then boss of the Shoppies Union, Jack was treasurer. That happened on July 29, 2011, almost 10 years to the day this week when Snelling revealed he was knock, knock, knocking on Heaven’s door with his Family First bombshell.
While the Premier gleefully referred to “poor old Peter Malinauskas”, the Family First revival poses a wildcard risk to marginal seats and Upper House slots for both parties.
And while Labor can insult Snelling and Kenyon as “rats”, it’s a message that’ll sink without trace for Family First’s target audience.
The co-founder of the original Family First, former Paradise Assemblies of God pastor Andrew Evans, even says he’ll write to supporters telling them to “back Jack”.
Mr Snelling says the driving motive behind the new Family First is a concern about “a momentum to restrict religious freedom” in public life.
Mike Rann’s former spin queen Jill Bottrall dismissed this as “garbage”, tweeting the move was a “vainglorious attempt to surf a wave of right-wing populism while whittling away the separation of church and state”. Yet her old boss engaged a senior Catholic priest, Monsignor David Cappo, to become his government’s Social Inclusion Commissioner, tackling homelessness and youth crime, a job Fr Cappo did very well.
You’ve got to smile. Or, as they sing to Brian on his cross, always look on the bright side of life.
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