Former ALP ministers Tom Kenyon and Jack Snelling’s ambitions to revive Family First political party

Former ALP minister Jack Snelling – the controversial Transforming Health plan’s architect – has outlined his hopes for a revived Family First party.

The former Labor ministers reviving Family First want to stand candidates in all 47 lower house seats at next March’s state election, even though they are yet to re-register the party.

Former health minister Jack Snelling insisted he and Tom Kenyon wanted to name upper and lower house candidates within weeks, likely in the year’s final quarter.

Mr Snelling, also a former Speaker, said the duo hoped to harness Family First’s defunct grassroots organisation, despite party co-founder Andrew Evans branding this a major challenge.

The Advertiser on Tuesday reported Mr Snelling and Mr Kenyon were relaunching the party to fight an attack on religious freedom, declaring neither Labor nor the Liberals offered a vehicle to counter this.

Former SA health Minister Jack Snelling has joined Tom Kenyon to restart Family First in SA. Picture: Calum Robertson

“This is a long-term project. It will take multiple elections to build our support. This isn’t a short-term thing,” Mr Snelling told The Advertiser.

Mr Snelling said he did not expect any candidates would be sitting members of either state or federal parliaments.

Both Labor leader Peter Malinauskas and Mr Snelling have extensively and repeatedly insisted the Family First relaunch has no ALP connections, motivation or Machiavellian intent to benefit Labor.

“Definitely not. Absolutely not. I can categorically rule that out. I have had no discussions with anybody in the ALP,” Mr Snelling said.

One Labor MP taunted him and Mr Kenyon for their roles spearheading controversial projects in the former ALP government: “From the team that brought you Transforming Health and Skills for All.”

Premier Steven Marshall branded the move “a kick in the guts for Peter Malinauskas”, pointing out he had been so close to Mr Snelling that the pair “tapped” the-then Labor premier Mike Rann in 2011 to force leadership change.

Former SA Labor MP Tom Kenyon in 2017. Picture: AAP / Ben Macmahon

But this has not defused speculation among some former Family First insiders that reviving the party is an attempt to rob the Liberals of key northeastern Adelaide electorates, including Mr Kenyon’s former seat of Newland (held by Richard Harvey on a 0.2 per cent margin).

Mr Snelling said he would not stand as a candidate, instead taking on a party organiser role, but Mr Kenyon was considering the option.

Family First attracted 7 per cent of the primary vote in Newland in 2006, 6.3 per cent in 2010, 8 per cent in 2014 and, once merged with the Australian Conservatives, 4.4 per cent in 2018.

One former Family First insider suggested these proportions could decide key seats, even if Mr Snelling’s organisation did not declare preferences.

Former Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire said he would not be a candidate, because he had returned to the Liberals as a state council member.

“Family First has an important role and that’s been proven in the past,” he said.

Mr Brokenshire said the former ministers’ defection showed Labor was out of touch with people of faith.

Labor rats compromise Family First revival

Analysis – Paul Starick

Former Labor ministers Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon undoubtedly have worthy intentions by seeking to revive the Family First political party.

Both are committed Christians, who are seeking to preserve the rights of people of all faiths to live according to their values without being compromised by the iron hand of government.

But, like it or not, they also now are Labor rats. They are turning their back on the party that propelled them to privileged positions, in parliament and the state cabinet.

In Mr Snelling’s case, the risk of relaunching Family First can be eased by the comfort of a parliamentary superannuation scheme with benefits more lucrative than almost all of today’s sitting MPs.

Labor state leader Peter Malinauskas has strongly denied any ALP connection whatsoever with the duo’s move, particularly as a preference harvesting exercise – a contention supported by Mr Snelling. They have, therefore, betrayed the loyalty they expected from the party for a collective 32 years.

The major risk for the Labor turncoats is that their worthy bid to give people of faith a parliamentary voice is irreparably cruelled by the baggage of their past.

They are both private citizens, having left parliament after the 2018 state election. Until then, Mr Kenyon was the Labor MP for Newland from 2006 and Mr Snelling represented Playford from 1997.

But they cannot erase their past. As one Labor MP said when told of their move on Tuesday night: “From the team that brought you Transforming Health and Skills for All.”

The duo will have to defend their records delivering these and other controversial Labor programs, plus their conduct in office.

Chemotherapy underdosing victim Andrew Knox fired off a letter to the Editor after learning of their Family First relaunch. This illustrates the challenge faced by Mr Snelling, in particular, in re-entering political combat.

“The choice of a name “Family First” for the Snelling/Kenyon political party is no doubt to imply their empathy and compassion,” Mr Knox writes.

“Let me be clear, in the entire two and a half years Jack Snelling remained Health Minister following the Advertiser’s exposure (in 2015) of the chemo underdosing fiasco, in which I inevitably relapsed and had to endure much more brutal chemo and long hospitalisations including the stem cell transplant interstate, neither Jayne (his wife) nor I had a single contact from Jack, Tom or his parliamentary colleagues.

“In contrast Stephen Wade (now Liberal Health Minister) gave genuine support, visiting me when I was in hospital and regularly calling while we were exiled in Melbourne for that stem cell transplant. Go figure.”

This is not the only challenge. Ahead of an election next March, the Family First revivalists have to recreate a political party from the ground up, assess and announce candidates, then forge a credible electoral strategy to win seats.

As Family First co-founder Andrew Evans told The Advertiser, the duo will be challenged by grassroots organisation. In their former life, that was supported by the formidable ALP machine, even if Mr Kenyon was a renowned campaigner.

Even with an enormous amount of vote-pulling ability and hype, Nick Xenophon at the 2018 state election discovered the perils of believing his own publicity, backing too many candidates and following a haphazard strategy.

Mr Snelling and Mr Kenyon are astute hardheads. Their challenge will be to avoid letting their personal beliefs cloud their political judgment as they learn about life outside Labor.