Ex-Labor ministers resurrect Family First in South Australia

Two former state Labor ministers have quit the ALP and are restarting the Christian-based Family First Party in South Australia.

Former SA health minister Jack Snelling. Picture: AAP

Two former state Labor ministers have quit the ALP and are restarting the Christian-based Family First Party in South Australia, saying the major parties no longer support religious freedom or give Christians a voice on social policy.

Former SA treasurer and health minister Jack Snelling and former trade minister Tom Kenyon have acquired the name Family First along with its data base of about 6000 supporters and will run candidates at the South Australian election next March.

Their decision comes as the moderate-dominated Marshall Liberal government faces strong criticism from conservative Christians upset with the progressive stance of its MPs on late-term abortion and euthanasia.

The move by Mr Snelling is a bombshell development in the often-volatile world of South Australian politics where former senator Nick Xenophon’s now-defunct South Australian Best Party polled 19 per cent of the upper house vote and threatened to up-end lower house MPs at the 2018 poll.

Mr Snelling said Family First had the potential to capitalise on disenfranchised blue-collar voters who regard Labor as too progressive and Liberals who think their party is too left-wing.

He also wants the party to take a national stand on questions of religious freedom and the right of religious schools and faith-based institutions to adhere to their own values on the sanctity of the family and human life.

“The reason we are doing this is we are very concerned about ­religious freedom and attempts to restrict that freedom,” he said.

“We have seen attempts to ­restrict schools and attempts to restrict the ability of doctors and faith-based organisations to refuse to be involved in euthanasia and abortion.”

Mr Snelling said the decision to walk away from the ALP had been particularly difficult, with him having been a lifelong party member and a state MP for almost 21 years. “We just don’t think the Labor Party provides an appropriate vehicle for us to pursue these issues,” he said.

“It’s not an easy decision as someone who has spent their ­entire adult life in the ALP.

“But I think that particularly in the last few years the political ­environment has shifted significantly in both the major parties where you simply cannot prosecute arguments about religious liberty.”

Tom Kenyon. Picture: Emma Brasier

Mr Snelling and Mr Kenyon both left politics at the 2018 state election.

Family First is a well-recognised political name in South Australia with a recent history of electing state and federal MPs such as former senator Bob Day and state MP Robert Brokenshire.

The name Family First had been acquired by former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi when he set up his failed Australian Conservatives Party prior to the last federal election, with Mr Snelling now acquiring the name from Mr Bernardi, who is out of politics.

The party is well-placed to attract support from both the major parties in South Australia, especially from the Liberals where several hundred new party members were suspended last month amid claims their recruitment was a “Pentecostalist stacking exercise” led by Liberal senator Alex Antic.

He denied the claims and was backed by religious leaders from socially conservative churches who said they were simply wanting a greater say on social policy and believed the Liberals should give a voice to conservatives.