Misplaced Pages

Family First Party

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Defunct

#70929

120-660: Defunct Defunct The Family First Party was a 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

240-570: A constitutional monarchy . In the early 20th century, "Conservatism" was used as a disparaging epithet by detractors of right wing politics and politicians within Australia, often by supporters and members of left leaning movements and parties such as the Australian Labor Party and later the Australian Greens . People on the right often called themselves "liberals". That only changed in the late 20th century; John Hirst says that as

360-407: A monarchy or become a republic was a contentious issue in the 1990s. It has since not been a priority for the government as of 2019. In 1998 when debate peaked, Howard took the monarchist position favoured by most conservatives. Howard argued that the monarchy had provided a long period of stability and while he said there was no question that Australia was a fully independent nation, he believed that

480-436: A victim mentality among Aboriginals. Former Aboriginal conservative politicians include: Victoria, Australia Victoria , commonly abbreviated as Vic , is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania ), with a land area of 227,444 km (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales ), with a population of over 6.9 million; and

600-728: A child, 307 convicts, 17 convicts' wives, and seven children). They had been sent from England in HMS ; Calcutta under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff , principally out of fear that the French, who had been exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent. In 1826, Colonel Stewart, Captain Samuel Wright, and Lieutenant Burchell were sent in HMS  Fly (Captain Wetherall) and

720-401: A conservative outlook is represented by Sky News Australia . and ADH TV . Newspapers and other publications owned by News Corp strongly favour the right wing of Australian politics. The publications owned by News Corp include The Australian , The Daily Telegraph , The Mercury , The Advertiser and The Courier-Mail . Sky News is also owned by News Corp. Whether Australia should remain

840-633: A conservative stance. Since the 1970s, the Financial Review has advocated economic liberalism in Australia, driving a consistent editorial line favouring small government , deregulation , privatisation , lower taxes and trade liberalisation . Major conservative regional newspapers include The Daily Telegraph , The West Australian , The Mercury , The Canberra Times , The Advertiser and The Courier-Mail . The primary conservative magazines in Australia are News Weekly , Quadrant and The Spectator Australia . On television,

960-778: A cooler, mountain climate in the centre of the state. Winters along the coast of the state, particularly around Melbourne , are relatively mild ( see chart ). The coastal plain south of the Great Dividing Range has Victoria's mildest climate. Air from the Southern Ocean helps reduce the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Melbourne and other large cities are located in this temperate region. The Mallee and upper Wimmera are Victoria's warmest regions with hot winds blowing from nearby semi-deserts. Average temperatures exceed 32 °C (90 °F) during summer and 15 °C (59 °F) in winter. Except at cool mountain elevations,

1080-559: A couple of thousand preference votes. The nationwide Family First Senate vote was 1.4% (up 0.3%). Elected to the 12th and final South Australian Senate spot , he was entitled to a three-year term. Due to the failure of his home construction business, Day resigned from the Senate on 1 November 2016 and a replacement was expected to be selected in the following two to three weeks. In April 2017, the High Court found that he had been invalidly elected to

1200-404: A mainstream political player, beyond Family First's ultra-conservative evangelical Christian support base." The reports indicated that Fielding had tried to recruit Tim Costello and others around the beginning of 2008 with a view to forming a new party, but had failed to convince them. The revelations came after Fielding changed his position on abortion, after being rebuffed by his party for taking

1320-569: A new multi-member proportional representation system. The State of Victoria was divided into eight electorates with each electorate represented by five representatives elected by Single Transferable Vote . The total number of upper house members was reduced from 44 to 40 and their term of office is now the same as the lower house members—four years. Elections for the Victorian Parliament are now fixed and occur in November every four years. Prior to

SECTION 10

#1732838492071

1440-569: A non-double dissolution election, the 12th and last spot in South Australia at this election came down to a race between Day and Labor's 4th candidate Anne McEwen . McEwen solidly led Day for the overwhelming majority of the count, until count 445 of a total 457. However, upon Edwards and then One Nation candidate Steven Burgess being eliminated at count 445 and 455 respectively, leaving only McEwen and Day remaining, Day had collected enough preferences to overtake and narrowly defeat McEwen − by just

1560-538: A primary vote of only 1.88% (56,376 votes), he achieved the 14.3% quota required by a run of preferences including those from the Australian Labor Party . The typically apolitical psephologist Malcolm Mackerras stated "The outlandish result occurred in Victoria in 2004 where the Family First party was able to gather tickets from just about everywhere... this is a fluke. And I’ve always referred to Senator Steve Fielding as

1680-511: A process for selecting a replacement. He resigned on 1 November 2016 creating a vacancy in the senate. In April 2017 the high court ruled that he was invalidly elected in July 2016 and had been ineligible to sit in the senate since February 2016. The vacancy created by Day's resignation was filled by another Family First senate candidate, Lucy Gichuhi . Gichuhi was declared by the court of disputed returns on 13 April 2017 to be elected instead of Day, after

1800-583: A rate of 8,227 per 100,000 people, up 4.4% on the previous year. While there have been some dips along the way, the rate of recorded offences have increased year on year since 2011, when the figure was 6,937.7 offences per 100,000 people. Victoria has a parliamentary form of government based on the Westminster System . Legislative power resides in the Parliament consisting of the Governor (the representative of

1920-491: A result of their relatively poor form in the 2007 election, Family First did not contest the 2008 Gippsland by-election , but in a later by-election for the seat of Mayo they won 11.40% of the vote but only ran fourth in the absence of a Labor candidate, a total that was only 4% above their vote in the 2007 general election. Family First did not stand a candidate in any of the 2008 Lyne , 2009 Bradfield or 2009 Higgins by-elections. The first election Family First contested

2040-560: A seat. Family First had three candidates elected to the Senate during its existence— Steve Fielding (2005–2011), Bob Day (2014–2016), and Lucy Gichuhi (2017; elected on a countback following 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

2160-525: A semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels. At the Keilor Archaeological Site , a human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP , making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia. A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP . Archaeological sites in Tasmania and on

2280-424: A significant political movement, conservatism is "a very recent arrival in Australia". John Howard , who became prime minister in 1996, was the first holder of the office to describe himself as a conservative." In the 21st century the term covers similar political issues as found in other Western democracies. In the early 20th century the liberals had connections with reform movements. However, as Howard has argued,

2400-519: A softer approach. Fielding denied the claims. At the 2010 federal election , Family First contested the Senate in all states, but were not successful, with the national vote remaining at around 2%. Fielding's term ended on 30 June 2011, after which the Family First Party no longer had federal parliamentary representation. The Queensland Family First Senate candidate Wendy Francis created controversy when she compared allowing same-sex marriage to

2520-489: A special recount of South Australian senate votes. On 26 April 2017, a merger between the Australian Conservatives and the Family First Party was announced, with Family First to be absorbed into the Conservatives. Newly appointed Family First senator Lucy Gichuhi did not join the Conservatives, and became an independent senator when the Family First Party was disbanded. The party formally relinquished its registration with

SECTION 20

#1732838492071

2640-701: A sports marketing company named it the world's sporting capital. Victoria has 38 seats in the Australian House of Representatives and 12 seats in the Australian Senate . At state level, the Parliament of Victoria consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council . The Labor Party , led by Jacinta Allan as premier , has governed Victoria since 2014. The Governor of Victoria ,

2760-613: Is liberal conservatism . On economic issues, conservatives typically support lower taxes and less government spending. Unlike in the United States, mainstream Australian conservatives often support some liberal reforms, such as same-sex marriage (which was legalised by the Coalition government of Malcolm Turnbull ), while typically remaining conservative on other issues such as legalising recreational cannabis . Mainstream Australian conservatives also typically support Australia remaining

2880-765: Is a far-right anti-Muslim association that works closely with the Australian Liberty Alliance . Some of these may have connections to existing political leaders, such as Senator Cory Bernardi 's Conservative Leadership Foundation (which is dedicated to fostering community based conservative leadership) or explicitly reject party politics in favour of cultural restoration, such as the Sydney Traditionalist Forum and Edmund Burke's Club (which are described as "an association of 'old school' conservative, traditionalist and paleoconservative individuals"). In Australia however there are some differences in

3000-512: Is at 39°12' S, which passes through Boundary Islet in the Bass Strait for 85 metres. Victoria contains many topographically, geologically and climatically diverse areas, ranging from the wet, temperate climate of Gippsland in the southeast to the snow-covered Victorian alpine areas which rise to almost 2,000 m (6,600 ft), with Mount Bogong the highest peak at 1,986 m (6,516 ft). There are extensive semi-arid plains to

3120-399: Is divided into distinct geographic regions , most commonly for the purposes of economic development , while others for land management (agriculture or conservation) and for censusing (statistical or meteorological) or electoral purposes. The most commonly used regions are those created by the state government for the purposes of economic development . In addition to Greater Melbourne ,

3240-802: Is heavier. Rainfall is most reliable in Gippsland and the Western District , making them both leading farming areas. Victoria's highest recorded daily rainfall was 377.8 mm (14.87 in) at Tidal River in Wilsons Promontory National Park on 23 March 2011. At March 2024 Victoria had a population of 6,959,200. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that the population may well reach 10.3 million by 2051. Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe , Asia and, most recently, Africa and

3360-1031: Is home to numerous Aboriginal groups, including the Boonwurrung , the Bratauolung , the Djadjawurrung , the Gunai , the Gunditjmara , the Taungurung , the Wathaurong , the Wurundjeri , and the Yorta Yorta . There were more than 30 Aboriginal languages spoken in the area prior to European colonisation. In 1770 James Cook claimed the east coast of the Australian continent for the Kingdom of Great Britain . The first European settlement in

3480-425: Is located 10 km (6 mi) south of Bendigo . Due to its central location and the region's historical ties to the gold rush, the town is widely regarded as the "Heart of Gold". The state's capital, Melbourne, contains about 70% of the state's population and dominates its economy, media, and culture. For other cities and towns, see list of localities (Victoria) and local government areas of Victoria . Victoria

3600-474: 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 any mainstream party we do not have on record the religious affiliations of any of our members. The Board of Reference in South Australia includes business-people, members of

3720-454: Is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. In 1854 at Ballarat, an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria was made by miners protesting against mining taxes (the " Eureka Stockade "). This was crushed by British troops, but the confrontation persuaded the colonial authorities to reform the administration of mining concessions (reducing the hated mining licence fees) and extend

Family First Party - Misplaced Pages Continue

3840-673: Is seen to be of the New Right . The Menzies Research Centre is an associated entity of the Liberal Party. The Samuel Griffith Society is a legal think tank that advocates constitutional conservatism, federalism and black letter law jurisprudence, and has reportedly been influential in recent Coalition appointments to administrative tribunals and the Judiciary. Apart from political parties, conservative grass-roots movements have also arisen in Australia in recent years. Q Society of Australia

3960-454: Is something we are both proud of and grateful for." The party agreed to share House of Representatives preferences with the Liberal – National Coalition at the 2004 election (with some exceptions discussed below). Family First picked up 1.76% of the vote nationally. Steve Fielding , the lead candidate in Victoria, was successful in picking up the last Senate seat. Although he received

4080-536: Is when the Liberal Party emerged, establishing itself as a big tent party of the right, taking influence from classical conservative thinker Edmund Burke . Mainstream political conservatism is primarily represented by the Liberal Party of Australia , and its coalition partner, the National Party , which historically was the party of the conservative small farmers and espoused agrarianism . The Liberal Party

4200-646: The 2002 state election , when former Assemblies of God pastor Andrew Evans became its first elected member, winning a seat in the South Australian Legislative Council . A second party member, pharmaceutical executive Dennis Hood , was elected to the Legislative Council at the 2006 state election . Robert Brokenshire replaced Evans following the latter's retirement in 2008. At the 2004 federal election , Family First contested seats all over Australia, generally exchanging preferences with Liberal candidates, although in some seats it exchanged preferences with

4320-416: The 2006 South Australian election , Family First's vote increased to 4.98% in the Legislative Council, and a second Member of the Legislative Council was elected – former pharmaceutical executive Dennis Hood . In several rural and outer metropolitan seats, Family First's vote approached 10% – and in the seat of Kavel , Tom Playford, a descendant of former premier Tom Playford , achieved a vote of 15.7%. In

4440-431: The 2006 Victorian state election , Family First's vote increased from 1.9% to 4.3% of first preferences. However, no candidates were elected. In the 2012 Queensland state election the party unsuccessfully contested 38 seats. In the 2017 Western Australian state election , Family First fielded 2 candidates in each of the six Legislative Council regions, and three candidates for Legislative Assembly seats. Voting for

4560-463: The Australian Bureau of Statistics as being a population cluster of 1,000 or more people. The below figures broadly represent the populations of the contiguous built-up areas of each city: Victoria has a varied climate that ranges from semi-arid temperate with hot summers in the north-west, to temperate and cool along the coast. Victoria's main land feature, the Great Dividing Range, produces

4680-585: The Australian Electoral Commission on 30 August 2017. Psephologist Antony Green suggested the merger could in part be attributed to the abolition of group voting tickets , which makes it more difficult for like-minded parties to swap preferences without a certain amount of "leakage" to other parties. According to John Macaulay, an executive of the Australian Conservatives Board, and the dissolution document of Family First,

4800-700: The Australian Greens were often at odds, with Family First often referring to the Greens as "extreme" in their media statements. The two parties were in competition for Senate preferences, particularly from the Labor Party , and were ideologically opposed on many issues. In the 2006 Victorian election, Family First's limited television advertising campaign specifically singled out the Greens for criticism. Conservatism in Australia Defunct [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Conservatism in Australia refers to

4920-635: The Australian Greens . Despite this, there are numerous Aboriginal activists, politicians and individuals affiliated with the political right. The most prominent Aboriginal Conservative was Neville Bonner who was the first Aboriginal Australian elected to federal Parliament. In the Northern Territory , the Country Liberal Party has had a fluctuating relationship with the state's Indigenous communities (even providing Australia's first Indigenous head of government, Adam Giles ) and holds several of

Family First Party - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-433: The Australian Labor Party . In Queensland, the party refused to direct preferences to Liberal candidate Ingrid Tall on the grounds she was openly gay, also refusing to preference Liberal candidate Warren Entsch for his support for same-sex marriage. At that election, Steve Fielding was elected as a senator for Victoria for the party. Fielding, along with independent Nick Xenophon and the five Australian Greens , shared

5160-577: The Bass Strait Islands have been dated to between 20,000 to 35,000 years ago when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing First Nations Peoples to move across the region of southern Victoria and onto the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania by at least 35,000 years ago. During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP , the area now the bay of Port Phillip would have been dry land, and

5280-652: The Democratic Labor Party , One Nation Party , Liberal Democratic Party , Family First Party , Australian Christians , Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party , and Katter's Australian Party , although some would not champion the classical liberal approach to economics adopted by the Liberal Party. In the 45th Australian Senate , the Liberal Democratic Party's David Leyonhjelm , the Independent Cory Bernardi , Independent Fraser Anning and

5400-701: The Great Australian Bight portion of the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea (a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean ) to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to the Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest. The majority of the Victorian population is concentrated in

5520-599: The Institute of Public Affairs advocates free market economic policies such as privatisation and deregulation of state-owned enterprises , trade liberalisation and deregulated workplaces, climate change scepticism , the abolition of the minimum wage, and the repeal of parts of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 . The H. R. Nicholls Society focuses on industrial relations , and advocates full workplace deregulation, contains some Liberal MPs as members and

5640-589: The Liberty and Democracy Party , a libertarian political party one of whose policies was to legalize recreational drug use, stating "They gave their preferences to the enemy, the anti-Christian party." This was suggested as a reason for their poor election result. Fred Nile's own Christian Democratic Party had also preferenced the Liberty and Democracy Party before any other major party in the Senate. In 2008, some newspapers claimed that Fielding wanted to "relaunch himself as

5760-583: The Middle East . Victoria's population is ageing in proportion with the average of the remainder of the Australian population. About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north west of the state. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal . More than 75% of Victorians live in Melbourne, located in

5880-555: The National senate candidate for Queensland, to publicly slam the party the day before the election, calling them "the lunatic Right", and stating that "these are not the sort of people you do 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

6000-710: The Navy (1969–1971), James Killen , was considered to be a Tory, or a "Tory Liberal", especially in his younger years. Unlike the various forms of conservatism across the world, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States , Australian conservatism has a short history. In the late 19th century, the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party were the two major parties in Australia. The Free Trade Party

6120-634: The New South Wales Legislative Council and Western Australian Legislative Council , as a result of defections from other parties. The party was generally considered to be part of the Christian right . Though it had no formal affiliation with any particular religious organisation, Family First was strongly linked to the Pentecostal church in South Australia, and nationally from smaller Christian denominations. Family First in South Australia

SECTION 50

#1732838492071

6240-540: The Victoria State Government has divided Victoria into five regions covering all parts of the state. The five regional Victoria divisions are: The Australian Bureau of Meteorology defines regions for its own purposes, some of which share names with the economic regions, even though the exact boundaries may not correlate. As of November 2014, they are: This is a list of places in the Australian state of Victoria by population. Urban centres are defined by

6360-554: The Wada wurrung , Woiwurrung and Bun wurrung languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil was responsible for the formation of the bay, or the bay was flooded when the Yarra River was created. Victoria, like Queensland , was named after Queen Victoria , who had been on the British throne for 14 years when

6480-465: The Yarra and Werribee rivers would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP, when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels. Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago. Oral history and creation stories from

6600-418: The balance of power in the Senate from July 2008 to July 2011. He lost his seat at the 2010 federal election . In June 2008, sitting MP and former Liberal Party member, Dan Sullivan , joined the Western Australian state branch of Family First as an executive member. When three former One Nation MPs attended the public launch of the branch, it fuelled media speculation that they might try to influence

6720-497: The electoral franchise . The following year, the Imperial Parliament granted Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to become members of the Victorian Parliament. In 1857, reflecting the growing presence of Irish Catholic immigrants, John O'Shanassy became the colony's second Premier with the former Young Irelander , Charles Gavan Duffy as his deputy. Melbourne's Protestant establishment

6840-449: The pink heath (state flower), Leadbeater's possum (state animal) and the helmeted honeyeater (state bird). Ecological communities include Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands , Northern Plains Grassland and Gippsland Plains Grassy Woodland , all of which are critically endangered. According to Geoscience Australia , the geographic centre of Victoria is located in Mandurang at 36° 51' 15"S, 144° 16' 52" E. The small rural locality

6960-491: The population growth peak of 1969–72. In 2017, Victoria recorded a TFR of 1.724. The "average Victorian" according to the demographic statistics may be described as follows: In the year ending September 2020, the statistics were skewed by the introduction of six new public safety offences relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia . Total offences numbered 551,710, with 32,713 of these being breaches of Chief Health Officer Directions. The total offences occurred at

7080-404: The "separation of the ceremonial and executive functions of government" and the presence of a neutral "defender of constitutional integrity" was an advantage in government and that no republican model would be as effective in providing such an outcome as the Australian constitutional monarchy . Despite opinion polls suggesting Australians favoured a republic, the 1999 republic referendum rejected

7200-421: The 1990s, the label "conservative" had rarely been used in Australia, and when used it tended to be used by pro-Labour forces as a term of disparagement against their opponents. Electorally, conservatism has been the most successful political brand in Australian history. Like other countries with a Westminster system of government (but unlike the United States ), the mainstream form of conservatism in Australia

7320-410: The 2016 census, 72.2% of Victorians speak English at home. Speakers of other languages include Mandarin (3.2%), Italian (1.9%), Greek (1.9%), Vietnamese (1.7%), and Arabic (1.3%). In the 2016 Census, 47.9% of Victorians described themselves as Christian , 10.6% stated that they followed other religions and 32.1% stated that they had no religion or held secular or other spiritual beliefs. In

SECTION 60

#1732838492071

7440-440: The 2016 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were: 0.8% of the population, or 47,788 people, identified as Indigenous Australians ( Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders ) in 2016. At the 2016 census, 64.9% of residents were born in Australia. The other most common countries of birth were England (2.9%), India (2.9%), Mainland China (2.7%), New Zealand (1.6%) and Vietnam (1.4%). As of

7560-421: The Australian usage refers to free markets and small government ). Moser and Catley state, "In America, 'liberal' means left-of-center, and it is a pejorative term when used by conservatives in adversarial political debate. In Australia, of course, the conservatives are in the Liberal Party." Jupp points out that, "[the] decline in English influences on Australian reformism and radicalism, and appropriation of

7680-427: The Conservatives, and became an independent senator when Family First was disbanded. Gichuhi was invited 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. The party was founded 2002 in South Australia , in time to contest

7800-416: The Fluke Senator". The party also came close to picking up other Senate seats in Tasmania (largely due to preferences from surplus Liberal votes) and in South Australia where the then party leader Andrea Mason narrowly missed out (polling 3.98% and receiving Liberal preferences). Family First contested the 2007 federal election , in particular seeking to increase its Senate representation. Nationwide,

7920-402: The King), the executive (the Government), and two legislative chambers. The Parliament of Victoria consists of the lower house Legislative Assembly , the upper house Legislative Council and the monarch . Eighty-eight members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to four-year terms from single-member electorates. In November 2006, the Victorian Legislative Council elections were held under

8040-444: The Legislative Council Dennis Hood , the party's state parliamentary leader, is a member 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 attempt 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 ,

8160-485: The Legislative Council uses group voting tickets . At the 2017 election, Family First participated with four other parties in a set of preference deals orchestrated by Glenn Druery . The other parties were Fluoride Free WA , Liberal Democrats , Flux the System and the Daylight Saving Party . The deals were arranged so that the ticket votes for these five parties would roll up to a different party in each region. The system collected votes so that Family First's best chance

8280-435: The Legislative Council, Family First shares the balance of power with the other minor parties and independents. In the 2006 Queensland state election, Family First received a primary vote of 7% in contested seats (many seats were not contested), with a high of 14.5% and several other seats posting results of 10%. Queensland does not have an upper house, and these results were insufficient for any candidates to be elected. In

8400-547: The Liberal Party became the trustee of both the classical liberal and conservative traditions. That is, it combines liberal (market-based, pro-business, anti-union) economic policies with conservative social policies. Although used much less than the term conservative, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison ( Liberal ) described himself as a traditionalist upon his ascent to party leader and appointment as Prime Minister (2018–2022). Similarly, former Liberal MP for Moreton (1955–1983) and Minister for Defence (1975–1982) and

8520-399: The Party did not merge with the Australian Conservatives. The Family First executive voted to dissolve the party, and in accordance with Australian law, they donated all their assets to the Australian Conservative Party. Although officially eschewing religious labels, many of its candidates and members were from conservative Christian backgrounds. Family First co-founder Pastor Andrew Evans

8640-459: The Senate at the 2016 election because the leasing arrangements for his electoral office had breached section 44 of the Constitution making him ineligible for the Senate, leading to a special recount of South Australian senate ballots to find a replacement. On 13 April 2017 Lucy Gichuhi was declared the new South Australian senator in place of Day, following a recount of ballots. Her appointment

8760-580: The South Australian Senate Family First vote was reduced to just 2.9% (down 0.9%), as the election was a double dissolution , the quota to be elected was halved. Day got to the 7.7% quota largely from Liberal preferences when the Liberal's 5th candidate Sean Edwards was eliminated from the count, largely due to the fact the Liberal how-to-vote card recommended Liberal voters to preference Family First. Electing only six Senators per state at

8880-634: The United Australia Party's Brian Burston formerly formed a "conservative bloc". Since the 2010s, an increasing number of prominent conservative members of the Liberal/National coalition have left the party, such as in 2017 with Senator Cory Bernardi and in 2022 with MP George Christensen . Some think tanks in Australia have a conservative focus. The Centre for Independent Studies , for example, focuses on classical liberal issues such as free markets and limited government , while

9000-582: The West Australian branch. During the 2009/10 financial year, party chairman Bob Day made two loans totalling $ 405,000 to Family First. After gaining 4% of the vote in several House of Representatives seats in the 2010 federal election , the party also received around $ 400,000 in Commonwealth election funding. Family First returned to the Australian Senate at the 2013 federal election , when Day

9120-488: The area occurred in 1803 at Sullivan Bay . Much of Victoria was included in 1836 in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales. Named in honour of Queen Victoria , Victoria was separated from New South Wales and established as a separate Crown colony in 1851, achieving responsible government in 1855. The Victorian gold rush in the 1850s and 1860s significantly increased Victoria's population and wealth. By

9240-414: The brigs Dragon and Amity , took a number of convicts and a small force composed of detachments of the 3rd and 93rd regiments. The expedition landed at Settlement Point (now Corinella ), on the eastern side of Western Port Bay, which was the headquarters until the abandonment of Western Port at the insistence of Governor Darling about 12 months afterwards. Victoria's next settlement was at Portland , on

9360-452: The central-south area surrounding Port Phillip , and in particular within the metropolitan area of Greater Melbourne , Victoria's state capital and largest city and also Australia's second-largest city , where over three-quarters of the culturally diverse population live (35.1% of inhabitants being immigrants ). The state is also home to four of Australia's 20 largest cities : Melbourne , Geelong , Ballarat and Bendigo . Victoria

9480-428: The centre of Victoria. Average temperatures are less than 9 °C (48 °F) in winter and below 0 °C (32 °F) in the highest parts of the ranges. The state's lowest minimum temperature of −11.7 °C (10.9 °F) was recorded at Omeo on 15 June 1965, and again at Falls Creek on 3 July 1970. Temperature extremes for the state are listed in the table below: Rainfall in Victoria increases from south to

9600-677: The colony was established in 1851. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland , under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first British settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people (five government officials, nine officers of marines, two drummers, and 39 privates, five soldiers' wives and

9720-584: The country's first federal capital. Victoria's northern border follows a straight line from Cape Howe to the start of the Murray River and then follows the Murray River as the remainder of the northern border. On the Murray River, the border is the southern bank of the river. This precise definition was not established until 1980, when a ruling by Justice Ninian Stephen of the High Court of Australia settled

9840-525: The date of Australia Day , describing the proposal as " virtue-signaling ". Kerrynne Liddle is a former journalist and Arrernte woman originally from Alice Springs. At the 2022 she was elected as a Liberal Senator for South Australia . Originally a member of Labor, former Indigenous Advisory Council (IAC) member Warren Mundine has since shifted toward the political right. Mundine has criticised what he describes as efforts to introduce " critical race theory " in Australian schools, arguing it promotes

9960-516: The executive, determine party policy and ratify candidate pre-selection. A National Conference occurred every two years, with delegates from state party licensees. Federal and State branches held Annual General Meetings that were open to all members. David Leyonhjelm of the Liberal Democratic Party and Day announced their intention to vote as a bloc in the Senate on economic issues, but separately on social issues. Family First and

10080-487: The inland monthly temperatures are 2–7 °C (4–13 °F) warmer than around Melbourne (see chart). Victoria's highest maximum temperature of 48.8 °C (119.8 °F) was recorded in Hopetoun on 7 February 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave . The Victorian Alps in the northeast are the coldest part of Victoria. The Alps are part of the Great Dividing Range mountain system extending east–west through

10200-687: The interests of farmers. After the 1922 federal election , which produced a hung parliament, the Country Party and the Nationalist Party (the successor to the Commonwealth Liberal Party) formed a conservative coalition . The Nationalist Party later became the United Australia Party in 1931. After the United Australia Party collapsed in 1945, conservative forces within Australia were in disarray and were seen as irrelevant. This

10320-484: The medical profession, as well as ministers and people from Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Uniting and other church groups. The rapid national growth of the party leading into this election and the late decision to contest in all seats possible, has meant that in some states there are candidates, with strong family values, who have been introduced to the party through the personal relationships they have from their involvement in community/church networks. A 60-minute documentary

10440-410: The model proposed by the 1998 convention involving appointment of the head of state by Parliament. Conservatives generally support keeping the current flag (with its British insignia) and are proud of the nation's British heritage. Traditionally, Aboriginal Australians in cities have been known to predominantly vote for parties of the political left, such as the Australian Labor Party or

10560-427: The most densely populated state in Australia (30.6 per km ). Victoria's economy is the second-largest among Australian states and is highly diversified, with service sectors predominating. Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south (with the exception of a small land border with Tasmania located along Boundary Islet ),

10680-564: The northeast, with higher averages in areas of high altitude. Mean annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 millimetres (71 inches) in some parts of the northeast but is less than 280 mm (11 in) in the Mallee. Rain is heaviest in the Otway Ranges and Gippsland in southern Victoria and in the mountainous northeast. Snow generally falls only in the mountains and hills in the centre of the state. Rain falls most frequently in winter, but summer precipitation

10800-524: The party received 1.62% of the primary vote in the Senate, and 1.99% in the House of Representatives, both down slightly on the 2004 result. In Victoria, however, both the lower and upper house vote increased by 0.64%, to 2.52 and 3.02% respectively. No Family First candidates were elected. Sitting senator Steve Fielding's term did not expire until 2011. Before the 2007 federal election, Fred Nile criticized Family First for giving preferences (in some states) to

10920-531: The party system this way. This was welcomed by politicians who were influenced by the Westminster tradition and who regarded a two-party system as the norm. In 1909, the two parties merged to form the Commonwealth Liberal Party to more effectively oppose the new Labor Party . In 1920, the Country Party (now known as the National Party ) was formed as an agrarian conservative party representing

11040-537: The political landscape in which conservatism exists, compared to what is found in other countries, especially in economics. Australia undertook in the mid-1980s significant economic reforms – faith in markets, deregulation, a reduced role for government, low protection and the creation of a new cooperative enterprise culture – under the centre-left Australian Labor Party and especially under social liberal Paul Keating ." Two national newspapers in Australia, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review , take

11160-518: The political philosophy of conservatism as it has developed in Australia. Politics in Australia has, since at least the 1910s, been most predominantly a contest between the Australian labour movement (primarily the Australian Labor Party ) and the combined forces of anti-Labour groups (primarily the Liberal - National Coalition ). The anti-Labour groups have at times identified themselves as " free trade ", " nationalist ", " anti-communist ", "liberal", and " right of centre ", among other labels; until

11280-552: The question as to which state had jurisdiction in the unlawful death of a man on an island in the middle of the river. The ruling clarified that no part of the watercourse is in Victoria. The border also rests at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range , which stretches along the east coast and terminates west of Ballarat. It is bordered by South Australia to the west and shares Australia's shortest land border with Tasmania . The official border between Victoria and Tasmania

11400-481: The representative of the monarch in the state, is currently Margaret Gardner . Victoria is divided into 79 local government areas , as well as several unincorporated areas which the state administers directly. The state of Victoria was home to many Aboriginal Australian nations that had occupied the land for tens of thousands of years before European settlement . According to Gary Presland , Aboriginal people have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years, living

11520-606: The south west coast of what is now Victoria. Edward Henty settled Portland Bay in 1834. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman , who set up a base in Indented Head , and John Pascoe Fawkner . From settlement, the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. Shortly after, the site now known as Geelong was surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe, three weeks after Melbourne. And in 1838, Geelong

11640-659: The state's south. The greater Melbourne metropolitan area is home to an estimated 5,207,145 people. Urban centres outside Melbourne include Geelong , Ballarat , Bendigo , Shepparton , Mildura , Warrnambool , Wodonga and the Latrobe Valley . Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state: nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. State Government efforts to decentralise population have included an official campaign run since 2003 to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas, however Melbourne continues to rapidly outpace these areas in terms of population growth. At

11760-933: The stolen generations and to "legalising child abuse". Bob Day ran as a Family First Party South Australia Senate candidate at the 2013 federal election and was successful. The South Australian Senate Family First vote was 3.8% (down 0.3%), getting to the 14.3% quota through Glenn Druery 's Minor Party Alliance from 19 group voting ticket party preferences: Australian Independents Party , Australian Stable Population Party , Liberal Democratic Party , Smokers' Rights Party , No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics , Building Australia Party , Rise Up Australia Party , Katter's Australian Party , One Nation , Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party , Australian Christians , Shooters and Fishers , Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party , Democratic Labour Party , Animal Justice Party , Australian Greens , Palmer United Party , HEMP Party , Australian Labor Party . The nationwide Family First Senate vote

11880-523: The survey, 31.7% of Victorians stated they had no religion, Roman Catholics were 23.2%, 9.4% did not answer the question, 9% were Anglican and 3.5% were Eastern Orthodox . In 2017 the proportion of couples marrying in a civil ceremony in Victoria was 77.3%; the other 22.7% were married in a religious ceremony. The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021. The 2016 census revealed that Australian median age has crept upward from 35 to 37 since 2001, which reflects

12000-488: The symbols of Empire by conservatives continued under the Liberal Party leadership of Sir Robert Menzies , which lasted until 1966." Beecher comments that, "across the economic and cultural landscape, Howard proved that the centre of politics in Australia is inherently conservative." There are also other minor parties which may be perceived to be conservative in orientation on account of some of their policies - and even some are regarded as right wing or extreme right, such as

12120-616: The territory's electorates with large Aboriginal populations. Jacinta Price is a well-known conservative activist of Warlpiri descent who was elected to the Senate for the Country Liberal Party representing Northern Territory in 2022 . Price has argued against claims of systemic racism against Aboriginals in the criminal justice system, instead arguing that " black-on-black violence " is most pressing in Aboriginal communities. Unlike many Aboriginal activists, Price opposes changing

12240-474: The time of Australian Federation in 1901, Melbourne had become the largest city in Australasia , and was the seat of Federal government until Canberra became the national capital in 1927. The state continued to grow strongly through various periods of the 20th and 21st centuries due to high levels of international and interstate migration. Melbourne hosts a number of museums, art galleries, and theatres; in 2016

12360-556: The treaty is unknown, although it is believed to have been by the Merri Creek . According to historian Meyer Eidelson, it is generally believed to have occurred on the Merri near modern-day Rushall Station. On 1 July 1851, writs were issued for the election of the first Victorian Legislative Council, and the absolute independence of Victoria from New South Wales was established proclaiming a new Colony of Victoria. Days later, still in 1851 gold

12480-517: The west and northwest. There is an extensive series of river systems in Victoria. Most notable is the Murray River system. Other rivers include: Ovens River , Goulburn River , Patterson River , King River , Campaspe River , Loddon River , Wimmera River , Elgin River, Barwon River , Thomson River , Snowy River , Latrobe River , Yarra River , Maribyrnong River , Mitta River , Hopkins River , Merri River and Kiewa River . The state symbols include

12600-488: The world" and the largest gold nugget . In the decade 1851–1860 Victoria produced 20 million ounces of gold, one-third of the world's output. In 1855 the Geological Survey collected and determined the major ion chemistry for groundwater in Victoria. Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. By 1857, 26,000 Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy

12720-415: Was 1.1% (down 1.0%). Day assumed his seat on 1 July 2014. As Family First's sole incumbent, Bob Day was unexpectedly successful at the 2016 federal election , despite having unsuccessfully mounted a High Court challenge against newly implemented Senate voting reforms which included the removal of group voting tickets , a feature which was crucial to the election of Day at the previous election. Though

12840-491: Was briefly Premier. In 1893 widespread bank failures brought to an end a sustained period of prosperity and of increasingly wild speculation in land and construction. Melbourne nonetheless retained, as the legacy of the gold rush, its status as Australia's primary financial centre and largest city. In 1901, Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia . While Canberra was being built, Melbourne served until 1927 as

12960-472: Was challenged by the Australian Labor Party but the High Court rejected the challenge as to whether she has renounced her Kenyan citizenship or retained a dual Kenyan and Australian citizenship. Following the resignation of Mark Latham and their acquisition of a Senate seat in 2004, Family First contested the 2005 Werriwa by-election and in the absence of a Liberal candidate received 2,890 first preference votes. They had not contested Werriwa in 2004. As

13080-515: Was declared void as Batman did not have permission from the Crown to establish Melbourne. Today, the meaning and interpretation of this treaty is contested. Some argue it was a pretence for taking Aboriginal land in exchange for trinkets, while others argue it was significant in that it sought to recognise Aboriginal land rights . The exact location of the meeting between Batman and the Kulin men with whom he made

13200-434: Was discovered near Ballarat , and subsequently at Bendigo . Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In 10 years, the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced, including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in

13320-400: Was elected as a senator for South Australia. He was re-elected at the 2016 double dissolution federal election . A few months later, his family-owned building company, Home Australia Group, ran into financial difficulties and was wound up. Day announced immediately that he would resign from the senate as a consequence, however he did not resign immediately, allowing time for the party to develop

13440-399: Was formed in 1944 as a successor of the United Australia Party , which had been formed in 1931 as a successor of the Nationalist Party and ideologically similar parties that preceded it. The Liberal Party's ideology has been described as conservative, liberal-conservative , conservative-liberal , and classical liberal . The Liberal Party tends to promote economic liberalism (which in

13560-626: Was generally more conservative while the Protectionist Party was generally more liberal (though both parties contained liberal and conservative factions). When the Australian labour movement emerged, both parties began attempting to form a united alliance against it. George Reid , the leader of the Free Trade Party between 1901 and 1905, and Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905, imagined an Australian political spectrum that ran from socialist to anti-socialist, and attempted to reframe

13680-523: Was ill-prepared "to countenance so startling a novelty". In 1858–59, Melbourne Punch cartoons linked Duffy and O'Shanassy to the terrors of the French Revolution . In 1862 Duffy's Land Act attempted, but failed, through a system of extended pastoral licences, to break the land-holding monopoly of the so-called "squatter" class . In 1871, having led, on behalf of small farmers, opposition to Premier Sir James McCulloch 's land tax , Duffy, himself,

13800-475: Was in the North Metropolitan region . However, the party did not gain any seats at the election. The party has benefited from a series of high-profile defections. Family First was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and managed by an executive committee comprising the board of directors. Decision making was tightly held within the executive group, including the capacity to elect new members to

13920-500: Was made 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 maintained 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 many other Australian institutions, at Family First our Christian heritage

14040-643: Was officially declared a town, despite earlier European settlements dating back to 1826. On 6 June 1835, just under two years before Melbourne was officially recognised as a settlement, John Batman, the leader of the Port Phillip Association presented Wurundjeri Elders with a land use agreement. This document, now referred to as the Batman treaty , was later given to the British government to claim that local Aboriginal people had given Batman access to their land in exchange for goods and rations. The treaty itself

14160-461: Was the 2002 South Australian state election . Dr Andrew Evans received a primary vote of 4.02% which, along with preferences from other parties, was sufficient to obtain the 8.3% quota and get elected to one of the 11 seats in the South Australian Legislative Council . In the 2005 Western Australian election , Family First polled 21,701 votes in the Legislative Council where it contested 34 candidates compared to 57 candidates in major parties. In

14280-639: 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 Member of

14400-620: 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 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

#70929