1. What is a family?

The FAMILY FIRST Party considers families as mums, dads and children lovingly supported by grandparents and other family members where possible.  The FAMILY FIRST Party supports Government policies that support families.  Families also include grandparents raising children, heterosexual couples without children, foster parents and single parents. These families all need assistance and representation in government.  The FAMILY FIRST Party also supports people young and old, who for various reasons do not have their own family but uphold families as the foundational building blocks of society.

2. What issues matter to the FAMILY FIRST Party?

Are you concerned about rising family breakdown and the decline in standards and responsibility? The FAMILY FIRST Party is.

In South Australia, the married two-parent family is increasingly sidelined while the divorce rate skyrockets. More children are growing up without their dads and more single mums are struggling to make ends meet. There is rising drug and alcohol abuse and violence in the community. Young girls are having abortions behind their parents’ back.

Standards in the media and advertising are getting worse and political correctness is strangling free speech. All while people demand more rights without taking responsibility.

Many Politicians in the past have put all their attention on the economy, or on the needs of interest groups such as Trade Unions or big business. Certainly, Australia now has a powerful economy, and we have more gadgets in our homes than ever before – and yet our families are falling apart.

· Since the 1960’s, Australia’s marriage rate has reduced by a third.

· Divorce has doubled to 51,375 in 2006.

· The birth rate has halved.

· 41.6 per cent of employed males now work over 40 hours a week – an alarming increase.

· Abortion rates, drug dependence, gambling addiction and suicide have all skyrocketed.

· In 2001-02, some 137 938 children were reported abused or neglected in Australia, an increase of 19.5 per cent over the previous year.

· In the past 10 years, the number of people imprisoned has increased by some 45 per cent.

· More than 100 000 Australian women are the victim of domestic violence every single year.

· Each year, about 2 500 Australians will take their own life, which is an increase of 24 per cent since 1988.

· According to a recent survey, some 68.9 per cent of Australians believe that the fundamental values of our society are under serious threat.

· A recent survey found that 77% of Australians believed that the government's prime objective should be to achieve the greatest happiness of people, not the greatest wealth.

South Australians need a voice that will put the focus back on to family wellbeing and safe communities, which is why we started FAMILY FIRST.

3. How will the FAMILY FIRST Party tackle the issues that it considers important?

The FAMILY FIRST Party believes that there are many pressing issues that affect families, like drug and substance abuse, youth suicide rates, child protection, families feeling safe in their own home, reduction in gambling opportunities (especially poker machines), a right to a good education and appropriate health care.

The FAMILY FIRST Party is concerned about increasing drug and substance abuse. Our courts and laws are too soft on those who peddle the misery of substance abuse via drug selling, growing or manufacturing.  Far too often hard-core drug dealers walk free from our courts.  Voluntary organisations that are already working with drug addicts need more funding. Most of them operate on a shoestring budget, receive no government assistance and yet have a good success rate.

Children need to be protected in the real-world with policing and public awareness of the activity of paedophiles, and also protection for families online from the snares of paedophiles and child pornographers.  For South Australia, the FAMILY FIRST Party believes that the introduction of poker machines was a social disaster for the State.

4. Where will the FAMILY FIRST' Party’s preferences go?

In the Lower House, the preferences will go to candidates who hold philosophies and values which are closest to the FAMILY FIRST Party's, regardless of their party. The decision for the Upper House will be based on the benefit to our cause of representing and assisting families.

5. What is the impact of family breakdown and dysfunction on society and what can a political party do to bring recovery?

Statistics clearly indicate that family breakdown has been the crucial factor behind the increase in crime and child delinquency. These two issues are strongly linked. While many single parent families are working successfully, there are large numbers of single parents and high numbers of children without father figures in their lives that are really struggling emotionally, financially and socially. Support needs to be given to minimise breakdowns of families and then where that is not possible to reduce the negative impact on the individuals involved.

To bring about recovery, government needs to finance as many groups as possible who can assist families. There are many qualified counsellors in our community who can't get work. Many are willing to work in country areas, meeting all kinds of needs but there is no money to fund their positions. Most families do not wish to break up, but conflict in relationships can reach a point where couples don't know what else to do.

6. Why is the Party called the “FAMILY FIRST” Party?

The name has a message: that it is imperative that every piece of legislation that passes through parliament must consider the needs of the family before anything else, because the family is the foundational building block of society.

7. Why is the family so important in society? What would you say to people who might be questioning whether or not that is true?

Numerous studies have been performed over many years to demonstrate the place of family in society. Throughout history, community leaders such as Confucius and Gandhi held strongly to the belief that stable families lead to stable nations. Almost all the ancient empires of the world fell after the gradual and progressive breakdown of the family unit. In more recent times, policies in communist China were shown to contribute to economic failure when families were dismantled for state purposes. Parents and children were separated to work in different areas. The family members were so devastated through the separation that productivity dropped dramatically. Their studies, along with much anecdotal evidence, suggest that there is a distinct correlation between the health of the family and the health of society and conversely the disintegration of family and the eventual demise of those societies.

8. How would you define the word family in the context of same sex couples who would like to have children through in-vitro fertilisation?

The FAMILY FIRST Party believes that the time-tested traditional model of raising children is still the best. There is insufficient evidence to support the stance that children brought up by same sex couples derive the same benefits as those reared in households with mums and dads. The FAMILY FIRST Party believes that both the mother and father play crucial, irreplaceable roles in raising children.

9. If we have a Minister for Youth, a Minister for Ageing, a Minister for the Status of Women, etc and all their associated Departments, why do families need particular representation in parliament?

It is still essential to have a voice that can speak for families while looking at the big picture. The Minister for Youth may strive to get funds for his portfolio, with little consideration for other needs. Also, a Minister can be restricted by the policies of his/her own party. The FAMILY FIRST Party will be an independent voice for families. The people of South Australia can approach FAMILY FIRST Party representatives, discuss their problems and have them presented by members of government.

10. How would FAMILY FIRST Party attract and retain industry in South Australia?

Industry is very important to SA and has a good record in several areas. SA has a low incidence of industrial action being taken, which makes us attractive to industries. Living costs and land are cheaper. The FAMILY FIRST Party has negotiated with governments for more defence projects to be won for  in SA. Until the air warfare destroyer contracts were won for South Australia,  shipbuilding exclusively occurred in Newcastle, SA and WA.  The FAMILY FIRST Party strives to get more shipbuilding here as we have the technology and the infrastructure. The FAMILY FIRST Party will also be encouraging business to become more efficient and make Government reduce red tape. It is important to consider each industry on a case by case basis to see if government can assist and how taxpayer money is best spent.

11. How would the FAMILY FIRST Party's policy on Industry affect employment then?

Employment needs change over time. In the horse-and-buggy days that mode of transport employed a lot of people. That eventually ceased but the car industry sprang up and took its place. In South Australia, we have to attract IT industries, and to do that, the FAMILY FIRST Party would offer temporary incentives, for example suspending land tax or offering discounted electricity or whatever is appropriate. The FAMILY FIRST Party supports attracting industry that will fill the gaps in employment needs. This has already been demonstrated through a number of call centres being established here. Opportunities must be seized in other growing areas, like tourism, education, export, water efficiency, sustainable energy solutions and aquaculture.

12. Does the FAMILY FIRST Party support the work-for-the-dole scheme?

Yes. The FAMILY FIRST Party supports the principle of unemployed people doing contributing positively to society. Our society is strengthened as we all give what we can for the benefit of others. There are many voluntary groups that benefit from assistance and apart from giving the unemployed persons a sense of purpose, work-for-the-dole helps build networks that can open employment opportunities to them. The FAMILY FIRST Party recognises that in the cases of those who are not able to work exceptions needs to be made.

13. What is FAMILY FIRST Party's environmental policy?

The FAMILY FIRST Party believes in protecting the environment and considers it important to investigate how any development impacts upon families, employment, etc. The FAMILY FIRST Party opposes the curtailing of family numbers in the name of the environment.  Everyone can to their part to minimise their environmental footprint, starting with families in their own homes.  A balance between families, development and environment can be found.

The FAMILY FIRST Party also strongly opposed SA establishing a nuclear waste dump for other States.  The FAMILY FIRST Party supports protecting species that are threatened with extinction need to be protected and supports the critical issue of the purification and continuity of community and environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin.

14. Does FAMILY FIRST Party take a strong stance either way on immigration?

The FAMILY FIRST Party believes in increasing our population to provide for ageing generations and build prosperity for future generations.  The FAMILY FIRST Party prefers that natural births (ie in families) be used to meet the need for population growth, however the South Australian economy should also aim to attract a greater proportion of skilled migrants to fill positions in areas experiencing shortages, particularly in the country.

15. Can SA accommodate large numbers of refugees without risking the welfare of their families and ours?

The FAMILY FIRST Party's view is that South Australia must be a caring society for those who are genuine refugees. The priority is to speed up processing to establish whether the refugees are genuine. It is in the interest of South Australian families for those in detention centres not to be released while they do not cooperate in this process. On our last check, South Australia currently takes ten percent of the Australian total, which is one of the highest per capita intake in the world. The need to address the balance between feeling compassion for genuine refugees, national security, social integration and considering the numbers Australia can responsibly accommodate should be the basis of any resolution to the refugee situation. FAMILY FIRST Party acknowledges the complexity of the problem and would support any moves to address some of the root causes, eg. Social injustice.  It would indeed be preferable for a Federal Government to use reasonable measures to end oppressive regimes and assist in ending wars so that foreign nationals see no need to leave their mother country.

16. How is the party structured and how involved is the membership in the formulation of policy? 

The FAMILY FIRST Party's constitution requires that an annual general meeting be held to appoint the committee who will be involved in policymaking. Any member can submit matters for policy development.

17. What are the chances of a FAMILY FIRST Party candidate being elected?

It won't be easy but it is achievable. A lot will depend on preferences and whether or not family groups support us, and the scenario changes with each election.  Due to the more democratic election system of the Federal Senate and State Legislative Councils, in every election it is more likely that the FAMILY FIRST Party will succeed in getting at least one person elected in those ‘Upper Houses’.

18. How are the FAMILY FIRST Party's candidates different from conservative independents?

When voting for independents you often don't know what they really stand for. The FAMILY FIRST Party has philosophies that are clearly outlined. On the other hand independents are usually concerned with isolated issues. The FAMILY FIRST Party has a wide range of policies which can all be viewed by clicking here.

19. How will candidates be assessed?

Members of FAMILY FIRST Party can apply to the committee, detailing their particulars. It is the committee who decide who should be endorsed. FAMILY FIRST Party will be looking at candidates with attributes that encompass not only capability and integrity, but also support for the philosophy of FAMILY FIRST Party and passion for carrying out its objectives.

20. Why create a single-issue party?

FAMILY FIRST Party is not a single-issue party. Most legislation affects the family in some way or other. Consider the issues of aged care, education, hospitals, etc. Political parties generally have a constituency they predominantly represent, like business or unions. FAMILY FIRST Party, as the name indicates, will fight for families.

21. Is FAMILY FIRST Party merely a social justice party?

No. FAMILY FIRST Party is primarily interested in the welfare and prosperity of the most important bedrock of society, the family.

22. Does the FAMILY FIRST Party have a national objective or vision?

The original FAMILY FIRST vision was for a party to be formed in South Australia in 2001 and this saw the Hon Andrew Evans MLC elected in 2002.  The popularity of our policy and vision saw us run candidates in the 2004 Federal Election, which saw us elect a Victorian Senator, Steve Fielding.  In 2006 South Australia elected a second member, the Hon Dennis Hood MLC.  The FAMILY FIRST Party’s vision is to implement family-friendly policies now at the State and Federal level through our elected representatives, and seeking to have more representatives elected in the Commonwealth, States and Territories in subsequent elections.