Australian Family Party

Family Matters

Election '22

The Three Russians

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three-russiansIt’s time to bring the famous Russian brothers to Australia. We desperately need to apply them to legislation, to politicians and to Australia’s citizens. The three Russians are Morov, Lessov and Ridov – what should we have ‘more of’, what should we have ‘less of’ and what should we get ‘rid of’!

Let’s start with some personal character traits applicable both to politicians and citizens alike:

Morov: Respect, courtesy, courage. Honesty, humility, tolerance. Generosity, discernment, common sense. Marriage, children, adoption and income-splitting for stay-at-home parents. More pro-family policy. More recognition of Australia’s Judeo-Christian heritage. More patriotism and support for our armed forces. More self-reliance and personal responsibility. More freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of religion. More doctor-training, palliative care, affordable housing, support for grandparents. More roads, ports, reservoirs, independent schools. More property rights, small businesses, and funding the ‘user’ of services such as aged care, child care, disability care, energy, housing, superannuation, pharmaceuticals, education and public transport – instead of the ‘provider’ of those services.

Lessov: Gambling ads, alcohol consumption, poker machines, tax. Divorce, suicide, loneliness, fatherless households, crime, prostitution. Less hubris. Less abrogating responsibility to un-elected bureaucrats and the duplication of Federal and State functions – health and education in particular. Less rules that apply to some but not to others. Less government spending and fewer international treaties. And less factional politics, social media and government surveillance.

Ridov: Fearmongering and the weaponization of issues such as climate and covid. Price-gouging and profiteering from climate and covid. Wastefulness, hypocrisy, double standards. Barriers to home ownership and the distortion of Australia’s history. Pornography, abortion and euthanasia. And let’s be rid of vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, social distancing, masks, perspex screens, lockdowns, dobbing in your neighbours, discrimination based on medical status, QR codes and the testing and quarantining of healthy people.

Of all the above however, the worst is fearmongering. What politicians, health officials and the mainstream media have done to this country over the past two years is unforgivable.

Australians were a united, fun-loving, irreverent, tough-minded, down-to-earth people. Now look at us.

In his book ‘How Fear Works’, Frank Furedi writes: “The most effective way to counter the perspective of fear is with values that offer people the meaning and hope they need to effectively engage with uncertainty. The problem is not fear as such but society’s difficulty in cultivating values that can guide it to manage uncertainty and the threats it faces.”

UK Bishop N.T. (Tom) Wright commented in similar terms: “Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible is? What instruction is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and by the apostles? Is it ‘be good’? ‘Is it be holy’? Is it ‘don’t sin’? No, the most frequent command in the Bible is, ‘Don’t be afraid’.”

We want our lives back. We want politicians and bureaucrats to stop watching us and to get off our backs and out of our pockets.

Perhaps 16th Century Swedish Statesman Axel Oxenstierna put it best when he said, “Behold my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed.”

Catfish

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catfishWhen the Canadian fishing industry first established its live cod exports to SE Asia, the fishing companies encountered an unexpected problem which threatened to derail the viability of their business.

They had started sending the live cod in big water tanks onboard ships but the cod’s inactivity in the tanks over the long journey resulted in them developing very soft and mushy flesh. By the time they reached their destination they were not what their Asian customers had ordered.

To counter the problem, the companies put catfish in the tanks with the cod. The catfish kept nipping at the cod and agitating them throughout the journey keeping them active and ensuring the quality of the fish.

We are catfish. We are there to agitate. To agitate for the family.

Wherever we are – in the workplace, in the community, in the classroom, in the courtroom, in the media, in the church, and especially in the parliament, our aim is to agitate and keep people on their toes.

As a Party, we are on track for the forthcoming SA State election in March with our key Lower House candidates now in place.

High on our nipping list will be to do those things which strengthen the family – economically and socially.

My late father used to say, “When poverty comes in the door, love goes out through the window”. In Australia today, one of the biggest causes of marriage stress is financial pressure – employment uncertainty, ridiculously high mortgages forcing both parents out to work, the high cost of educating and raising children, high power prices, high water prices – you name it.

Social ills caused by the rupturing of family relationships – divorce, de-facto relationships, fatherless households, single mothers bringing up children – lead to a breakdown in society. Family breakdown is costly.

We have quoted these figures before, but mental illness costs the Australian economy $180bn a year. More than 3,000 Australians take their own lives each year. Boys raised in father-absent environments are twenty times more likely to end up in a correctional facility. Addiction to alcohol, gambling, drugs and pornography are rampant.

Then there’s social media.

There is an indisputable link between mental health and social media. Violent computer games affect boys. Cyber bullying has turned deadly for girls. Sexting is rife. Online sexual predators are pervasive.

So how to respond to this new threat to family life? Do we try to control it or do we try to inoculate people against its effects?

Things are changing so profoundly – in social attitudes, world economics, and especially technology – that politicians and bureaucrats seem ill-equipped to manage them.

One institution which can do a lot to help combat the lawlessness of the digital jungle and its predators is the family. The family is the ideal place to teach about relationships, learning who to trust, who not to trust, who to communicate with, and who not to communicate with.

If we are not the catfish, someone else will be – and the results will not be pleasant.

Family Resilience

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pagliacci-familyA man visited a doctor saying he was deeply depressed. Confiding in the doctor, the man said he felt all alone in a threatening world and that life was just too hard. What’s more, he said he was very uncertain about what lay ahead for himself and his family.

The doctor responded with a suggestion: “The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Take your family to see his show, it will cheer you up no end.”

The man burst into tears. “Doctor, I am Pagliacci.”

Mental illness costs the Australian economy $180bn a year. More than 3,000 Australians take their lives each year. More young men take their own lives than are killed in road accidents. Boys raised in father-absent environments are five times more likely to commit suicide, ten times more likely to abuse drugs, fourteen times more likely to commit rape, and twenty times more likely to end up in a correctional facility. Fatherless households are a dreadful problem.

As are divorce, domestic violence, loneliness and addiction to alcohol, gambling, drugs and pornography.

Suicide rates have increased. Rates of depression have sky-rocketed. Drug overdoses, the ICE scourge, something is very wrong.

There is a strong link between the health of the family and crime. It begins in the home.

Pagliacci is a fictional story based on an Italian opera. But its message of people suffering in silence is potent.

But there is hope. The family.

Family has what is called ‘agency’. It can do things.

Family provides meaning, belonging and security. Strong family relationships reduce depression and anxiety disorders, strengthen the immune system and speed recovery from surgery.

We all know there is no model or perfect family. Every family is flawed because it is made up of flawed human beings. But the family is the place to cultivate the right way to view life and the world around us. These are indeed difficult times but we’ve known hardships before. They are the ‘snakes and ladders’ of life and these too will pass.

Social ills caused by the rupturing of family relationships – divorce, de-facto relationships, fatherless households, single mothers bringing up children, high housing costs – lead to a breakdown in society. Family breakdown is costly.

The Australian Family Party believes the family should be the State’s top priority. The Australian Family Party believes it is time to strengthen the family. It is time to protect the family, to fight for the family, your family is the one thing you’d take a bullet for.

If you are interested in becoming an Australian Family Party candidate at the next State election – or would like to support a candidate in the election – please let me know here.

Calling all Candidates – Election ’22!

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south-australia-parliamentIt wasn’t without its challenges, but on Friday we received notification of the Party’s official registration in South Australia. Thank you to all those who helped with this endeavour.

With no time to lose, our next focus is the upcoming South Australian state election due on 19 March.

Australia needs strong, stable and resilient families like never before, and we need voices in our parliaments – both State and Federal – that will stand against those forces which are eroding family life.

“Always looking for good people”

We are seeking to field as many candidates as possible to represent the Party in South Australia’s 47 Member House of Assembly, plus 2 candidates for the State’s Legislative Council.

The 47 members who make up the House of Assembly (‘the Lower House’) represent the 47 electorates across the state. Each electorate has approximately 22,000 voters who live in approximately 15,000 dwellings – an average of 1.5 people per household.

The 22 members of the Legislative Council (‘the Upper House’) do not have separate electorates but cover the whole state. Each Member is, in effect, a whole-of-state representative.

Being a candidate in an election is not difficult. In fact, it is a great experience.

Candidates are asked to oversee their chosen electorate during an election campaign. This involves co-ordinating volunteers to look after polling places (between 10–20 in each electorate) – essentially enlisting family and friends to hand out how-to-vote cards on election day.

If you are interested in becoming a candidate, please contact us here.

Then there’s the financial side of things.

First, the Electoral Commission charges $1,000 to nominate as a candidate. Second, pre-election flyers cost around $500 per electorate and distribution of those flyers a further $1,000. Third, how-to-vote cards cost another $500. All up, a total of $3,000 per electorate is needed to fund a local electorate campaign.

If you would like to support us in this extremely important election – the events of recent months in the parliament cannot be forgotten – but are not able to stand for election yourself, perhaps you would consider sponsoring a young person who might be considering a political future? We have younger members who have the energy and conviction but do not as yet have the financial resources to fund their own election. We firmly believe that if we do not nurture and mentor our younger members, we’ll be stuck with a parliament of no-conviction careerists forever!

In a major analysis of voting trends, the Australian newspaper last month reported, “Support for minor parties and independents has reached its highest level in at least four years.”

The time is right.

There is so much that can be done both in social policy – as events of recent months will attest – and financially, to reduce the pressure on families including income splitting for taxation purposes, subsidies for grandparents who look after grandchildren, putting an end to price-gouging by state governments of water and power costs, and much more.

As we prepare for the upcoming elections, we urgently need resources to fight the good fight. Please add your voice to those seeking to stand up for family values by assisting in this shared work. You can contact us here and/or donate here.