The Australian Family Movement was a minor familialist

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n political party formed in 1974 and active throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It originally came out of a group created to oppose the stage show ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

'' in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

(this group was successful in convincing the Liberal state government to ban the show). The party generally stood for

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Christian principles, and was particularly opposed to

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

transvestism Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

and

androgyny Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to Sex, biological sex or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in humans, it oft ...

, believing them "contrary to the natural order"; and to

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

, placing emphasis on the "dignity and sanctity of all human life, especially at its beginning and at its end". According to the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australian federal elections, plebiscites, referendums and some trade union A ...

, the Australian Family Movement was registered on 9 August 1984 and deregistered on 25 May 1990. The party's ACT division, the Family Team, won a seat in the

Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly The Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly was the main elected representative body of the Australian Capital Territory between 1975 and 1986, during which time preparation began for the granting of self-government to the Territory. The ...

in 1979, with party leader

Bev Cains Beverley Mary Evelyn Cains (born 25 February 1938) is an Australian former politician. Cains was elected to the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly for the electorate of Fraser in 1979 as a member of the Family Team; she was the pa ...

entering the House. She was joined by

Betty Hocking Betty Ann Hocking (13 March 1928 - 17 December 2017) was an Australian politician. She was a Family Team member of the Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly for Canberra from 1982 to 1986. Hocking was adopted as a baby and raised in co ...

in 1982, who served one term. Cains held her seat until the abolition of the House of Assembly, when she was defeated in an attempt to transfer to the new Legislative Assembly at the

1989 Australian Capital Territory election The 1989 Australian Capital Territory election was held on 4 March 1989 to elect the 1st Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly. This was the first direct election by voters in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) for their power leg ...

. Cains stood again for the Assembly in the

1992 Australian Capital Territory election Elections to the 1992 Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 February, alongside a referendum on an electoral system for future elections. The incumbent Labor Party, led by Rosemary Follett, was challenged by ...

, but the Family Team had by then been disbanded, and she was a candidate for the Better Management Team.

References

Christian political parties in Australia Christian democratic parties in Oceania Christian political parties Defunct political parties in Australia Political parties established in 1974 Political parties disestablished in 1990 1974 establishments in Australia 1990 disestablishments in Australia {{Australia-party-stub

See also

References