Lyle Shelton is an Australian politician and lobbyist who has served as the national director of the

Family First Party 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 w ...

since May 2022. Shelton previously served as managing director of the

Australian Christian Lobby The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is a Christian-conservative advocacy organisation based in Canberra. Structure The ACL is registered as a public company limited by guarantee and files political expenditure returns with the Australian Ele ...

(ACL) from 2013 to 2018, and was one of the leaders of the "No" campaign in the

Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey The Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey was a national survey by the Australian Government designed to gauge support for legalising same-sex marriage in Australia. The survey was held via the Australia Post, postal service between 12 Septe ...

. In 2018, he resigned from the ACL to become the federal communications director of the

Australian Conservatives Australian Conservatives was a conservative political party in Australia formed in 2017. It was led by Cory Bernardi, who had been elected to the Senate for the Liberal Party, but resigned citing disagreements with the Liberal/National Coa ...

Early life

Lyle Shelton was born in

South Burnett The South Burnett is a peanut growing and wine-producing area on the Great Dividing Range, north of the Darling Downs, in Queensland. It is with the basin of the Burnett River. The area is within two local government areas, South Burnett Region ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Career

Shelton was at one time the youth pastor on the staff of Toowoomba City Church. He served on Toowoomba City Council from 2000 to 2006. Shelton was the chair of Council's Strategy and Governance Committee and campaigned against the sex trade in that area. He had an active role in the "No" campaign in the 2006 Toowoomba Water Futures referendum, which his side won. Shelton retired from the Council to contest the 2006 state election, running in the seat of Toowoomba North for the Queensland Nationals. He was unsuccessful.

Australian Christian Lobby (2013–2018)

Shelton was managing director of the

from 2013 to 2018, having previously been chief of staff. He has said that same-sex marriage would affect the needs of children and religious views. Shelton is a member of the Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce. In relation to poker machines, he has said they cause incredible hardship to Australian children and families. He campaigned against the '' Safe schools program. In December 2016, Shelton participated in ''The Cape Town Declaration'' launched by conservative groups in Cape Town, South Africa, to affirm marriage as between a man and a woman. In the

, as of mid-September 2017, Shelton was mentioned across news outlets more times than the leading three "Yes" campaigners,

Alex Greenwich Alexander Hart Greenwich (born 28 November 1980) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of electoral district of Sydney, Sydney since the 2012 Sydney state by-election, 201 ...

, Tiernan Brady and

Sally Rugg Sally Rugg is an Australian LGBTIQ activist, feminist and political staffer. Rugg was the GetUp creative and campaigns director between 2013 and 2018. Rugg was one of the many public faces of the "YES" campaign in the Australian Marriage Law P ...

, combined.

Australian Conservatives (2018–2019)

In February 2018, Shelton resigned from his ACL position to re-enter party politics, joining

Cory Bernardi Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party h ...

as federal communications director.Lyle Shelton joins Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives
''The Guardian Australia'', 4 February 2018 He ran as the lead Senate candidate for Queensland at the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 18 May 2019, to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissol ...

, at which the party obtained just 1% of the vote. The party was deregistered on 25 June 2019.

Christian Democratic Party (2021)

In March 2021, during a Supreme Court case between two factions of the board,

Fred Nile Frederick John Nile (born 15 September 1934) is an Australian former politician and Ordination, ordained Minister (Christianity), Christian minister. Nile was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1981-2023, except for a perio ...

announced that he would be stepping down at the end of 2021 and nominated Shelton as his successor in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

and as President of the NSW

Christian Democratic Party __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

. Shelton agreed to this. The ''

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

'' stated that his priorities were expected to be "abortion, energy security, poverty and “woke corporations”". Shelton moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and took up a position within the Christian Democratic Party. In September 2021 Nile withdrew his endorsement of Shelton due to "irreconcilable differences" arising from opinions Shelton had posted online and a concern that "Lyle often acted without consultation with my team". Nile stated that he would remain in parliament until 2023 to complete his parliamentary term. Shelton was reported to be "devastated", but pledged "my ongoing service to party members and supporters as we build a political movement that truly reflects Christ's character".

Family First Party (2022–present)

On 27 May 2022, Shelton was appointed national director of the

. Tom Kenyon, a former

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

state minister and the current National Chairman of Family First, said he was 'delighted' to have 'someone of Lyle's calibre' joining the party.

“Australians need a party that will take a bold and unequivocable stand for families. The welfare and protection of families our freedom and our faiths should lie at the heart of our society and community. These are the foundations upon which western civilisation has been built and they must continue to remain strong. That's why we are building a movement that will stand for families and it is why I am delighted to have someone of Lyle's calibre to help build on the momentum Family First achieved at the recent South Australian election”

Shelton stood in the

2023 New South Wales state election The 2023 New South Wales state election was held on 25 March 2023 to elect the 58th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the New South ...

for the Legislative Council. His group got 1.2% with 58,361 votes. Shelton stood as the lead Senate candidate for Family First in New South Wales at the

2025 Australian federal election The 2025 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 3 May 2025, to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 ...

. He got 1.62% with 80,560 votes.

Other activities

Shelton was employed by Oodgeroo MP Mark Robinson from at least August 2019 and . From 2022, Shelton presented a program on ADH TV.

Award

In December 2016, Shelton was awarded '' World Magazines "2016 Daniel of the Year" for his role in the same-sex marriage debate in Australia.

Views

Shelton has drawn controversy for repeatedly referring to children brought up by same-sex couples as a

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church mis ...

, for his disappointment in Christians who support same-sex marriage, and for his support for parents who wished to use

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

on LGBT minors. Shelton has claimed a

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

show is "

porn Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

ography".

Works

* ''I Kid You Not: Notes from 20 Years in the Trenches of the Culture Wars''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, Lyle Australian chief executives Australian Christians Australian lobbyists Queensland local councillors Australian anti-same-sex-marriage activists Living people Australian Conservatives members Year of birth missing (living people)