Gerard Rennick People First (GRPF), also known as the People First Party (PFP), is an

Australian political party The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia. Federally, 12 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...

founded by Queensland senator

Gerard Rennick Gerard Rennick (born 5 November 1970) is an Australian politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 2019 to 2025. He was elected to the Senate at the 2019 Australian federal election, 2019 federal election as a member of the Liberal Na ...

in August 2024. Rennick was elected to the Senate as a

Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...

candidate in 2019. Gerard Rennick People First was officially registered by 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 ...

(AEC) on 5 December 2024, in order to contest the 2025 federal election.

Background and history

Beginning in 2021, Liberal National Party (LNP) senator

began to receive criticism for his social media posts and his stance towards both federal and state government measures taken around the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...

, including state border closures, domestic travel restrictions and vaccine mandates. Rennick's critical stance towards government policy continued throughout 2021–2022, and was labelled a "rebel"

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

MP. By early July 2023 Rennick narrowly lost preselection for the LNP's Senate ticket at the next federal election (2025). In August 2024, Rennick quit the LNP and announced a new political party to contest the 2025 federal election. Several months later in December 2024, the party was officially registered by the

(AEC).

2025 federal election

Ahead of the 2025 federal election, it was announced in March 2025 that People First had entered into an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

with the

HEART Party Health, Environment, Accountability, Rights, Transparency (HEART) is a minor Australian political party registered federally and in New South Wales. The party supports alternative medicine, COVID-19 scepticism, climate change scepticism, and ...

and the Libertarian Party. The announced agreement, known as the "Australia First Alliance", placed People First

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates on a joint ticket with both the

and the Libertarian Party in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, and on a joint ticket with the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The following month (14 April), People First entered into another electoral agreement: uniting with the

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

-based

Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former National ...

(KAP) on a joint

ticket for

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 ...

. For the 2025 federal election, People First had a total of 25 candidates running across the country. Party leader,

, was the lead

candidate for Queensland, where the majority (16/25) of its candidates were running. Rennick stated the party had over 2,000 members by May 2025, with an aim to have 5,000 by the next election. People First got 151,310 or 0.95% of the vote, failing to get any candidate elected.

Beliefs and policies

Rennick is a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

former politician. He describes himself as a

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

and on economic policy said he favoured a "protectionist nationalist" form of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. Since the party's foundation, it has been characterised as

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 ...

, particularly its economic policies, and

, while holding a "staunchly right-wing political stance" with a "very committed base of supporters". Rennick, an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

by trade, has claimed Australia's current rate of withholding tax provided an incentive for multinational firms to "ship their profits offshore", and called for lowering the company tax rate to 12%, more than half its current rate (2019). He also cited Australia's system of corporate revenue collection was "why I really want to run" for

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Rennick has also called for scrapping franking credits, stating: "So, if you really wanted to reform the tax system... you should get rid of franking credits altogether and just have a lower, flatter company tax rate."

Policies

* Withdrawal of Australia from the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(WHO). * Remove all funding and references to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. * Drop net-zero and leave the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...

. * Supports coal, nuclear, gas and hydro energy. * Raising the

tax-free threshold The income tax threshold is the income level at which a person begins paying income taxes. The income tax threshold equates to the: * Personal allowance in the UK, which is £12,500 for 2019/20. *Basic allowance in Germany, which is €9,408 in 2 ...

from $18,200 to $40,000. * Giving childcare subsidy payments directly to parents (subject to welfare checks). * Advocate that

superannuation A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "Defined benefit pension pla ...

be voluntary and use the savings to lift the pension. * Call a

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

to streamline the duplication of roles and responsibilities of State and Federal Governments. * Advocate to means-test the pensions of retired white-collar public servants. * Abolish the Climate Change Department and subsidies for

renewables Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind power, and hydropower. Bioenergy and ...

. * Reinstatement of a public bank (similar to the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of fi ...

between 1911 and 1991) and reintroduce a Government Insurance Office. * Establishing a " Infrastructure Bank", which would issue bonds to the Federal and State Governments for seven types of

Infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

–

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

s, Baseload Power Stations (not renewables), Roads, Rail, Ports, Airports and Telecommunications. * Abolish the "Multicultural Department". * Lower the corporate tax rate to 25%. * Hold a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

on enshrining

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

in the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. * Limit

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

to under 100,000 work visas and incentivise settlement in regional areas. * Prevent welfare benefits to foreign-born citizens for a ten-year period; repeal the Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early Professionals Scheme (MATES) with

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Notes

References

{{Australian political parties 2024 establishments in Australia Liberal National Party of Queensland breakaway groups Political parties established in 2024 Political parties in Australia