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Australian Better Families
AbbreviationABF
FounderLeith Erikson[1]
Founded31 August 2018; 6 years ago (2018-08-31)
HeadquartersRobina, Queensland
National affiliationAustralian Brotherhood of Fathers
SloganBetter families for a Better Nation
Website
www.betterfamilies.org.au

Australian Better Families is a political party registered since 31 August 2018.[2] The Party’s founder is Leith Erikson and has the slogan “Better Families for a Better Australia”. Australian Better Families campaign targets new and existing laws in the areas of mental health, child support and family law. Australian Better Families promotes the rights of father’s in the legal system, particularly stressing the trauma caused by separation from family during legal proceedings.[3] The party is a branch of the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers organisation, who stated they created the party as they "can no longer sit silently on the political sidelines to witness the betrayal of our children and families."[4]

Australian Better Families has been linked the Pauline Hanson's One Nation political party by contact between Leith Erikson, the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers and One Nation figures.

History

The Australian Better Families party was established in 2018 as the political arm of the ‘Australian Brotherhood of Fathers’. The party's founder, Leith Erikson, is a men's rights activist.[5] He started the #21fathers movement named for the unfounded claim that 21 men commit suicide each week because of family law issues such as child support and domestic violence orders.[6]The party has proposed a "Minister for Men" to complement the existing Minister for Women.[7]

Early feminism - Suffragette 2nd January 1909

Father’s rights groups can advocate certain legal rights and offer non-campaign related support targeting father's who feel failed by the legal system.[8] The Australian Brotherhood of Fathers have promoted a range of public awareness campaigns focusing on issues facing some parents, particularly fathers.

The fathers’ rights movement can be traced to the 19th century and the last thirty years have seen an increase in the movement's activity.[8] The popularity of men's rights groups has been encouraged by an increase in female activism and a shift from traditional parental roles towards female education and employment.[9][8][10]

A significant advancement of the Feminist movement was the provision of votes for women in 1918 in Britain, marking a movement away from the traditional family structure.[11] On June 12th 1902, Australia was the first country to give women the right to stand in parliament and to vote. 1943 marked the first women elect in Australia.[12]

Conservatism has provoked resentment in individuals as societal moral and biological values shift.[13] Conservatives can demonstrate essentialist values, insisting on the fundamentally different natures of men and women that are manifested in traditional social structures. A fundamental criticism from conservatives is that the power of the federal government has been enlisted to force feminist objectives.[13]

The Men's rights movement and the Father's rights movement, argues the existence of unrecognised injustice for men.[14] The movement consists of men and women concerned with discrimination in the legal system, particularly in the areas of divorce and child custody. Under the Men's rights political movement, it is argued that the feminist agenda can overstate the role of men in the oppression of women and subsequently worsen lives of men.[13] The movement denies the basis of feminist beliefs that men have access to more privileges than women.

Australian Better Families has received media commentary for its alignment with the men's rights ideology. The party has been targeted for its rejection of domestic violence as a gendered issue and discouragement of men from consenting to domestic violence orders.[15] The party also earned backlash for promoting the groups policy during a protest on the Gold Coast hosted on International Women's Day 2017.[16] Leith Erikson was quoted alleging “gender pay gap is a lie” and that “if women are not in top positions in business or government, it’s based on their ability to be there.”

Candidates

The Australia Better Families Party nominated candidates for the 2019 Australian federal election in the following areas:[17]

  • Senate candidates for New South Wales: Jewell Drury and Peter Moujalli
  • Senate candidates for Queensland: Darren Caulfield, Adam Finch and Rod Fox
  • Senate candidate for Tasmania: Greg Beck
  • Division of Greenway candidate: Graham McFarland[18]

Ideologies and policies

The Australian Better Families advocates policy reform in the sectors of mental health, child support and family law. These policies have long sparked debate that has led to the growth and spread of the men’s rights movement.[3][10]

The Australian Better Families party cites the amendment of domestic violence legislation as a core administrative target.[19] Pauline Hanson is deputy chair in the ongoing inquiry into the Australian Family Law system. Pauline Hanson's One Nation party has been linked to Australian Better Families and Australian Brotherhood of Fathers through the hosting events purposed to raise domestic violence awareness, and through social media contact between Leith Erikson and One Nation party members.[20][21] One Nation has proposed new domestic violence policy, including a change to the laws that categorically restrict a father's visitation after a court awards an emergency protection order. This policy has been partly credited to input from the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers.[22] In 2020, the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers submitted the idea of a low-risk domestic violence category to Senate.[23] The inquiry has targeted the issue of women filing false domestic violence claims, which is also a focus of the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers. [24][25] The Brotherhood have advocated a series of public awareness campaigns attempting to shed light on this issue in the modern legal system, including #donotconsent. This campaign encouraged individuals served with a notice to appear in court to answer a Domestic Violence Order, Apprehended Violence Order, Violence Restraining Order or an Instant Offense, to refuse to consent to the order without the matter going to trial.[26]

Leith Erikson is the founder of Australian Better Families and has been publicly connected to Pauline Hanson's One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts, One Nation past Leader Steve Dickson and the One Nation party more broadly. The Australian Brotherhood of Fathers has publicly clashed with Liberal MP Ros Bates and the Electrical Trades Union.

  • The Australian Brotherhood of Fathers hosted a barbecue that was funded by the One Nation party in November 2017.[27] The barbecue was officially hosted by Malcolm Roberts, an Ipswich political candidate for One Nation. The Australian Brotherhood of Father's and #endallDV were running the sausage sizzle. Queensland Council of Union members were present to voice concerns for the rights and safety of women and children in One Nation's domestic violence laws.
  • The Electrical Trades Union also opposed the barbecue and posed questions to Malcolm Roberts regarding political issues such as domestic violence and weekend penalty rates. Roberts ignored the questions; however, his supporters could be seen yelling at the Union's organiser Stuart Trail. Trail was quoted after the event saying; "A bloke started abusing me and calling me a pedophile".[20]
  • In a Facebook video, Leith Erikson has claimed that the Australian Brotherhood of Fathers "produced policy" with One Nation in 2017 "to level the playing field and make domestic violence policy gender-neutral".[5]
  • In April 2017, Blokes Advice met with representatives of One Nation. Blokes Advice is a closed Facebook group that has been shut down in the past after allegations of glorifying rape and violence against women. The group admin have publicly acknowledged that they have agreed to allow the Australian Brotherhood of Father's to use the page as "an advertising avenue".[5]
  • A Facebook live video filmed in March 2018 was released showing Senator Malcolm Roberts, Steve Dickson and Leith Erikson alleging that individuals are made to become violent by the poor family law system.[21] This commentary was then admonished by Law Council of Australia president Arthur Moses SC. Arthur Moses described the comments as "irresponsible and plain stupid" due to their capacity to encourage violence in individuals who are currently or were previously involved in legal proceedings.[28] Following this, Arthur Moses SC recommended all politicians undergo domestic violence awareness training on account of the ongoing family law inquiry.
  • The Australian Brotherhood of Fathers were accused of harassing Liberal MP Ros Bates in 2017.[5] In parliament, she has described the group as "a group of men who harass women, promote suicide and use fake statistics, all to drive their own warped agenda". Bates has specifically condemned One Nation domestic violence law and alleged Steve Dickson was influenced by the Australian Brotherhood of Father's in policy reform - "brainwashed by a few jilted men caught up in custody battles".[29]

References

  1. ^ Paten, Gabrielle. "NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION AS A POLITICAL PARTY" (PDF). Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Registration of a political party Australian Better Families" (PDF). Notice under s 133(1A)(a) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Australian Electoral Commission. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b Walker, Carlie. "Support group for separated dads to start in M'boro". Fraser Coast Chronicle. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Australian Better Families". Australian Brotherhood of Fathers. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d Medhora, By James Purtill and Shalailah (24 November 2017). "Brothers & Blokes: The men behind One Nation's domestic violence policy". triple j.
  6. ^ Moody, Sherele (24 June 2017). "Beware the dubious claims of this men's rights group". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Minister for Men". www.facebook.com. Australian Better Families Party.
  8. ^ a b c "Fathers' Rights, Fatherhood and Law Reform—International Perspectives", Fathers’ Rights Activism and Law Reform in Comparative Perspective, Hart Publishing, 2006, doi:10.5040/9781472563750.ch-001, ISBN 978-1-84113-629-5, retrieved 15 November 2020
  9. ^ Palmer, Zachary D.; Subramaniam, Mangala (2017). "Abstract egalitarianism and men as victims: strategic choice of frames by men's rights organisations". International Social Science Journal. 67 (225–226): 97–108. doi:10.1111/issj.12150. ISSN 1468-2451.
  10. ^ a b Ruxton, Sandy; Baker, Helen (1 December 2009). "Father's rights, fatherhood and masculinity/ies". Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law. 31 (4): 351–355. doi:10.1080/09649060903430140. ISSN 0964-9069. S2CID 145285104.
  11. ^ "The Legacy of the Suffragettes for British Fascism", Feminine Fascism, I.B. TAURIS, 2000, doi:10.5040/9780755623280.ch-0004, ISBN 978-1-86064-544-0, retrieved 16 November 2020
  12. ^ corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Women's Electoral Rights - Selected Countries". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 16 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b c Clatterbaugh, Kenneth C. (8 October 2018). Contemporary perspectives on masculinity : men, women, and politics in modern society (Second ed.). New York. ISBN 978-0-429-97496-0. OCLC 1041706966.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ^ Witt, Taisto (4 March 2020). "Book Review: Men's Rights, Gender, and Social Media". Men and Masculinities. 23 (3–4): 794–796. doi:10.1177/1097184x20910494. ISSN 1097-184X. S2CID 216186783.
  15. ^ "Misleading political campaigns? No thanks, we've had enough". Women's Agenda. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  16. ^ "The men protesting Women's Day". NewsComAu. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Better Candidates". Australian Better Families Party. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  18. ^ Bradley, Penelope (28 November 2018). "Family issues first". Blacktown Advocate.
  19. ^ "Better Families". Australian Better Families Party. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  20. ^ a b Korner, Andrew. "Union boss responds to 'pedophile' taunt at One Nation BBQ". Queensland Times. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Malcolm Roberts says family courts driving men to lash out and 'hurt the other person'". www.abc.net.au. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  22. ^ "The ideologies behind the Family Court inquiry". Crikey. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  23. ^ Worthington, Jackson (25 July 2020). "Concerns raised over 'low-risk' domestic violence suggestion". The Examiner. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  24. ^ "Malcolm Roberts criticised after claiming 'many' domestic violence allegations made up". the Guardian. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  25. ^ "Pauline Hanson accuses son's ex of false sexual abuse claims". The New Daily. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  26. ^ "Australian Brotherhood of Fathers". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  27. ^ "One Nation supporters, men's rights groups clash with unionists in Ipswich". www.abc.net.au. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  28. ^ Gredley, Rebecca (23 September 2019). "Push for family violence awareness for MPs". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  29. ^ "Brainwashed by jilted men in custody battles". www.couriermail.com.au. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2020.


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