Family First senator flags abortion debate
November 3, 2004 - 3:41PM
Steve Fielding
Federal parliament's first senator from the fledgling Family First Party today flagged a review of publicly funded abortion as he claimed an historic election victory.
Steve Fielding was today announced the winner of the sixth and final Victorian Senate place by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) after the 265th round of counting and distribution of preferences.
As had been widely predicted since election day on October 9, he outpolled the Greens' David Risstrom on the back of preferences from Labor's Jacinta Collins.
Mr Fielding, 43, a manager with a superannuation fund, is the first person to be elected to federal parliament from Christian-aligned Family First, which contested its first federal poll this year.
\ Mr Fielding was told the result with a congratulatory hug from his wife Susan, who was one of the party's campaign managers, outside the AEC offices in Melbourne about 12.15pm (AEDT).
The Greens outpolled Family First by almost five-to-one, with Mr Fielding's party gaining just 1.9 per cent of the primary vote.
But in the 285th and final round of counting today, Mr Fielding picked up 220,216 preferences from Senator Collins, to finish with 540, 012 votes to Mr Risstrom's 314,729.
Gathering his wife and three children around him, Mr Fielding hailed the result as history-making.
But it will not give Family First the balance-of-power after the coalition last week gained total control of the Senate for the first time in almost two decades.
"This is an historic occasion in Australia's political history with Family First being elected to the federal parliament in the Senate," Mr Fielding told reporters.
"It's the first time a family-based party has been run and also been successful, so this will change Australia's (political) landscape.
"Already Family First has put families first by having the prime minister already agreeing to make sure that family impact statements are done with each piece of legislation that goes before the Cabinet."
Mr Fielding, who said he would not be a puppet for any political party, signalled he agreed with some senior government ministers that there needed to be a review of publicly-funded abortion procedures.
He did not rule out seeking to have Medicare funding of abortions abolished.
"Our position is that at the bare minimum, that adequate information should be at hand for people to make a considered decision," he said.
"This may include counselling and may also include scans of these unborn children.
"It's very important this decision is not done light-heartedly."
Mr Fielding said Family First was a conservative party, but shirked away from direct links to the evangelical Assemblies of God church.
"We are a party that has been moderate and conservative and I think the Australian people have voted that they don't want to move too far left," he said.
Mr Fielding said he had an open mind on much of the government's agenda, including industrial relations reform, but did not believe Telstra could remain half-owned by the government and by private investors.
Mr Risstrom said the result was due solely to the preference deals struck by Family First with the major parties.
"I think the majority of people, many more people, wanted the Greens in parliament than Family First," Mr Risstrom said.
"The Labor Party failed to tell voters and booth helpers and the electorate that they had a sneaky deal with Family First."
