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Rikki Lambert

New 'Family First' as probable as reforming the Beatles: former senator


A bemused Ringo Star statue in their Liverpool hometown

A self-described 'Ringo Starr', former Family First senator for South Australia, Bob Day says the news that two former Labor cabinet ministers will resurrect the 'Family First' brand is as plausible as re-forming the Beatles.


Speaking on the Morning Show on FlowFM, former Senator Day said former ALP MPs Jack Snelling and Tom Kenyon could no more re-form 'Family First' than they could the British pop sensation:

"It's a bit like a couple of guys announcing they were re-starting the Beatles. They could call themselves the Beatles and sing some of their old songs, but it's not the same."

The full interview appears in the FlowNews24 player below:

As founder and chair of the fledgling new 'Australian Family Party' that will compete with the new 'Family First' for votes at the state election, Mr Day continued the musical analogies explaining his role in the situation:

"I was the Ringo Starr to (party founder) Andrew Evans' Paul McCartney if you like. After the original Family First 'band' fell apart, I started another 'band' called Australian Family Party."

The Australian Family Party chairman said before yesterday, he had lined Mr Kenyon up to run as a candidate for his party in the March 2022 state election:

"Ironically, Tom Kenyon, one of the members of this new party called 'family first' was going to be one of our candidates, but it looks like he's going to be a candidate for this new party."

Mr Day was sceptical of whether the ex-Labor MPs would be completely neutral towards their former Labor colleagues:

"The guys in the Labor Party - it's a bit like Hotel California - you can check out but you can never leave. They're lifetime members, it's in their blood, in their DNA ..."

Mr Kenyon was approached for comment but declined to comment.


Disclosure: the author is a former Family First member and chief of staff to then senator Day

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