#Gerard Rennick People First

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review XI (federal 2025): Gerard Rennick People First

Running where: in the House, half of the divisions in Queensland plus Farrer and Richmond in NSW and McEwen and Scullin in VIC; in the Senate, SA and WA in their own right, NSW (third candidate in Group I on joint ticket with HEART and Libertarians), QLD (lead candidate of Group G with running mate from Katter’s Australian Party), and VIC (lead candidate of Group O with running mate from HEART)

Reviews of the above-named micro-parties are forthcoming

Prior reviews: none, this is a new party

If you don’t know who Gerard Rennick is, your elderly relative who has brainrot from Facebook probably does. Rennick posts relentlessly there. And if a conspiracy theory exists, Rennick probably believes it. He is especially keen on conspiracy theories about the covid pandemic and loves to deny the reality of climate change.

So, who is Gerard Rennick? He was elected in 2019 as a Senator for Queensland, third on the LNP ticket. Now, when it comes to the Liberal/National Coalition, Queensland’s amalgamated Liberal National Party is probably the craziest (don’t discount NT’s Country Liberals, but the LNP has weight of numbers): this is the party that brought us the likes of Matt Canavan and George Christensen. The covid pandemic sent Rennick mad, as if he wasn’t already. He became a Facebook celebrity among cookers, posting or sharing content that opposed his own government’s actions to ameliorate the effects of the pandemic. In July 2023, the LNP had a moment of clarity and shunted Rennick out of a winnable position from their 2025 ticket, the eventual consequence of which is that Rennick quit the LNP in August 2024 and registered this party the next month.

Let’s see, then, what his party wants this year. Rennick is pro-Putin, which ought to be instantly discrediting. The party website goes to considerable lengths to present a more palatable veneer, but frankly it can largely be ignored. The “flexible childcare” policy just reduces the funding available for professional early childhood education services, the health policy is incoherent cooker madness, the policy to remove Fringe Benefits Tax is basically the spirit of Christopher Skase Boozy Lunches made flesh, and making universities pay the unpaid component of HECS debts of deceased students is frankly bizarre.

Unsurprisingly, People First is blatantly racist. They’re mad about Acknowledgements and Welcomes to Country, which is a sure sign of a person who needs to grow up and realise not everything is about them. Although they acknowledge that Australia is a nation of migrants, they think that “zero immigration would be ideal”. I guess at least their migrant candidates are honest in pulling up the ladder behind them. People First are especially mad about migrants from “radical nations” (no really, that’s their term), despite their own extreme viewpoints. They are mad that “foreigners” might own houses or other property in Australia, because we do love a panic about foreign (read as: Chinese) ownership in this country—of course they don’t bother to clarify how we define foreign vs local ownership. Could I be a foreign landowner because I am a Pākehā New Zealander by birth? No, Rennick is probably cool with me because I’m lily white. Are my Australian-born friends with Chinese names foreign owners? (there was a “Chinese-sounding names” controversy in NZ along similar lines)

It isn’t hard to pick out other crazy policies. For instance, People First wants a referendum to “enshrine Freedom of Speech in the Constitution” (capitalisation original). Why would we need that when we already have an implied freedom of political communication? I don’t think it’s worth taking seriously anything Rennick says, because his real views have long been presented on Facebook. He is a dangerous individual who should have no say in our parliament.

Recommendation: In the House, give Gerard Rennick People First a very low preference; in the Senate, give Gerard Rennick People First a weak or no preference.

Website: https://peoplefirstparty.au/

[johnnygsanto]

Labor needs to heed lessons why people didn't vote for us, says Bill Shorten - The Guardian

Labor needs to heed lessons why people didn't vote for us, says Bill Shorten  The Guardian

Gerard Rennick is using his first speech to call for a cut in immigration, saying as the son of a farmer he was always taught not to “over stock your paddocks”.

Originally Published here: Labor needs to heed lessons why people didn't vote for us, says Bill Shorten - The Guardian

[axvoter]

Index to the Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews, 2025 federal edition

This Saturday, 3 May 2025, is federal election day in Australia. If you are unsure who all these parties are on your ballot, I’m here for you. I’ve reviewed all parties registered with the Australian Electoral Commission except for the most widely known ones: Labor, Greens, and the Liberal/National coalition parties. I have also reviewed the teal independents, a couple of unregistered parties who are endorsing independent candidacies, and two independent Senate candidates in Western Australia.

What you will find below: an index to all my reviews, a classification of parties by broad categories of recommendation, recommendations of other sites reviewing the parties, and some voting tips and advice. It should be obvious but these are my personal views and should not be construed as reflecting those of my employer or anyone else. I write from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, mixed economies and urbanism. If you have even halfway similar political perspectives to me, I hope this might be useful. Please feel free to share with anybody whom you think will also be interested.

Index to all my reviews for 2025

Read the list below as: party name (ideology / where running). For the locations, a plain state abbreviation means the party is running a Senate ticket in this state; check with the AEC here to see if they also have a candidate in your electorate of the House of Representatives. A state abbreviation with an asterisk (*) indicates that in this state, the party is running only for an electorate or electorates in the House of Representatives; again, check the AEC here to see if it is yours. In some instances, though, I have listed the specific seat.

Animal Justice Party (animal rights / all states + ACT)

Australia First, who are unregistered (neo-Nazi scum / Division of Lindsay)

Australian Christians (Christian fundamentalism / NSW, WA)

Australian Citizens Party (conspiracy theorists / all states + NT)

Australian Democrats (centre-left / NSW*, QLD, VIC, WA)

Australia’s Voice (centre-left / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Centre Alliance (centrism / Division of Mayo)

Dai Le and Frank Carbone W.S.C. (centre-right / Division of Fowler)

David Pocock (green social liberalism / ACT)

Family First (Christian fundamentalism / ACT*, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC)

FUSION | Planet Rescue | Whistleblower Protection | Innovation (centre-left-ish hodgepodge / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Gerard Rennick People First (far-right cult of personality / NSW, QLD, SA, VIC, WA)

Good Party, who are unregistered (centre-left / Divisions of Kingsford-Smith and Page)

Great Australian Party (sovereign citizens / QLD, WA)

Health Environment Accountability Rights Transparency (HEART) (antivax far-right woo / ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights / NSW, NT*, QLD, VIC, WA*)

Jacqui Lambie Network (centre-right cult of personality / NSW, QLD, SA, TAS)

Katter’s Australian Party (right-wing cult of personality / QLD)

Legalise Cannabis Australia (single issue / all states + NT)

Libertarian Party (far-right libertarianism / all states and territories)

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (xenophobic far-right populism / all states + NT)

Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers (anti-environmentalist gun nuts / NSW*, TAS, VIC)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / NSW, QLD, VIC*, WA)

Socialist Equality Party, who are unregistered (antisocial socialism for cantankerous people / NSW as Group B, VIC as Group G, and indies in seats of Calwell, Newcastle, Oxley)

Sustainable Australia–Universal Basic Income (anti-immigration NIMBYs / all states and territories)

Teal independents (centrism / assortment of lower-house seats in all states and territories)

Trumpet of Patriots (lunar right / all states)

Ungrouped independent candidates for the Senate in WA (right-wing or plain odd personalities who should receive a low preference)

Victorian Socialists (socialism / VIC)

Classification of all parties by broad category of recommendation

At the end of each review is a recommendation of how positively or negatively you should preference each party. Let’s see how all the parties have shaken out. Within each category, I am presenting parties alphabetically rather than suggesting an order for your preferences. I have written a separate entry on how I decide the ranking of unpalatable parties.

Good preference: David Pocock, Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia, Socialist Alliance, Victorian Socialists

The parties above have a positive overall platform that has few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter.

Decent to good preference: Australian Democrats; Australia’s Voice

The parties above have a positive overall platform, but I have minor reservations.

Decent preference: Animal Justice Party, Good Party, teal independents

The parties (or independents) above have a generally positive overall platform, but I have reservations.

Middling preference: Centre Alliance, Legalise Cannabis

The parties above have a balance of positive and negative qualities, or a decent platform undermined by a notably terrible policy or characteristic.

Note on Legalise Cannabis: middling is a generalisation as candidate quality varies. In Victoria, for instance, give Fiona Patten (lead Senate candidate) a decent to good preference; in Queensland, give Belinda Jones (lead Senate candidate) a weak preference.

Weak to middling preference: Dai Le & Frank Carbone W.S.C., Fusion Party, Jacqui Lambie Network, Socialist Equality Party, Sustainable Australia

The parties above are problematic, but better than what comes below.

Weak or no preference: Australia First, Australian Christians, Australian Citizens Party, Family First, Gerard Rennick People First, Great Australian Party, HEART, Katter’s Australian Party, Libertarian Party, One Nation, Shooters, Trumpet of Patriots

The parties above have more negatives than positives (usually many more!). In the House of Representatives, where you must give full preferences, put these parties as low as possible. In the Senate, I recommend you do likewise to maximise the potential power of your vote; but I recognise that some of you prefer not to express preferences between varying gradations of undesirability or prefer not to rank the most odious parties.

Other good reviewers

For further opinions, b_auspol has reviewed parties and independents contesting NSW, Kevin Bonham has summarised those contesting Tasmania, Notionoriety has concise left-wing overviews for QLD, NSW, and VIC, Anthony Zougras has overviews of all registered parties (more concise than me, less than Notionoriety), and Something for Cate is very comprehensive, with a Victorian emphasis, continuing the tradition of much-missed Cate Speaks.

Voting tips and advice

When you go to vote, you will receive two ballots. The smaller green one is for the House of Representatives, the lower house; whichever party/ies command a majority on the floor of the House forms government. You must number EVERY SQUARE on the small green ballot for the House. Many seats have independent candidates; make sure you look into them as they vary substantially in their platforms and competence.

The larger white ballot is for the Senate, the upper house. This is the house of review. We are voting for roughly half the Senate, as state senators serve six-year terms. This means each state elects six senators, requiring 14.3% of the vote to be elected; each territory elects just two (who serve terms aligned with the House), requiring 33.3% of the vote to be elected. On the Senate ballot you can vote above the line for PARTIES or below the line for INDIVIDUALS. Above the line you must give at least six preferences; below the line you must give at least twelve; beyond this point, you can do what you like. You can stop preferencing entirely or you give as many more preferences as you want. I strongly recommend you preference as far as possible because this increases the potential power of your vote.

If you want something more visual (and humorous), Patrick Alexander has two handy cartoon explainers: you can’t waste your vote for the House of Representatives and what’s the go with voting for the Senate?

If you want to vote below the line in the Senate, you can make your own custom how-to-vote card using Cluey Voter. It is the only site of which I am aware that allows you to construct a below-the-line vote (Donkey Votie and Build a Ballot can only make above-the-line cards). Print it off and take it into the booth with you! And do you need to find your nearest democracy sausage or cake stall? This website has you covered.

Happy voting everybody, and a delicious democracy sausage or sweet treat to one and all!