Religious Right Groups
Australian Federation for the Family
(formerly Australian Federation for Decency)
| Leadership: | Jack and Margaret Sonnemann (arrived Australia from Memphis, Tennessee in the early 1980s) |
| Date formed: | 1983-1984 (a period of informal activity preceded official formation) |
| Area of operation: | Australia-wide; strongest in Victoria and Queensland. |
| Estimated membership: | More often claims ‘readership of 100,000′ than ‘membership’. The Sonnemanns run the show, and regular financial supporters probably number less than 1,000. |
| Finances: | Constantly cries poor. J. Sonnemann sometimes attends overseas conferences, but quality of publications etc. indicates limited resources. Sonnemann once boasted that Donald Wildmon’s American Family Association ‘always give[s] me a substantial honorarium’ when he speaks at its conferences (letter, 2 Aug. 1997) |
| Main objectives: | Broad-focus i.e. tries to protect Australian families from ‘prostitution, pornography, paedophilia, promiscuity, homosexuality, media violence, immorality etc.’, but especially concerned to protect children from the sight of ‘pornography’ in retail outlets. |
| Main activities: | Letters to advertisers, lobbying politicians, addressing church groups and public meetings. |
| Links with other groups: | Jack Sonnemann ‘worked closely with the John Birch Society’ before migrating here (letter, April 1985). He modelled AFF on Wildmon’s National Federation for Decency (now American Family Association) (New Life, 9 Mar. 1989) and maintains close contact with both Wildmon and Dr James Dobson of Focus on the Family (US). AFF maintains cordial relationships with many other Australian Religious Right organisations, including Christian Reconstructionist bodies such as Light Educational Ministries. |
| Publications: | Irregular, low-quality AFF Journal published approx. twice a year. Occasional letters, leaflets and pamphlets. |
| Sample quotes: | “Homosexuals are at least 12 times as apt to molest children as are heterosexuals and homosexual teachers are at least 100 times more apt to molest a pupil! … Hugging or shaking hands with a homosexual and then touching your eye, nose or mouth or any break in your skin could result in your infection with any of the host of homosexual diseases … (New Life, 12 July, 1990) |
| [Pornography] has had such an impact on Australia, to desensitise the population so much, that Australia leads the world in rape … When the Japanese foreign ministry gets an application for a visa from one of their [women] to visit Australia, they get a warning when they get their visa back - that if they go to Australia, they’re likely to be raped. (Allie Martin ‘Despite Victories …’, American Family Association website, 24 March 2003) | |
| Assessment: | Generally ineffective one-family show, though Sonnemann continually claims ‘victories’. American links bear watching. |
| Contact details: | P O Box 106 Canterbury, Victoria 3126 www.AusFamily.org |
