Source: Family First
830 delegates gather for Forum on the Family
The annual Forum on the Family hosted by Family First NZ is happening this weekend and will bring together a national network of family-focused organisations, scholars, lobby groups, church leaders and community groups who are part of a growing movement to strengthen families, promote marriage, protect life, and defend religious freedom.
This year’s conference will be held at the Victory Convention Centre on Friday evening 11th September and all day Saturday 12th September and will be attended by 830 delegates – the largest conference in our 20-year history.
Speakers include:
- Dr Ben Carson (live via zoom from Washington DC): For nearly 30 years, Dr. Carson served as Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and successfully performed the first separation of twins conjoined at the back of the head. In 2016, Dr. Carson worked in the Trump administration as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 2021, Dr. Carson founded the American Cornerstone Institute. He last spoke in person at our conference in 2014.
- Sall Grover: In a case called Giggle v Tickle, the Australian Federal Court recently said that Sall Grover’s women-only app Giggle unlawfully discriminated against Roxanne Tickle, a transgender-identifying man who tried to join the app as a woman.
- Dr Jillian Spencer: A respected Queensland child and adolescent psychiatrist, who lost her job because she refused to comply with an automatic “affirmative” approach of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children experiencing gender distress.
- Dr Andrew Amos: Until recently, an academic psychiatrist at James Cook University and chair of the Queensland Section of Rural Psychiatry with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Dr Amos was also cancelled for arguing in academic publications that gender-affirming care is incompatible with evidence-based psychiatric practice.
- Martyn Iles: Martyn was Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, cofounded the Human Rights Law Alliance, and more recently was the Executive CEO at Answers in Genesis. Martyn is launching a new Christian education technology platform for children and young people. He spoke at the Forum on the Family four years ago.
As part of our 20th anniversary celebrations, leading broadcaster Leighton Smith will interview founder Bob McCoskrie about the legacy of Family First over the past 20 years, and what the future looks like given the current cultural changes and challenges.
As part of the conference agenda, there is a political panel debating the upcoming general election & policies of each of the parties, a medical panel discussing the issues affecting medical professionals around conscience, gender ideology and the sanctity of life, and a media panel analysing the decline of legacy media and its trust levels – and the rise of new media.
There will also be a live recording of our new online show CounterCulture as our young team of panellists discuss questions relating to faith, culture, and the issues shaping Millennials and Gen Z.
“There are many family-focused organisations and community leaders who, along with our thousands of supporters, are concerned about the effects of family breakdown & declining fertility rates, the weakening of marriage, issues relating to the protection of life (abortion / euthanasia), pornography and the sexualisation of children in the media, gender ideology & radical sexuality education targeted at young people, increasing levels of violence & drug use, and a culture which is becoming increasingly hostile to the role of parents and the safety of children and families,” says CEO Bob McCoskrie.
“This will be one of our largest conferences to date. It sends a strong message that the welfare and protection of families is high on the agenda, and these important moral issues cannot be ignored.”
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/09/10/830-delegates-gather-for-forum-on-the-family/