The prospective winner of the fifth South Australian Senate seat, Family First’s Bob Day, says he will use his key position in the upper house to fight the centralising of power in Canberra.

He told InDaily he would use his position to further the interests of the federalist Samuel Griffith Society. He opposes minimum wages, will likely support the removal of the carbon price, won’t vote for gay marriage, and will oppose the Coalition’s proposed cuts to growth in the foreign aid budget.

As a long-time personal friend of Tony Abbott he expects he will work well with the new Prime Minister.

With more than 70 per cent of the Senate vote counted, a suite of preference deals looks set to carry Day to the fifth spot despite winning less than 4 per cent of the first-preference votes.

READ: Inside Adelaide’s conservative HQ

On current results, the balance of power in the Senate is likely to be held by a motley collection of minor parties, including Family First.

Last week, Day told InDaily he would use the balance of power to push competitive federalism – one of the core philosophies of the decentralist Samuel Griffith Society, which also seeks to defend the Australian Constitution.

“The Senate is the state’s house,” he said. “I’m the secretary of the Samuel Griffith Society which is all about federalism – how it’s much much better to run a country on a federal system so the states are competing with each other, rather than one central government that just dictates.

“The classic example that everyone uses is death duties up in Queensland.

“All states used to charge death duties, where when you died a percentage of your estate went to the government. Queensland abolished them, so all the old people moved to Queensland.

“So what happened was, the other states quickly all abolished it. Now if you had one central government, Canberra, that had death duties, what’s the incentive for them to abolish them? None.

“Whereas if you’ve got competitive federalism, one state will get something right and force the others to catch up or lose business to that state. And that’s how that keeps the pressure on.

“If there was only one homebuilder in Adelaide, Homestead Homes, I dare say we wouldn’t be quite as good as what we are. It’s exactly the same in running a country.”

Day is the founder of local home construction company Homestead Homes.

In addition to the Samuel Griffith Society, Day is associated with several interest groups – including the conservative HR Nicholls Society and the Conservative Leadership Foundation.

Day houses several conservative organisations, including several led by conservative Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, at his Fullarton Road headquarters.

He expects to be able to work very well with new Prime Minister Abbott, a long-time friend.

“I’ve known Tony Abbott since before he went into parliament. We’ve been friends a long time. We used to run Australians for Constitutional Monarchy together.”

Day is an archetypical conservative.

He argues that minimum wages and workers entitlements make it too difficult to employ workers and are contributing to unemployment.

Government has intruded far too much into people’s lives, and should be restricted to upholding laws of contract and defending Australia’s borders.

However, he won’t support the Liberal Party’s policy to freeze the foreign aid budget – he wants it bumped up to 1 per cent of GDP.

And he’s strongly against legalising euthanasia or gay marriage.

“Marriage is a very important institution for the furtherance of the species and for the protection of children. It’s unarguable that children thrive and do much much better when they are raised in a family with the natural mother, natural father, in a marriage situation which is protected under law.

“It’s protected by the government of the day in order to provide a safe and secure environment for children to grow up in.

Day was a member of the Liberal Party for 20 years before quitting over a disputed preselection. He claims the Liberals aren’t real conservatives.

“The Liberals are not conservatives. The Liberals are bigger spenders than Labor. The government grew under Howard.”