Scott Morrison is Australiaâs first Pentecostal prime minister. He is a member of the Horizon Church in Sutherland, which is part of the Australian Christian Churches network. He attends regularly. No one, including the author of this piece, would deny him the right to choose his religious affiliation or to apply his Christian beliefs in his workplace.
What were disquieting though were the reactions and the proclamations of Pentecostal leaders about his ascension to the prime ministership. Gareth Hutchens wrote about this comprehensively in The Guardian , from which I quote extensively. Do play the video at the head of this article.
Last Sunday, pastor Adam F Thompson from the Voice of Fire Ministries and Adrian Beale from Everrest Ministries told a congregation at Hope City Church that â Morrisonâs elevation to power was divinely inspiredâ , and warned that âdarknessâ will spread across Australia and Christians will be persecuted if Morrison does not win the next election.
Thompson, who claims that supernatural signs accompany his ministry and that he can interpret dreams, proclaimed that heâd received a message from God that Morrison and the Coalition must win the election. âThe Lord woke me up at 4.30 am this morning.â
Thompson continued: âScott Morrison, heâs a born-again Christian, heâs probably one of the first ever born-again prime ministers, but itâs not time to celebrate at the moment. This is a crucial time right now ⊠In the next six months, itâs time for the body of Christ to put its differences aside ⊠and come together and agree that Jesus is the Messiah and start praying together for our prime minister, and for our government. I really see that the body of Christ is going to have influence in the political arena of this nation. (my emphasis).
Thompson was adamant: ââŠif the prime minister doesnât get elected in this next election thereâs going to be darkness coming. And Iâm not being negative. The laws are going to change where darkness is going to come and there will be persecution on the church.â
He asked his congregation if they truly wanted a Pentecostal revival and reformation in Australia, and went on: âIf it doesnât happen in the next yearâŠthe laws are going to come in, where theyâre going to change and darkness will come. The Lord is saying he wants us to rise up and pray, rather than come into persecution where weâll have no choice.â
Beale from Everrest Ministries leads his congregation in prayer for Morrison, calling on God to help Australians grasp the value of his intervention in the leadership spill. âJust as Scott has come to the fore, unexpected Lord, youâve kept him hidden for a time such as thisâŠLord, we pray that the whole of the body of Christ in Australia would grasp the value of what youâve done, Lord, and get behind our new leader ⊠and that the next election would be won so that godly principles would be put into place, rather than the enemy having his way.â
Another pastor, Warwick Marsh from the Australian Christian Values Institute claimed three days of prayer and fasting had been answered with two miracles. âFirstly the Senate voted down the euthanasia in the territories proposal. This was an absolute miracle. Secondly, the Liberal Party voted in a new prime minister, Scott Morrison, after a week of political turmoil⊠Many people here in Australia of faith believe this was a miracle of God. It would seem that this is a direct answer to our prayers, as we prayed against the erosion of our Christian freedoms under the forthcoming Ruddock report.â
Other Pentecostal leaders too declared that Morrisonâs rise to power was a âmiracle of Godâ that answered three days of prayer and fasting, and that God had intervened to ensure he defeated Peter Dutton in the leadership contest.
Morrisonâs office says he has never met Thompson, Beale or Marsh.
Is that enough to alarm you? For the first time in decades, we see pastors of a church, in this case the Pentecostal Church, telling their congregations that the election of our new prime minister by the Liberal Party room was a âmiracleâ of God, brought about by prayer, and that if he is not re-elected, darkness will descend on our nation and the church. The clear message to their parishioners is: âVote Morrison in again, or else!â
Mannixâs involvement in politics continued for many years. Eventually, it was opposed by Cardinal Gilroy, Archbishop of Sydney, and also by the Vatican which, in 1957, ruled that the Movement should not interfere in politics.
Weâve experienced before the downside of religious figures exerting political influence. Itâs been a long while since the Mannix era, but it looks as if we may be in for a reprise, this time from the Pentecostal Churches.
Not stated in that article, but Mannix prevented a lot of Australians from being killed in a war that had nothing to do with any threat to Australia; a war that this country has never really recovered from; a war that killed 60,000 and injured another 300,000 of our best young men from a total population of about 6 million; a war that landed us in so much debt to pay for the equipment and supplies from the Poms; a war that despite all this we were punished even further by the English bankers imposing harsh penalties to us to get the money back that we had to borrow to fight to protect their own country; a war that caused bad reverberations down the generations from the PTSD inflicted on those poor blokes that suffered so much more than anyone should ever have to bear.
I recommend anyone who hasnât done so to read the book âThe Anzacsâ by Patsy Adam-Smith. She was the first to talk to many of these blokes when she interviewed them 60 years after the war. It should be an Australian classic.
People also should remember all of history instead of some glib phrases rehashed.
But also , Mannix who kept Menzies in power, until the Vatican intervened in the behaviour of the Melbourne diocese ( as compared to Gilroy in Sydney) . Crusade or Conspiracy , by Bruce Duncan, gives an account.
Hardly! Bob died 20 years ago. It was no surprise: he was 93. His son Joe is still around, but. Heâs a leading Q.C., at the age of 70.
That article you quoted is all very well, but the factual inaccuracies donât help the writerâs case. For example: âThe Movement was so successful in its efforts that by 1949 it had taken control of the Victorian branch of the Labor Party.â Thatâs utter nonsense.
Though Bob & co. did their damnedest, the Movement never took control of any State branch of the Labor Party, although their manoeuvrings brought down the Cain State Labor government in 1951, I think it was. Doc Evatt was gunning for them after that; when the Goupersâ machinations cost Labor the 1954 federal election, he went for them, so that at the National Conference in Hobart the next year, 1955, Bobâs Groupers were expelled from the Labor party. The Splinter Group went on to form the DLP, and by supporting the Liberals they kept Labor out of Government until Whitlam got in.
Every day over the past parliamentary fortnight, Labor asked the new PM Scott Morrison to explain why Malcolm Turnbull is no longer prime minister. The Opposition knows full well this is a question Mr Morrison cannot truthfully answer.
Imagine the political fallout if the PM did tell the truth, explaining, âMr Turnbullâs prime ministership was brought down by Tony Abbottâs supporters, who exploited Peter Duttonâs vanity as well as the anxiety of Queensland Liberals spooked by the rout in the Longman by-election.â Such a revelation would certainly make for an interesting meeting next time the Liberal party room was convened.
However Scott Morrison is indirectly answering a related question â why he is the new PM and not Peter Dutton â by demonstrating heâs an upgrade on Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Morrisonâs behaviour, language and policy decisions are all essentially a reflection on what Mr Turnbull was not able to become, explain or deliver.
Mr Harbourside Mansion is gone, replaced with ScoMo the Sharks fan and defender of strawberries. The new PMâs style is more relaxed than his predecessorâs (although still too shouty during Question Time), and heâs adopted more everyday language, although dumbing down dispatchable electricity to âfair dinkum electricityâ is taking a step too far.
Yet these are all essentially cosmetic changes. The most significant way that PM Morrison differs from (and has âimproved onâ) his predecessor is in the policy decisions heâs made over the past four weeks.
Not only did Mr Morrison reaffirm the death of the National Energy Guarantee, he also disavowed its whole reason for being (that is, the integration of energy and climate action policies) by dividing the energy and environment portfolio into two separate ministries. This is apparently to ensure that energy policy never again has to be concerned with inconvenient emissions reduction goals.
The PM wasted no time genuflecting to the dwindling and ageing demographic that is the Liberal Party âbaseâ, scrapping plans to raise the retirement age to 70 and announcing a royal commission into the aged care sector. He also kowtowed to another potentially troublesome cohort of Liberal voters, throwing billions of dollars in hush money to the Catholic and independent school sectors.
Thereâs also been more money for drought-stricken farmers to appease supporters of the Coalitionâs junior partner, the Nationals, and the announcement of a Canberra gabfest to coordinate a solution for the crisis that has been building in some parts of the nation for up to seven years. (In case you were wondering, no, that solution will not include emissions reductions).
The PM also found time to throw red meat to the conservative Australians concerned about âgender whisperersâ in our schools and the pervasive influence of gay marriage on our ârightsâ. ScoMo referred several times during this first month as PM to his commitment to âlegislate religious freedomâ, whatever that means, in response to the recommendations of the Ruddock review.
However the PM is less motivated to let voters see those recommendations, at least until the draft legislation is available. This is expected to conveniently be after the Wentworth by-election. We can only assume this is because Liberal election strategists are concerned that progressive Liberal voters (apparently they still exist) might be unhappy with the proposed legislation and lodge a protest vote with a non-Liberal candidate instead.
Based on these decisions, the clear message being sent by Scott Morrison is that he is the prime minister because heâs a more approachable, more understandable, more conservative version of Malcolm Turnbull. Looking at it another way, the new PM is also the more approachable, more understandable, less reactionary version of Peter Dutton.
Itâs another matter altogether whether the voters whoâve deserted the Government for other parties and independents will agree and accept this explanation. If they do, they might just be prepared to return to the fold at the next federal election.
While Tony Abbott spent his short tenure undoing everything Julia Gillard had achieved, Scott Morrison seems intent on undoing everything his own government has worked on over the past five years.
In an interview on Sky News, 21/3/18, then education minister Simon Birmingham criticised Laborâs plan to boost funding to Catholic schools saying it was âbased on politicking, not principle and student need.â
Birmingham said it would âpunish states who fund their schools well, and give a boost to non-government sectors who lobby the loudest.â
It took Morrison less than a month to throw out Gonski 2.0 without consultation and to gift billions extra to the non-government sector.
On 2 August, Scott Morrison declared the national energy guarantee was the âonly plan on the tableâ to reduce electricity prices, warning critics that dumping the plan would fuel uncertainty and drive up household bills.
âThis is a sliding doors moment to lower electricity prices,â Mr Morrison said when asked for his message to Mr Abbott and other backbenchers.
âIf we lose this opportunity because of obstructionism, because of negativity, because of whatever else the Labor Party has in mind, to lose this opportunity for lower electricity prices, that would be very disappointing and it will flow through to impact on the economy and peopleâs household bills.â
Josh Frydenberg described it as âan opportunity for a historic national reform.â
Yet they rushed to dump it only three weeks later.
While Malcolm Turnbull is out and about claiming credit for removing discrimination from the marriage act, Scott Morrison, who couldnât even bring himself to vote for marriage equality despite overwhelming community support, is busily cooking up new ways to protect those who refuse to accept the law of the land on religious grounds by legislating their right to discriminate based on someoneâs sexuality.
In 2014, Morrison supported lifting the pension age to 70, voting for it in the House of Representatives. He then defended the policy when he was treasurer, saying it was necessary to ensure the systemâs sustainability, given Australians were healthier and living longer in retirement.
Morrison chose the Today show to reveal he was scrapping that policy too, despite having said two years ago that if this, and the other measures contained in the 2014 budget werenât passed, âgross debt will exceed $1 trillion in a decadeâ.
In April, Morrison said âThe days of subsidies in energy are over, whether it is for coal, wind, solar, any of them,â but his new Energy Minister, Angus Taylor, said an underwriting program, where the government guaranteed finance for new generation projects, would proceed.
Taylor is also advocating the âupgrading of legacy [coal] generatorsâ â something which is highly unlikely to happen without government paying for it or underwriting the investment. Matt Canavan is very keen to give money to anyone who wants to build a new coal-fired power station, except no-one is interested.
In May, the Coalition and Labor came to agreement about water allocation in the Murray-Darling Basin which Water Minister David Littleproud said would give the Basinâs 2 million residents clarity so they could get on with their lives.
But since Morrison took over and the government focus became all about the drought, Deputy PM Michael McCormack and Special Envoy Barnaby Joyce are calling for that deal to be scrapped.
Mr McCormack said several times last week the Federal Government âwill certainly take a look atâ changing legislation to allow water allocated for environmental flows under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to be used by irrigators dealing with the drought.
Barnaby Joyce said âWe have a huge amount of water held by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. We donât have to use it all but we can use some of it though and divert it for the growing of lucerne and show a real and decisive way to produce the fodder.â
However, both Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and the Environment Minister, Liberal MP Melissa Price, have ruled out changes to the water allocations in the basin plan.
âWe donât have any plans to change the legislation,â a spokesman for Ms Price said.
The Liberal Party have targets to boost female representation in parliament, yet they are losing them hand over fist due to the bullying and intimidation that, despite overwhelming evidence, Morrison denies exists. There are no repercussions for the bullies, many of whom have been rewarded for their role in bringing down a sitting PM. The complainants are told to toughen up and shut up.
Women are very rarely preselected for safe seats or winnable Senate spots and it appears that will continue under Mr Morrison.
When Bill Shorten said, in May, that the aged care sector was in crisis, the Minister, Ken Wyatt, responded angrily.
âIâm slow to anger but I must admit that recently the Opposition Leader commenting that the system is in crisis and a national disgrace was not becoming of what I would expect in a bilateral and bipartisan approach to aged care. This demeans every one of those dedicated aged care workers and it achieves nothing but instilling fear into the hearts and minds of older Australians, just like Labor did in the lead-up to the last election when they were peddling âMedi-scareâ lies designed to scare the most deserving. For the Opposition Leader to continue this fear-mongering is verging on the abuse of elder Australians and it must stop.â
Yet, when faced by a Four Corners expose, Morrison pre-emptively rushed to announce a Royal Commission the day before it aired. Just like the RC into the banks, and the RC into child sex abuse by the church before that, the government has done a huge backflip, now embracing an investigation into an industry they previously denied had any problems.
It is glaringly apparent that the Morrison iteration of government has no plan, no credibility, and no integrity. They flounder around contradicting themselves, reacting to situations rather than leading any sort of coherent policy development. Protecting reputation is more important than truth-telling. Appeasing those who shout the loudest will be the order of the day. When caught out, deny, deny, deny and then blame Labor.
The ATM government has run out of cash and is handing out counterfeit bills in the hope we wonât notice.