Religion and Politics…

Before the Howard Titanic struck the electoral iceberg and flung its crew into the icy waters of political oblivion, former Prime Minister Paul Keating observed that the election was a chance to rebuild a moral basis after a decade of moral erosion.

Without this, said the Boy from Bankstown, the nation would have no standard to rely upon.

"When truth is up for grabs, everything is up for grabs," said Keating.

Tony Abbott: A man straight from Central Casting…

Among the shivering survivors from the electoral shipwreck was a man straight from Central Casting: an outspoken Christian unafraid to call a dying critic a stuntman or to tell a woman politician she was talking bullshit, equally unafraid to apologize, and after a quick mea culpa moving on to the next atrocity.

Tony Abbott Photo: www.sydney.catholic.org.au

Not "Nearer My God to Thee" for Tony Abbott MP, the defeated Health Minister. It's confession and the rosary and lead me to the next microphone for the former seminarian, Bulletin hack, St Ignatius Riverview golden boy, Oxford boxing blue who has such versatility he can even use his skill as a Master of Politics and Philosophy to bring a paternity matter involving his personal morality into the glare of public limelight as part of his Right to Life persona.

People like him for his jug-eared fearlessness, jogging the beach at Manly and ready for a biff at the drop of a hat.

He also has that essential political quality, an earnest determination to learn nothing from events. When the going gets tough, you get tougher.

I see in the paper that Tony has withdrawn from the leadership battle in the Liberals, but he hasn't really. He's pledged loyalty but is "not ruling out a further tilt at the leadership."

Of course. He still has the support of a lunatic slice of Catholics and other Christians, including those who think being born again leads to affluence.

He still thinks there is no need to apologize to the Stolen Generations and "The last thing I think we should do is run up the white flag. Work Choices delivered."

Tony was formerly on intimate terms with Cardinal Pell. Perhaps they attended a public relations course together in former familiar times.

Yet the cardinal and other prelates have felt the sting of the tongue from the Mad Manly Monk — the Warringah Wizard.

Like Keating, Abbott believes in a moral basis in public life. It is, however, his own special brand where most of us are "relaxed and comfortable", to use a Howardism and the poor are poor because "they make bad choices". Have you ever met someone who actually chose to live in a degraded, underclass situation?

He might hate me for saying it, but like Martin Luther, Abbott is unafraid to nail church leaders who do not share his vision. In his opinion the Catholic Church's criticism of the government's Work Choices was "socialism masquerading as justice." In a speech to an admiring Institute of Public Affairs he said the churches should butt out of politics, and that if they spent more time encouraging virtue in individual believers, and less time demanding virtue from governments we'd have a better society.

People like Bishop Kevin Manning of Parramatta who said the IR laws are immoral are anathema to Abbott, who does not see Industrial Relations as a moral or religious issue at all.

So far as Abbott is concerned the bishops should shut their traps.

Even for pray, pay and obey Catholics this might seem a bit too much.

For an insight into the Abbott socio-pathic, pseudo-religious vision of morality as applied to WorkChoices it is better to listen to the man himself rather than attack him.

Abbott says it better.

Abbott's views on the Church, social justice and related issues…

Stephen Crittenden Photo: www.abc.net.au

Following is an excerpt from "The Catholic Church and social justice" broadcast on The Religion Report on October 17, 2007. Abbott is being interviewed by Stephen Crittenden.

You'll be able to see why, while other Titanic crew survivors are shivering and thankful for a cup of Labor Bonox, Tony Abbott wants to dive back into the water and use his scuba diving skills to refloat the old ship that once was the glory of the sea with another jogger of the streets, Captain Howard, grinning on the bridge.

Stephen Crittenden: In the late 19th century when Pope Leo XIII advocated on behalf of the rights and conditions of working people, he was labelled a socialist, and he responded that his opponents didn't understand the difference between socialism and Christianity. Do you understand the difference?

Tony Abbott: Well I'm all in favour of the church advocating on behalf of working people, and indeed unemployed people, but I think it should be intelligent advocacy, not unintelligent advocacy. And my problem with some of the church criticism of WorkChoices is that WorkChoices and labour market deregulation has helped to reduce unemployment. How do they explain why 10.9% unemployment under a regulated system is fairer than 4.2% unemployment -

Stephen Crittenden: The only problem with that argument is that there is no established link, is there, between the low unemployment rates and the WorkChoices legislation that the church is complaining about.

Tony Abbott: Yes, most economists would say that there is a fairly clear correlation between less labour market regulation and greater employment.

Stephen Crittenden: The Catholic social justice agencies are saying that unemployment is falling all over the OECD at the moment.

Tony Abbott: It hasn't fallen as far or as fast in too many countries as it has in Australia. We have quite a comprehensive and quite a generous social security system. We have a lot of protections in place for people whose incomes are low, whether they're employed or unemployed. Now the whole range of government policies has helped to reduce unemployment from well over 10% to well under 5% and I think that the Catholic social justice lobby, or the social gospel lobby more generally, really needs to give a little bit more credit where it's due.

Stephen Crittenden: Won't we only see whether WorkChoices is really moral or immoral, when the next economic downturn rolls around?

Tony Abbott: I think if we can see that WorkChoices is associated with much higher employment and significantly higher wage outcomes, it's very hard to see how it's immoral, and I'm very reluctant to start throwing around those sort of emotive tags anyway, when we discuss economic policy. I mean economic policy is much more a question of prudential judgment, than of morality or immorality, and I think it's a big mistake on the part of church people to attribute intense moral qualities to things which are much more properly a question of prudential judgment.

Stephen Crittenden: Nonetheless, weren't you in a sense casting a slur on all the volunteers from organisations like the St Vincent de Paul Society, you know, many of them elderly people who raise the finances and deliver the food parcels and all of that, with the comments you made last week.

Tony Abbott: No, absolutely not. I think people like that are living saints, they're saints and heroes, and people who put themselves out on behalf of those who are less well off, or on behalf of people who are in similar difficulties as themselves, are saints and heroes. What I take some exception to is people who show their own virtue, not by doing good themselves, but by demanding that others do good, in particular that governments do good.

Stephen Crittenden: Well we'll come to your points about virtue in a minute, but let's just stay with the volunteers for a moment. Would there be any need for those people if Australia was a fair and just society?

Tony Abbott: Well I think there are always going to be some people who are doing it tough. And it doesn't matter how fair our society is, in terms of its political arrangements or its economic arrangements, there are always going to be some people that do it tough because of unfortunate personal choices, or because of what might be described as Acts of God. And there's always going to be a need for people to exercise the virtue of charity in respect of people like that. But more credit to people like that.

Stephen Crittenden: Some people might say that organisations like the St Vincent de Paul Society or Anglicare aren't socialist, in fact they're a necessity in a harsh capitalist economy where their role is to help people left behind by your government.

Tony Abbott: But Stephen, this is not a harsh capitalist economy, it is a very successful, mixed economy where we have capitalist principles to drive the market economy and we have, if you like, the welfarist principles to drive the social security system, and the result of a market economy or sort of a largely market economy, coupled with a strong welfare system, is a very happy and successful society.

Stephen Crittenden: John Falson, from the St Vincent de Paul Society talks about the vast number of people, the growing number of people who are in work but also living below the poverty line in this country.

Tony Abbott: The concept of a poverty line is a problematic one. I mean if you define poverty as people who earn less than a certain percentage of average weekly earnings, well almost by definition the poor you have with you always. Certainly absolute poverty as it used to be experienced in Australia, outside of indigenous communities, is almost unknown today.

Stephen Crittenden: Does the church have a right to advocate on behalf of the poor or is its role just to keep quiet, do the charity and keep the poor in the background?

Tony Abbott: No, of course it has a right, and a duty to advocate on behalf of the poor. But it's got to be intelligent advocacy, and simply embracing a kind of old-fashioned quasi-socialist critique of a modern economy is letting down the side, because it's not showing the kind of intelligent appreciation of how the world has changed since the 1890s, that you would expect.

Stephen Crittenden: But what do you mean when you say it's quasi-socialist?

Tony Abbott: Well if you look at Bishop Manning's writings on this topic, he engages in a kind of a canonisation of the union movement, and a demonisation of the market economy. Now I'm not saying that unions can't do good things, and I'm not saying that market economies can't do bad things, but there's some automatic assumptions on Bishop Manning's part which aren't borne out by reality.

Stephen Crittenden: But is it socialist to support the existence of trade unions?

Tony Abbott: No, it's not, but I think it's quasi-socialist to assume that anyone who's not being represented by a union is being ripped off. I think that's the implicit understanding in the sorts of things that the good Bishop writes.

Stephen Crittenden: Let's talk about your comments on virtue, because I think that's one of the most interesting things in your speech the other night. You said, 'I do think that if churchmen spent more time encouraging virtue in people and less time demanding virtue from governments, we'd have a better society.' What do you mean by that?

Tony Abbott: Well there are many things which are the highest of virtue in individuals which would be utter folly on the part of the government. For instance, we are enjoined by the gospels to turn the other cheek when people attack us. But any national government which turned the other cheek in the face of aggression would be selling out its people. So that's one example.

Stephen Crittenden: Are you saying in effect that you're in favour of a kind of — how to put it — a completely privatised social conscience?

Tony Abbott: No, of course I'm not.

Stephen Crittenden: Do public institutions and public aspirations have a role?

Tony Abbott: There is nothing in what I have said that should give rise to that kind of criticism. What I'm saying is that by all means let church people enter into political debate, but if they do enter into political debates, let them do so intelligently and let them understand that they will be subject to the standard political cut and thrust. And I don't think either of those propositions is unreasonable.

Stephen Crittenden: You've taken a roasting from various religious leaders over your comments this week. Tim Costello says you're a fundamentalist; Archbishop Jensen says you're defining virtue too narrowly, as personal morality. They all seem to be saying that you've got a little potted version of the Christian gospel of your own.

Tony Abbott: Well I would be very reluctant to set myself up as a theologian to rival the gentlemen whose names you mentioned, but when it comes to arguments about politics, or even economics, I think I have at least as much standing as Reverend Costello or Bishop (sic) Jensen to say my piece.

Stephen Crittenden: Just finally, did you see Four Corners this week on the Exclusive Brethren?

Tony Abbott: I'm afraid I didn't. I'm generally familiar with the attacks on the Exclusive Brethren, and look, I don't know much about their theology and I suspect if I did I wouldn't much like it, but I think they've got as much right as any other group, left-wing, right-wing, extreme-centre, moderate-centre, whatever, to have their say in the political…

Stephen Crittenden: What about the comments from Labor's candidate in Wentworth that the Liberal party has a problem being mixed up with these hard-right religious groups of bigots?

Tony Abbott: But we're not — well a) I don't know that they're bigots, and I think if that sort of terminology was applied to other religions, the person using it would be judged a pariah, so I think it's a bit rich to be throwing around that kind of smear simply in respect of Christian groups. But look, we're no more tied up with the Exclusive Brethren than we're tied up with any other group. They have chosen, as I understand it, to support some Liberal candidates in the past, well good luck to them.

Stephen Crittenden: The thing that struck me on the Four Corners program the other night was that when the Prime Minister met with those four senior members of the Brethren in his office earlier this year, at least one of them was under investigation by the Federal Police. They were under investigation by the Electoral Commission. You know when the Labor party in Western Australia meets with Brian Burke, it's a terrible deed.

Tony Abbott: Well that's Labor saying it's terrible for Labor to meet with Brian Burke, and it's not just the Liberals. But as I understand the situation, Brian Burke has tried to suborn the political process in favour of businesses and individuals who…

Stephen Crittenden: And the Exclusive Brethren aren't trying to do that?

Tony Abbott: Well I have no reason to think that they're trying to do that. As far as I'm aware they haven't said to anyone 'We'll give you a donation and on the strength of that donation you've got to do X, or you've got to do Y', and X or Y is in some way morally compromised. I mean they're simply one group of people amongst many groups in a pluralist society, and why should they be excluded from supporting political parties when everyone else is perfectly entitled to do so?

Stephen Crittenden: Great to have you on the program. Enjoy the campaign.

Tony Abbott: Thank you, Stephen.

Stephen Crittenden: Federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott.

Cliff Baxter is a highly awarded journalist with a lifetime experience gained on the principal Australian secular newspapers, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Catholic Weekly.

We welcome your thoughts in response to this article in our forum.

Cliff Baxter can be contacted at: Cliff Baxter <cliffbaxter@catholica.com.au>

©2007 Clifford Baxter

[Cliff's Take Archive]