By: Laura Bennett
Two things you’re not supposed to talk about are religion and politics. In Australia we like to keep the two separate, but that seemed impossible when Scott Morrison, a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, became Prime Minister in 2018.
Key points:
- Scott Morrison, Australia’s 30th Prime Minister (2018-2022), releases his memoir Plans For Your Good, A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness.
- “In a time where we’re really seeking to live our faith in a world that no longer appreciates [the] grounding of our society in Christianity, [we] need to return to these common themes [and] the hope we have in our identity in Christ.” Morrison shared.
Holding the office until 2022, Scott Morrison led the country through the COVID-19 pandemic and negotiated a delicate time in our relationship with China.
Now retired from politics the former PM has released his memoir, Plans for Your Good, documenting the role of faith during his time in the role.
“My faith enabled me to endure,” Scott Morrison said in an interview.
“I was always amazed how other colleagues survived without knowing Jesus.”
Putting his faith on paper so plainly is something Mr. Morrison admits is “liberating” it in a way he couldn’t in politics, and he’s hoping it’ll draw people back to Christian principles Australia’s forgetting we were founded on: mercy, forgiveness, a shared value for human life and accountability to a common sense of morality.
“In a time where we’re really seeking to live our faith in a world that no longer appreciates [the] grounding of our society in Christianity, [we] need to return to these common themes [and] the hope we have in our identity in Christ.”
“In a time where we’re really seeking to live our faith in a world that no longer appreciates [the] grounding of our society in Christianity, [we] need to return to these common themes [and] the hope we have in our identity in Christ.” Morrison shared.
The consequence of “untethering” from the values that formed us is “moral relativism most significantly [and] a failure to know where the lines are anymore”.
In the 2021 census, for the first time in history less than half of Australians identified as Christian.
“Our society has not lost religion, it just believes God is looking back at them in the mirror,” Morrison said. “How convenient that you get to decide what your own morality is, you get to decide what your standards are, [and] anything goes.”
The danger is, “when that happens, we just sort of drift”.
“How convenient that you get to decide what your own morality is, you get to decide what your standards are, [and] anything goes.”
Hearing a former Prime Minister speak so openly about their faith is something author and researcher Justine Toh described in The Sydney Morning Herald as the “bigger” taboo Scott Morrison broke in his book, acknowledging “Australians cringe about faith” and “don’t know what do” with a leader making it so public.
The first taboo was admitting to needing medication for anxiety while in office.
“I have no doubt that I’m not the only person who’s lived with it in the lodge,” Morrison said. “The circumstances I found myself in as Prime Minister were the most significant we’d seen since the Second World War and The Great Depression.”
It wasn’t “the challenges of the time” that led Mr. Morrison to seek medical assistance, but the vicious nature of the attacks levelled at him while in leadership.
“It’s no longer a discussion about what the right and wrong thing to do, it’s who’s a right and wrong person,” he said.
“People will not assume of you that you have a good motive any longer. It’s such a juvenile way to conduct our politics, but this is what I think our modern media environment has produced.
“I leave politics very sad about that because it’s not getting better, and I doubt it will.”
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Scott Morrison and cover art for Plans for Your Good, Harper Collins, image credit Adam Taylor.
About the Author: Laura Bennett is a media professional, broadcaster and writer from Sydney, Australia.