An open letter to the Coalition leadership

There has been a growing trend for Conservative politics in the US and in Australia to double down on support from conservative expressions of Christian religious faith. These religious views are not consistent with the values of most Australians, they are divisive. They do not represent the views of those with faith, like me, who find them at odds with the life and teaching of Jesus.

Before moving into the substance of this article I want to make a brief comment about the word “conservative”. I do not believe those in politics or religion who so self-describe are genuine conservatives. A conservative conserves. To those on the Australian political conservative right I simply ask – what about the planet? I consider myself a Christian conservative because I try to live according to the life and teaching of Jesus, especially as described in the Beatitudes. Self-describing religious conservatives consider adherence to their particular interpretation of Biblical text to be the mark of conservatism; this is a very different matter.

I have been moved to write this article following unpleasant experiences I and countless others recently endured at polling booths on the NSW South Coast. I have since discovered these unpleasant experiences extended well beyond our region.

Large numbers of what I have been told were members of the Plymouth Brethren sect were bussed in to work for the Liberal party at early polling booths and on election day itself. They were intimidating, aggressive, arrogant and otherwise sought to dominate the space. I was present on three occasions in support of an independent candidate. I came home quite traumatised.

Why were they there? At whose initiative? Who paid the considerable cost of transporting, housing and feeding them?

This cult teaches its members that those who are not of them are “Egyptians” or foreigners from whom they can exact as much as possible for their own benefit. The cult adjures its members not to vote, for doing so contaminates them with the rest of the world. So, what did supporting the Liberal Party potentially offer them? Why were they at polling booths? (BTW, the stand this sect takes on women seems to some extent be mirrored in the representative style of the Coalition in recent years).

If this were the only “religious” group (they are more accurately a business conglomerate) seeking support from, and giving support to, the conservative side of politics it would not matter much in the great sweep of things, but sadly it is not.

The Zionist Lobby of Australia, which receives unquestioning support from the Coalition, would be far less effective if it were not for the complete support it receives from the conservative Christian lobby. Zionism and Judaism are not the same. Swastikas, foul name-calling of Jews, denying the Holocaust, defiling synagogues etc, is appallingly antisemitic. Being condemnatory of the Israeli Government, its apartheid, genocide, denial of international law, starving whole populations, destruction of homes, targeting Palestinian women’s fertility is not. Quite the reverse. Not to call out the atrocities being committed by Israel is not simply to walk by on the other side, it is to support injustice, and spit on the foundations upon which humanitarian law is built.

Now, don’t tell me I am one-sided. Of course, what happened on 7 October was an atrocity. It cannot be defended. Its context does not defend the action. But not to address the context, as the Zionist Lobby demands, is to be party to the problem. The context is decades of displacement, isolation and imprisonment. The community has endured a blockade without relent now, or into the future. Most Gazans are refugees or descendants of refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their homes in what is now called Israel. The unequivocal statement of the Israeli prime minister that not one inch of land will ever be ceded to Palestinian control is also the context. As is Zionist belief that the lands from the river to the sea are theirs to the exclusion of others; as is belief Palestinians are less human and therefore can be destroyed.

The Coalition’s support of the Zionist ambition, without critique, is by default one of the worst forms of injustice ever perpetrated upon a distinct nation of people. Coalition obsession with antisemitism that includes criticism of Israel is telling, as is lack of equal support for those suffering Islamophobia.

Another form of Christian conservatism which the Coalition courts, and which is courted in return is the Australian Christian Lobby, and one of its offshoots, Family First. It is this form of conservatism that perpetuates the culture wars, so beloved of John Howard and other Coalition leaders.

For reasons I absolutely fail to comprehend, the Coalition seems to think that Sky after Dark, Sky anything, or Andrew Bolt, express the views of “quiet Australians”. This appears to be the bubble the Coalition leadership has lived in for the last three years.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This ranting is likely to be heard by 10% of the population – on a good day. I respectfully suggest to incoming leadership that using the word “woke” to pejoratively describe compassion, respect, inclusiveness, truth-telling and care for others will do your side of politics no good. One obvious example: it is not “woke” to tell of the frontier wars and the massacre of First Nations people, this is our recent past. Not telling this story blinds us to the ongoing implications of the past and prevents us from acknowledging the same thing happening in the present to the Palestinian people.

Finally, you must know you will never govern from anywhere other than the political centre. Gina Rinehart and Peta Credlin are leading you right up one of Joh Bjelke-Peterson’s dry gullies. Conservative Christians who regale you with a “prosperity gospel” doctrine are leading you astray. Economic wealth is not in and of itself a sign of God’s blessing, nor is poverty a sign of unworthiness. At the heart of Jesus’ teaching is belief that I cannot thrive unless you do.

There is no longer a socialist state anywhere in the world, least of all in an Albanese-led Government. Capitalism reigns in Russia and China as much as it does in the US. The only questions worthy of asking is how and to whose benefit is the wealth generated and with whom is that wealth shared.

I wish you well. It is good for a democracy to have collaborative strength both in government and Opposition. This will not happen for the Coalition if, recognised or not, its identity is shaped by transactional religious belief.