Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers speech on identity politics and social media

Scott Morrison says the misuse of social media is causing “social and moral corrosion” as he pleads for people not to surrender to identity politics.

Scott Morrison has issued a rallying cry for Australians to avoid surrendering to identity politics, declaring it is undermining our dignity and harming our community.

Days after he ignited debate with an address to fellow Pentecostal Christians, the Prime Minister gave a rare insight into his faith on Thursday night, in a speech which also explained how it influenced his political beliefs.

Mr Morrison warned Australians should not prioritise what they thought they were “entitled to” from the government above their responsibilities to contribute to their communities.

He also targeted the “social and moral corrosion” caused by the misuse of social media, and warned against the “growing tendency to commodify human beings” through identity politics.

Mr Morrison speaking at a national Christian convention on the Gold Coast.

“We must never surrender the truth that the experience and value of every human being is unique and personal,” Mr Morrison said.

“You are more than the things others try to identify you by in this age of identity politics. You are more than your gender, your sexuality, your ethnicity, your religion, your language group, your age.”

Speaking to the United Israel Appeal in Sydney, Mr Morrison said the Jewish community knew better than anyone else “what happens when people are defined solely by the group they belong to, or an attribute they have, or an identity they possess”.

In a speech citing religious scripture, French philosophers, American presidents and Holocaust survivors, the Prime Minister declared that human dignity was “at the heart of our Judaeo-Christian heritage” and “the foundation of all morality”.

He said it was also the “foundation to our freedom” in a liberal democracy.

“Liberty is not borne of the state but rests with the individual, for whom morality must be a personal responsibility,” Mr Morrison said.