NT Labor could learn a lot from ScoMo, writes Matt Cunningham

SCOTT Morrison gave NT Labor a lesson in the federal election, now they just have to learn from it, writes Matt Cunningham

IN the middle of the federal election campaign, Scott Morrison invited the cameras into Sydney’s Pentecostal Horizon Church to film the Prime Minister and his family as they worshipped at the Easter service.

What followed was a predictable pile-on from the usual social-media suspects, mocking Morrison for his public show of faith.

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But those mockers might have done the Prime Minister a favour.

For while they might make up the noisy majority in Twitter’s parallel universe, they’re very much the minority out in the real world.

According to the 2016 Census about 60 per cent of Australians still follow a religion, including more than 52 per cent who are Christian.

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That majority would have no doubt felt some sympathy for Morrison as he was mercilessly mocked for his expression of faith.

“There was (a group) who was likening my praise in my own church on the weekend to some sort of Hitler salute,” Morrison later said.

“I mean, it’s disgusting. Australians are bigger than that. And I know that the great majority of Australians are bigger than that. These grubs are gutless and keyboard warriors in their mother’s basement trying to make heroes of themselves.”

By calling them out, Morrison may have helped make a hero of himself, particularly among the large cohort he’s now describing as the Quiet Australians.

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There’s a lesson here it might pay the Northern Territory Government to heed as it heads towards next year’s NT election.

Right now the Government is sitting on a potential time bomb with its proposed changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act.

This newspaper has previously raised its own concerns about the proposed changes, particularly when it comes to how they might impact columnists and cartoonists, by making it unlawful to “offend” or “insult” someone on the basis of their race, gender, disability, religion or sexuality.

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How a government or one of its agents determines the subjective idea of what constitutes offence is something no-one has yet been able to explain.

But while cartoonist Colin Wicking is without doubt one of the Territory’s most revered figures, the real danger for the government lies not in upsetting him, but in putting offside the Christians he goes out of way to offend every Easter.

When the Government first put out its discussion paper on this issue in 2017, I went along to one of the community consultation sessions.

I expected there would be a handful of people there, as is usually the case when it comes to these events.

But the room at the Casuarina library was full to overflowing, not with journalists and cartoonists worried they might be hauled before a star chamber for expressing an unpopular view, but by Christians worried about their right to freedom of religious expression.

The proposed changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act would remove exemptions that allow religious schools to exempt prospective students who are not of that religion or to refuse to employ someone who is not of their religious beliefs.

“Removal of these exemptions would make the system fairer by ensuring people of certain attributes have the same opportunities under the Act,” the Government’s discussion paper says.

“It would also ensure that cultural and religious bodies are more accountable for their actions and more inclusive.”

While Christians haven’t been screaming on social media, it would be a mistake to assume they’re OK with what has been proposed.

Unlike the shouty activists who want to rein them in, these quiet Territorians prefer to make their case behind the scenes.

The Government has received hundreds of submissions in response to its proposed changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act, most from concerned Christians.

It would be a mistake to dismiss them.

If it’s still thinking of doing so, it might pay Government MLAs to take a drive this Sunday morning along Vanderlin Drive from Casuarina to Berrimah.

Here they’ll find hundreds of cars parked outside various places of worship, filled with people quietly expressing their faith.

Unlike the social media activists, these people usually keep their views to themselves.

But every few years they get the chance to have their say, alone, in a ballot box.