Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are on a unity ticket: no religious-based political parties in Australia.
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are not against political parties which reflect religious and moral values and they are not against people of faith in politics but they’re steadfastly against a political party with a prime principle of advancing paramount religious objectives.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten agrees on the seriousness of religion as a political party matter and warned that there are “oppressive theocratic Governments that use religion to justify the persecution of minorities”.
Facing the prospect of a pro-Palestinian Muslim movement or new party being formed to contest Labor-held seats in the outer suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne following the resignation from the ALP of WA Muslim senator, Fatima Payman, Albanese has bluntly rejected the concept of a religious-based party.
Albanese said on Friday he does not want “Australia to go down the road of faith-based political parties” as it would undermine social cohesion.
“My party has around the cabinet … people who are Catholic people, who are Uniting Church, people who are Muslim, people who are Jewish, that is the way that we’ve conducted politics in Australia,” he said.
But he said it “is not in the interests of smaller minority groups to isolate themselves, which is what a faith based party system would do. I notice well that many people who are refugees in Australia have fled theocracies, have fled regimes that have been based upon so-called religion that has resulted in the oppression of people who do not subscribe to what [are] often extreme forms.”
Payman began her journey to resignation from the ALP, after being elected in 2022, when she supported pro-Palestinian protesters, crossed the floor to vote for a Greens’ motion recognising Palestine and declared she would continue to defy Labor caucus rules and vote on Palestinian issues.
Since the October 7 Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel and the ensuing conflict in Gaza Labor MPs have been aware of a growing pro-Palestinian Muslim movement in western sydney which has been gathering finance and seeking election candidates.
There are four Labor ministers in Western Sydney electorates that could be defeated if the Labor vote is split among the high Muslim populations in areas where there have been strong votes against Labor’s stand on same-sex marriage and the indigenous voice to Parliament.
While Dutton has less to fear directly from a Muslim party in Liberal-held seats he was at one with Albanese on religious political parties.
“Look, I don’t think we need sectarianism in this country. We saw it with the Catholics and Protestants many decades ago, and if you look at the Muslim Vote website, they talk about their principle aim, their first objective, to support Palestinian territory,” he said.
“If you’re elected to the Australian Senate, you’re there to represent the people of Australia and your state. If you’re a Senator for New South Wales, your first charge is to look after residents in New South Wales,” he said.
But the real question for both leaders is to how far they go a joint ticket when deciding on preference flows in certain seats with how-to-vote tickets? Dutton would have no difficulty putting a Muslim party last behind a Labor candidate but would Albanese reciprocate in seats where the Greens beat Liberals with ALP preferences?
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