It’s Brian Houston, and the Prime Minister does have a problem

Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny on stage at Hillsong with founder Brian Houston.

Everybody inside the bubble knows how it works, and it’s so bleedingly obvious almost everybody outside the bubble also knows how it goes.

If the US President decides to host a state dinner for the Australian Prime Minister, the Prime Minister, through his office, submits a list of people he would like invited. These days a quick internet search alerts the White House to any potential problems with any of the guests.

If they had not heard of him before, once they saw Brian Houston’s name on the Prime Minister’s list, a quick Google search would have raised a red alert, as would a few follow-up questions.

In the overall scheme of things, the rejection by the White House of pastor and evangelist Houston, founder of the fabulously successful Hillsong Church and friend of Scott Morrison, is not a huge story. But it is a story. And to paraphrase the Apollo 13 crew, yes “Houston, we have a problem”.

As chummy as he is with ­Donald Trump, the state dinner was not arranged for Aquaman Scott Morrison, all-round daggy dad from the Shire, as a private get-together. Morrison was there as Prime Minister representing Australia at an event to celebrate the ­alliance and the achievements of prominent citizens with global connections.

Taxpayers and voters have every right to know who was there — or not — and why, and media has a duty to ask. It is not gossip, and it is everybody’s business, not just the Prime Minister’s. When Morrison opened the door of his Pentecostal Horizon Church to the cameras on Easter Sunday, he opened the door into what is usually a private part of any prime minister’s life.

Once opened, those doors cannot be closed, particularly if the perception is they become a gateway to political advantage.

Morrison’s refusal to answer questions inside or outside parliament about this, all the slip-slidin’ away, dodging and weaving is unedifying, unacceptable and so unnecessary. And what has made it even more ­uncomfortable for the Prime Minister is that Labor has woken up to the fact some issues in isolation, like Houston, do not add up to much but taken together with others they might amount to something, or help paint a different picture from the one Morrison presents.

Morrison’s radar should have told him putting Houston on the invitation list would be a problem ­because of the allegations of sexual abuse of children, before Hillsong was founded, against Houston’s father and former pastor Frank and the ongoing questions surrounding Houston’s role in the handling of the allegations against his father that were canvassed at the royal commission into institutional child sex abuse.

Samantha Maiden of the New Daily reported on September 23 that “NSW police had confirmed that Brian Houston remains the subject of a probe over his handling of the sex crimes committed by his father, Frank Houston”.

Labor, stung by its loss of votes from people of faith in May, ­decided to run with the Houston issue regardless of the risk, and a few others besides, including government repositioning on China (despite its own vulnerability) in an effort to redefine Morrison.

It goes to questions of his judgment and, Labor believes, to his character. A freelancing Morrison is nowhere near as sure-footed as the disciplined campaigner following the talking points. That much was clear from the beginning (moving the embassy in ­Israel) and it has not improved (denying he ever described former senator Sam Dastyari as “Shanghai Sam”). Although even the talking points were little help with Alan Jones or his listeners, judging by the callers after his interview where he sought to explain what the government was doing to help drought-stricken farmers. The pick-and-stick club can turn quickly and violently.

Nor could the talking points survive the closer examination of the funding deal with NSW on dams showing half the money from the feds would have to be ­repaid. Under questioning, Morrison tidied up a tricky formulation in the press release announcing a 50-50 investment.

Labor has found a theme and worked out how to get under Morrison’s (at times thin) skin by branding him evasive or, more damagingly, “loose with the truth”. Many people would think any politician with lips moving would qualify for that, but at some point it reaches critical mass.

Referring to the announcement on dams funding, Anthony Albanese asked: “Why can’t the Prime Minister give a straight ­answer to a simple question?” Those lines were woven into ­almost every other question to him in an effort to accentuate the mismatch between rhetoric and reality or highlight his sensitivities until finally, on Houston, Morrison told them to take up any issues with parishioners, and on drought called Joel Fitzgibbon a dill.

Regardless of the superficial sugar hits these strikes bring, Labor remains in a world of pain that will only worsen. Frontbenchers see glimmers of hope in the strategy, which they say have been prompted by voter feedback about Morrison. They are gambling that eventually voters will see Albanese as a straight shooter and Morrison as the artful dodger. That’s hard to visualise now while Albanese remains unable or unwilling to answer questions about where Labor stands and while his MPs brawl publicly and privately over every aspect of policy.

Labor knows the issue that will ultimately decide all its MPs’ fates is the economy. They tried to turn that into a character test too. Morrison and his Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, are holding firm to their plan to deliver a surplus, staking their credibility on it, knowing the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cuts are doing little or nothing to lift confidence or activity. The cuts are near pointless and in some ­respects counter-productive but, despite another downgrade, this time from the International Monetary Fund, the government refuses to step in with fiscal stimulus, banking on the surplus surviving and the economy staying afloat. That is another judgment call. Also a gamble.