Attack on Morrison’s faith splits Labor

Labor’s use of Scott Morrison’s Christianity in a political attack over the Sri Lankan­ Tamil family triggers divisions within the ALP.

Tamil children Kopika, 4, and Tharunicaa, 2, who were born in Australia.

Labor’s use of Scott Morrison’s Christianity in a political attack over the deportation of a Sri Lankan­ Tamil family has triggered divisions within the ALP, as federal parliament prepares to debat­e the repeal of the medivac bill and religious freedom.

Christian Labor MPs distanced themselves yesterday from two of their frontbench colleagues who demanded the Prime Minister act on his religious beliefs and allow the Tamil family to remain in Australia­ despite being found not to be genuine refugees.

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally and agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon stepped up their calls for Mr Morrison to “show Christian leadership” and intervene in the case, arguing that he had put his faith in the public sphere.

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Mr Fitzgibbon accused Mr Morrison on Monday of hypocrisy for “preaching the Gospel” while refusing to stop the deportation of the Tamils, warning that their treatment was “not a partic­ularly Christian approach”.

Participating in a rally on Sunday to grant Nadesalingam Murugappan, his wife Priya Nadarasa and daughters Tharunicaa, 2, and Kopika, 4, protection in Australia, Senator Keneally urged Mr Morrison as a Christian prime minister to open his heart, understand “what the Gospel calls us as Christians to do” and “show Christian leadership”.

But Mr Morrison said on Monday that he would not try to stop the deportation — which could occur as soon as Wednesday after a Federal Court hearing — despite acknowledging the public wanted an exception made for the family.

Scott Morrison is greeted by primary school students at the Western Sydney International Experience Centre in western Sydney on Monday. Picture: AAP

“To exercise intervention powers­ on this, would be to send exactly the wrong message to those who are looking to sell tickets to vulnerable people looking to get on boats,” Mr Morrison said.

NSW Labor MP Chris Hayes, the chief opposition whip, said he thought Mr Morrison’s faith was an unnecessary distraction in the Tamil family debate. “I support the fact that two little girls have been born and brought up in Australia and they should be allowed to stay,” he told The Australian. “I don’t think the Prime Minister’s faith or anyone else’s faith needs to be brought into the debate.”

Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley also said she did not want faith to be part of the debate, but felt it may be necessary to push the Prime Minister towards helping the family. “You shouldn’t have to bring their Christian faith into it. It should just be the right thing to do,” she said.

Former Labor cabinet minister Stephen Conroy said it was unfortunate the debate had descended into an argument about Mr Morriso­n’s background and questioned the wisdom of focusing on a particular immigration case.

“We (in Labor) didn’t adopt individua­l cases for political campaign purposes. It has traditionally been the view that it was unwise,” he told Sky News. “We know the consequences of more boats coming, people are dying, and that is not to be encouraged at any stage.”

Mr Fitzgibbon told The Australian that Mr Morrison had asked Australians to vote for him on the basis of his Christian beliefs and it was therefore “absolutely fair game to question the inconsistency inherent in the way his government has treated Priya, Nades and their children”.

Senator Keneally, a fellow Christian, added: “I don’t often like to mix religion and politics but the Prime Minister put his faith on public display during the federal election campaign. “He made it a defining feature of who he is, the values he holds and what he stands for. What we are faced with in this circumstance is not a clear-cut question of law, it is a question of discretion, it goes to the issue of compassion, it goes to the issue of values and what a person holds in their heart.”

Radio broadcaster Alan Jones — who has rallied behind the family­ alongside the Queensland town of Biloela, where the couple lived for 3½ years — also said he had asked Mr Morrison “for a bit of practical Christianity”.

One of the Prime Minister’s most trusted confidantes, West Australian Liberal MP Ben Morton, said Mr Morrison had never sought to impose religious beliefs on others and accused Labor of failing to reconnect with people of faith. The Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, said the suggestion Mr Morrison went around preaching at people was ridiculous and offensive.

“It’s only Labor that uses someone’s religion in a political argument,’’ Mr Morton said. “For all their talk of reconnecting with people of faith, they have failed at their first test. I have heard direct­ly from Scott about the impact of those phone calls at night, to him as (immigration) minister, advising of the deaths of men, women and children at sea. It’s those calls and those deaths that have strengthened his determination to ensure that no further lives are lost and to keep those boats stopped.

“It’s life-changing, and inviting the boats to start again, as Labor is now risking, is the opposite of a compassionate approach.”

There are 14,000 people still living on bridging visas in the community who, like the couple, arrived in Australia by boat during the former Labor government and did not qualify for a safe haven ­enterprise visa. Fifteen hundred Sri Lankans have already been sent home.

Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz said it was Labor MPs who were being hypocritical by bringing faith into the case.

“The left, who often say we shouldn’t bring religious values to public policy, now say it has to be. The Australian people will judge this for what it is,” he said.

Mr Morrison revealed in the midst of the Tamil debate that a 12th Sri Lankan boat suspected of carrying illegal immigrants had been intercepted by the Australian Border Force on August 7.