Catholic Keneally urges party to win back the ‘people of faith’

Kristina Keneally has lamented Labor’s failure to keep religious communities on side.

Labor's Deputy Leader in the Senate Kristina Keneally: “I think that perhaps in the embrace of a broader agenda ... we haven’t always taken people of faith with us.” Picture: Kym Smith

Kristina Keneally says her Catholic faith encouraged her to join Labor, as she lamented the party’s failure to keep religious communities on side after embracing a more progressive agenda.

Labor’s new deputy Senate leader, who was yesterday named as the opposition home affairs and immigration spokeswoman, declared there was a time when Labor would have been seen as a natural home for “people like me”.

“I am a person of faith. Every job I have ever had before I ­entered politics in my adult life was in the Catholic Church. I taught in Catholic schools, I worked for a Catholic charity, I went to a Catholic university, I have a degree in Catholic theology. I met my husband at World Youth Day,” Senator Keneally said.

“There would have been a time when Labor would have been seen as a natural home for people like me. I think that perhaps in the embrace of a broader agenda — that I think is right about inclusion and equality — we haven’t always taken people of faith with us.”

Senator Keneally’s comments come after The Weekend Australian reported growing support on the opposition frontbench for ­religious freedom laws that enshrines the right of schools and charities to teach faith-based ideology, including the traditional view of marriage. Western Sydney MPs Chris Bowen, Tony Burke, Michelle Rowland and Ed Husic were among those who warned religious people swung against Labor at the election.

Senator Keneally, who entered NSW parliament in 2003 and ­became the state’s first female premier, said she joined the Labor Party because it aligned with her Catholic values of social justice and inclusion. “I said in my inaugural speech in state parliament that the reason I am a member of the Labor Party is because I am a person of faith. And I firmly believe in social justice. And I see the values that I believe in, the beliefs that I hold, most well addressed in the Australian Labor Party and its policies and commitments,” she said.

“There is a clear path to talk to people about those things but we also have to communicate with them the sense of respect, and upholding the various faith communities and giving them the confidence that they can participate in civil discourse.”

Senator Keneally said Labor needed to win back religious ­people by promoting values Labor holds that align with religious teachings, including the party’s support of the medevac bill.

“When I ran for (the Sydney electorate of) Bennelong, the thing that surprised me the most was the extent to which the highly ­religious communities in that electorate wanted to talk to me about refugees on Manus Island and Nauru,” she said.

“They were Christians who in every other respect were probably Liberal voters, but had deep concerns. I would go to church services in those communities and they would be offering prayer for refugees.

“So my point is this: Labor’s voting history on things like the ­medevac bill, positions on climate change, and tax cuts for people on lower incomes … all of that should have resonated more with people of faith.”