Votes lost in religion backlash, says Bowen

Religious Australians believe the ALP has abandoned them, Labor’s Chris Bowen has warned.

Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen bows out of the ALP leadership race yesterday. Picture: AAP

Religious Australians believe the ALP has abandoned them, Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen warned yesterday, while bowing out of the party’s leadership battle.

Mr Bowen, who suffered a 5.4 per cent swing against him in his western Sydney seat of McMahon, said the issue of Labor’s stance on religious freedoms had been raised with him in the wake of the party’s crushing election ­defeat on Saturday.

“I have noticed as I have been around during the election campaign, and even in the days since … how often it has been raised with me that people of faith no longer feel that progressive politics cares about them,” he said yesterday.

“These are people with a social conscience, who want to be ­included in the progressive movement. We need to tackle this ­urgently. I think this is an issue from the federal election that we haven’t yet focused on.”

The comments came after the Australian Christian Lobby hailed the Coalition’s election victory as a win for religious freedom.

Mr Bowen’s seat was among Labor electorates targeted by the ACL, which believes the Coalition has a better position on issues such as freedoms for faith-based schools.

“The policy difference between the two major parties on religious freedom was very clear,” ACL managing director Martyn Iles said.

Religion cropped up during the campaign, with Labor leader Bill Shorten politicising Scott Morrison’s faith by saying the Prime Minister should have made it clearer that he did not believe gay people go to hell.

Responding to Mr Bowen’s comments, Labor MP Anthony Chisholm said he did not believe his party had alienated some voters by becoming too progressive.

In response to Mr Bowen’s comments, the remaining candidate for Labor’s leadership, Anthony Albanese, said his party needed to “show that we respect people of faith and respect their faith”.

“I think we have to very much explain that and show that we respect people of faith and respect their faith,” Mr Albanese told the Ten Network.

While acknowledging he was a strong supporter of marriage equality, Mr Albanese said he supported a conscience vote during the same-sex marriage debate.

“I also supported a conscience vote because I didn’t want anyone to feel that they had to choose between their faith, their religion and their loyalty to the Labor Party,’’ he said. “That there was a place in the Labor Party for people who disagree with my view in support of marriage equality. I think it’s very important that Labor’s prepared to do that.”

Mr Bowen’s remarks were also seen by some MPs as an effort to distract from his role in the party’s defeat, in particular his damaging retirees’ tax.

Additional reporting: AAP