Evangelical vote may tip federal election

Evangelical Christians could tip marginal seats towards the Coalition at the next federal election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison during question time yesterday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison’s oratory has been derided as “evangelical” but the Prime Minister’s appeal among born-again Christians could turn the tide in key seats at the next election.

Pentecostalism is the nation’s fastest-growing Christian denomination, with thousands of Australians packing auditoriums such as the Horizon Church frequented by Mr Morrison in Sydney’s southern Sutherland.

Eight of the country’s 21 most Pentecostal electorates are battleground seats and include those held by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney-­General Christian Porter.

They include the knife-edge Labor seats of Cowan, held by Anne Aly, and Herbert, which Cathy O’Toole won by 37 votes in 2016.

In recent days, some evangel­ical preachers have feted Mr Morrison’s rise as a “miracle of God” and warned that “darkness is going to come and there will be persecution on the church” if his government is not returned at the election due next May.

Queensland pastor James Macpherson said although his congregants were “heartened” by Mr Morrison’s Christianity, the Prime Minister’s denomination alone was not enough to secure the Pentecostal vote.

 

“Most Christians are concerned about religious freedom and how anti-discrimination laws impact their ability to speak about their faith and practise their faith,” Mr Macpherson, whose Calvary Christian Church has campuses in four battleground Queensland seats, told The Australian.

“Issues like immigration and so on — there are far more divergent views on.”

He said many worshippers identified as Christians rather than Pentecostals, so the denomination’s numbers were under-­reported in the census.

Mr Morrison, asked about his faith last week, said: “They’re a wonderful group of people who love God and love each other and love other people. They just want to be a positive influence in the country. It’s just like the Baptists or things like that, we’ve just got often better music.”

He evoked the Pentecostal style in his first major speech as Prime Minister, pacing the stage with a microphone rather than standing at a lectern.

Bill Shorten yesterday mocked the performance, saying: “No amount of badge-wearing, no amount of covering up in evangelical lectures. It’s time for the ­Australian people to have a say on the government of this country.”

The Liberals have been courting the evangelical vote for more than a decade, with then prime minister John Howard opening the Hillsong Church’s 3500-seat auditorium in Sydney’s northwest in 2002.

The Liberals endorsed Hillsong parishioner Louise Markus for the seat of Greenway at the 2004 election, snatching the seat from Labor for two terms. The Coalition also exchanged preferences with the Family First Party, which enjoyed a significant following among evangelicals, resulting in the election of the party’s inaugural senator, Steve Fielding. After the election, then treasurer Peter Costello addressed 20,000 faithful at Hillsong’s conference.

Bonner, in Brisbane’s southeast, is seen by Labor as a challenging target given its Pentecostal population. ALP candidate Jo Briskey said Mr Morrison would be judged “on his record, not his rhetoric”.