Why is our Pentecostal PM such a target of hate?

SCOTT Morrison’s Christian faith seems to have made him the easiest target when it comes to welfare issues.

Scott Morrison in church. How dare he pray.

SCOTT Morrison's Christian faith seems to have made him the easiest target when it comes to welfare issues.

According to the gospel of opinion writers like Scott Sawyer, the PM should be far more compassionate because he's a Christian.

'Christians' happy to prolong pain for those worse off was the headline of his latest Christian-bashing tirade.

Can you imagine the outrage if another religion was inserted in that headline?

Scott laments that our 'Pentecostal' PM - an adjective used as if it was a disease - is yet to have a Damascas moment when it comes to increasing the Newstart allowance.

The Australian Council of Social Service is advocating a $75 increase in Newstart which would cost taxpayers $3 billion a year.

Given the government has announced tax cuts costing $158 billion over a decade, I can see the argument Scott is trying to mount.

When you consider increases in cost of living, transport and the like, it is very difficult for people who are genuinely trying to find work to make ends meet - near impossible.

Of course, there  are those who are simply living off the system with no real desire to gain work  but most would argue they are in the minority. I certainly believe that.

Perhaps a system of transport subsidies for job hunting might be a way of ensuring the money is actually spent on job hunting.

All of that aside, one has to question what the PM's faith has to do with it all.

Scott should also remember that most of the organisations that are helping those on welfare are church based - the Salvation Army, Lifeline, the list goes on and on.

The LNP's fiscal approach has always been that improving the economy - not increasing handouts at taxpayers' expense - is the best way to help those looking for work.

That approach has been around long before Mr Morrison became PM.

But that doesn't sit well with Scott's Christian-bashing narrative does it?

Originally published as Why is our Pentecostal PM such a target of hate?