No Christmas Card from the Liberal Leader

It seems I have upset Peter Dutton

It seems I have upset Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

The Liberal Party leader wrote a scathing letter, published in The Spectator today, about an article I wrote quoting his comments concerning sacked Essendon CEO Andrew Thorburn.

Here is Mr Dutton’s letter to The Spectator …

I would make a couple of points. 

Firstly, I did acknowledged in my article that Mr Dutton condemned the treatment of Mr Thorburn.

I wrote …

‘He said the media and political pile-on that forced Andrew Thorburn from the job he held for just 24 hours was ‘an egregious attack’ on religious freedom.’

Secondly, Mr Dutton is right that I suggested he was aligned with Daniel Andrews - not on the issue of Mr Thorburn’s sacking, but in describing orthodox Christian beliefs on sexuality and the sanctity of life as “an abomination”.

I wrote:

‘But then Dutton suddenly felt the urge to outdo Daniel Andrews in vilifying Christianity, no small feat.

‘It was like Dutton, having listened to Andrews deride Christianity as ‘absolutely appalling’, told the Victoria Premier: “Hold my beer…”

The Liberal leader, turned theologian, told Sky News Australia:

‘The views that have been expressed by a pastor at this church in relation to gay people, or to the issue of abortion – they’re an abomination and I condemn those points that have been made by that particular pastor.’

Andrews described Christian views on homosexuality and abortion as ‘absolutely appalling’. Dutton described them as ‘an abomination’.

Judge for yourself whether they sound aligned or not. 

Third, I did not misrepresent Mr Dutton’s comments at all. I quoted directly from a Sky News report on October 5 that read …

‘The Opposition Leader directly condemned the views held by City on a Hill but said the resignation was a result of an “egregious attack” on his religious beliefs.

‘”The views that have been expressed by a pastor at this church in relation to gay people, or to the issue of abortion – they’re an abomination and I condemn those points that have been made by that particular pastor,” he said.’

Mr Dutton complained to The Spectator that in quoting his comments, I had misrepresented them. He wrote …

‘In strongly backing Andrew Thorburn, I did, however take exception to Pastor Guy Mason’s reference to “concentration camps” in his 2013 sermon, because that was something that jarred with me.’

Mr Dutton is referring to this comment from Pastor Mason …

‘Whereas today we look back at concentration camps, future generations will look back with sadness at the legal murder of hundreds of thousands [sic] human beings every day through medicine in the name of freedom.’

If that is what Mr Dutton was taking exception to in his comments to Sky News then I would argue that it is not me who has misrepresented Mr Dutton, it is the Liberal leader who has misrepresented Mr Dutton.

Read again what Mr Dutton said, as quoted by Sky …

‘The views that have been expressed by a pastor at this church in relation to gay people, or to the issue of abortion – they’re an abomination and I condemn those points that have been made by that particular pastor.’

No mention of “concentration camps” there. And if that’s what he meant, why include the church’s views on “gay people” which had nothing to do with the pastor’s reference to concentration camps?

I am glad that Mr Dutton has affirmed for readers of the Spectator his commitment to religious freedom. Many of us are counting on the Liberals to do so because we certainly don’t trust Labor to uphold religious freedoms.

But I did not question Mr Dutton’s commitment to religious freedom. What I did point out was that by describing the orthodox Christian position on sexuality and abortion - held by many Liberal voters - as “an abomination”, Mr Dutton was severely undermining his base.

For the record, I like Mr Dutton, and I desperately hope he will be a successful conservative leader. God knows the country needs him to be!

But Mr Dutton would be better off clarifying his own clumsy remarks - if indeed that’s what they were - rather than attacking me for accurately reporting what he said and then coming to the exact same conclusion that most other people of faith came to after reading his remarks.