Newly appointed Coalition Prime Minister Scott Morrison is the first PM to emerge from the Church of Pentecostalism, a relatively small Christian evangelical denomination popular for its large stadium-sized sermons.
Apart from Morrison鈥檚 affiliation with the Horizon Church in Sutherland, Sydney, which often boasts 2000 guests a service, his commitment to conservative social movements and the number of Christian conservatives in the Coalition, should ring alarm bells.
No wonder the backward , describing his 鈥渄eep faith鈥 as 鈥渞eassuring鈥.
Morrison鈥檚 support for the No campaign against marriage equality is the most recent example of his bigoted views. Given that he had defended the , who stated all gay people would 鈥済o to hell unless they repent their sins鈥, it was not a surprise.
But despite a majority Yes vote in his own electorate of Cook, Morrison abstained from the parliamentary vote, while calling for a new law to protect religious freedoms.
This should be of concern not just for the LGBTI community, but for all who support tolerance and inclusivity.
We saw the impact of the homophobic No campaign during the marriage equality postal survey, which was used to better organise conservatives, as Tony Abbott happily explained at the time.
We can expect more of the same because the conservative Christian agenda not only underpins Morrison鈥檚 belief system; it is the same for Dutton, Abbott and the other conservative Christians in parliament.
Morrison is not the only MP looking to boost and consolidate conservatism.
Dutton, who took over from Morrison as immigration minister and deepened the misery and suffering of refugees on Manus and Nauru, is hardly acting like a Christian.
But the decades of bipartisan refugee and asylum seeker bashing has had an impact.
A 2017 Lowy Institute Poll found that .
Moreover, almost 40% agreed that asylum seekers coming by boat was a 鈥渃ritical threat鈥 to Australia鈥檚 interests.
This is the xenophobic base that Morrison intends to build on.
There are links between the conservative Christian movements, the Monarchists and the small, but vocal, far right in this country.
Morrison鈥檚 decision to gift his cabinet Australia flag pins is a small, yet telling, example of this and his values. And with Donald Trump in the White House, right-wing, bigoted and xenophobic politics has an opportunity to grow 鈥 if we let it.
While we may not be on the verge of theocracy, we need to be aware that unless we organise to fight against it, Margaret Atwood鈥檚 Gilead may be closer to reality than we (or she) had ever anticipated.