Senator Fatima Payman’s defection over Labor Party policy on statehood for the Palestinians has generated wider discussion about the written and unwritten rules of Australian politics.

One of those involves the vexed question of the role of religious faith.

Scott Morrison’s prime ministership inevitably raised it. Morrison did not hide his evangelical Christianity.

His strange memoir revived the issue because it showed Morrison’s faith was not incidental to his politics. By his own account at least, faith was its organising principle.

So far as I’m aware, Morrison’s Christianity was not understood as a threat to social cohesion – weird, certainly, but not dangerous in that way.

Those who talked up its dangers were often treated as engaging in hyperbole, or even hypocrisy – since Kevin Rudd’s Christianity did not receive the same level of scrutiny or criticism.

My beautiful community is one of the most diverse in Australia. With people of >100 different faith groups who engage widely in our nation’s political processes.

The PM is 100% correct.

Faith based political parties would be a terrible thing for 🇦🇺 AND minority groups. #auspol pic.twitter.com/m2y1SMcjvX

— Julian Hill MP (@JulianHillMP) July 5, 2024

The context for Albanese’s commentary was Payman’s defection, and reports that she had been in contact with an organisation called The Muslim Vote, which intends organising candidates in Labor-held seats with large numbers of voters of this faith.

‘‘I don’t think and don’t want Australia to go down the road of faith-based political parties because........

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