Beyond Selidor

It’s partly explained by the dominance of the Murdoch press, as lilysea says, but I would argue that it’s also the consequence of the political right relying increasingly on culture war issues (rather than economic arguments) to rally their base and get their vote reliably. Things like scaremongering about immigrants, trans people, or ‘the global elite.’ This sort of stuff tends to go hand in hand with fundamentalist Christianity and cultural conservatism, so the consequence is the increasing success of politicians who have such beliefs.

I should also clarify that when I say ‘disproportionate’ I don’t mean that a majority of Australian politicians are Christian conservatives. But evangelical Christians are only 1 per cent of the Australian population, and yet 15 per cent of the current government (not everyone in parliament, just the governing party) are apparently evangelicals. That seems very disproportionate, in my opinion.

The other thing I would say is that American way of politicians talking about their religious beliefs constantly and making it a huge part of their campaign doesn’t happen in Australia. If any of those evangelicals talked constantly about their faith, it would be massively offputting to voters, even their base, so they don’t do it. But it underpins a lot of their political decisions, particularly around climate change (why do anything to prevent it if God has given you dominion over the Earth and the rapture’s going to happen anyway?) and the welfare state (if you believe in the prosperity gospel you believe that people who are poor or destitute have done something to deserve it).