[someotherperson]

> Our current PM is a fairly hard religious conservative

No he's not. He's a left-leaning centrist, like both major Australian parties. Trying to apply American-flavoured extremism to the Australian political spectrum is exactly why getting rid of bubblegum news is a good thing.

For those playing at home, Scott Morrison the "hard religious conservative" who famously said[0] "the Bible is not a policy handbook, and I get very worried when people try to treat it like one" also happens to belong to the party that:

* Outlawed general access to firearms

* Legalised gay marriage

* Introduced GST (VAT)

* Introduced women-centric divorce law

* Gave people free money for having more children

* Made healthcare for pensioners free

Ad nauseam. None of these actions are "conservative" in the slightest, unless you're comparing them to literal communists, of course. The Australian Liberal Party is probably more left leaning than the American Liberal Party.

[0] https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2012/february/1328593883...

[nicwilson]

> No he's not. He's a left-leaning centrist, like both major Australian parties

What? He's a money worshiping pentecostalist (and I mean that in a literal sense). The LNP are pretty far right. They're no one nation, but they're not for behind.

> famously said[0]

(2012) also action speak louder than words. I mean they literally introduced a bill Called the Religious Discrimination Bill that entitles people to discriminate on the basis of religion (or lack thereof)

> Outlawed general access to firearms

After https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australi... with bipartisan support. Firearms have never been a political issue since. I mean, it was a good idea, but I suspect that either party would have done that.

> Legalised gay marriage

They were dragged kicking and screaming after a non-binding plebiscite showed widespread support. They get no Brownie points for that.

> Introduced GST (VAT)

Was an amalgamation of other taxes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goods_and_services_tax_(Austra...

[stevenjohns]

I'm really not sure what you're trying to show here. They are left-leaning centrists and your comment doesn't challenge that. The fact they introduced gay marriage, divorce legislation, doubled public healthcare spending and introduced additional standardised taxes indicates they're not bible-thumping conservatives as the parent comment tried to indicate.

Saying "they're pretty far right" and the parent's comment suggesting the PM is a "fairly hard religious conservative" when there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary is literally just political propaganda. Trying to say "but they're not [far] behind" a party headed by overt racists is exactly the type of entirely fabricated, exaggerated American-type political b/s that we need to get washed out of mainstream Australian political thought ASAP. It's entirely the type of cancer introduced by state-funded rags like ABC who make it seem like anyone who isn't a brown vegan lesbian is literally Hitler.

Repeat after me: Australia is not America, Australian politics sees no reflection in American politics. The two political systems are entirely different, the political atmosphere is entirely different and the two parties that dominate are closer to classical socialists in every way more than they are right-wing religious conservatives.

The day that the Australian Liberal Party compels you to pay tithings to the Church, removes the socialised healthcare and bans abortion is the day you can start to argue that they've gone "far right." Until then you're going to have to face a cold, harsh reality: Australian politics is not that interesting. 95% of the political goals have bipartisan alignment and the disagreements are only about the implementation details, not about the policies. Sucks, I know.

[madeofpalk]

I know its not really the point, but I struggle and am conflicted about crediting the LNP with gay marriage. Yes, they did pass the law, but in the most laborious and drawn out way possible. They did not do it "willingly".

[stevenjohns]

It was one of their 2016 election promises to introduce gay marriage to a postal plebiscite. The day after the results, a gay Liberal Party member introduced the proposed legislation amendments.

It was an LNP election promise, an LNP plebiscite and an LNP piece of legislation. It was LNP through and through and the credit is theirs.

[elyobo]

Uh... he's a right leaning conservative, like both major Australian parties. He's not off the scale nuts like the US, but only by looking through an American lens could you conclude that he was left leaning.

[ggm]

Yes,but still: He's a conservative, rightist, anti unions, climate denying, pro coal, Murdoch bum-sucking, sacked ad-man. He's just not as right wing as Americans.

If he could have avoided any of the things you listed, he would have. He depends on the support of mouth breathers who believe Islam is evil, and who lock up refugees. He is incapable of bipartisanship. He basically dumped all Labor state leaders under the bus, backing only liberal state governments and refused to give credence to science. He did not stop antivaxx messages from his party.

He used his religion to further his career. His church faith group harboured a notorious paedophile pastor, and uses scripture to justify wealth at any cost. Pentecostal churches are not apolitical neutral bodies.

He did well, politically. He's not as right wing as pinochet. He's still right wing.

[Wolfenstein98k]

You can only judge a politician by the Overton window of their country, and I agree in principle that ScoMo is painted as a hard-edged Bible basher by the left-wing end of our political reporting here in Aus.

But he is to the right of the Libs, and only recently has he pivoted to the centre as he took up the PMship. It still matters that he would be right of every major Western leader at the moment.