'The religious justification of political acts sends a shiver down my spine.'
'The religious justification of political acts sends a shiver down my spine.' Photo: Andrew Meares
The prime minister spoke recently to an audience of loggers. I can't decide whether it was merely deluded or a snide declaration of war against the Greens because they collaborated with Labor against him. Was he abasing himself for votes before woodchippers or unveiling a scorched earth policy?
Worryingly, he namechecked God. Before the election, Tony Abbott's deity was rarely mentioned. His advisers would have warned him against co-opting his Lord into a campaign in which a quarter of Australians have no god, almost half a million are Muslim, and even like-minded believers are squeamish about declaring for a personally interventionist god.