The revelation by Melbourne talk radio host Neil Mitchell that he had been told our former PM had significant mental health issues has opened up discussion about the strain of high office.
Psychologist Bianca Denny wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. “As a psychologist, I can tell you the reality is that Morrison joined the one in four Australians diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and one in seven treated with medication. Given such high prevalence and treatment rates, it is clear that poor mental health should not be automatically equated with poor decision-making.”
In his book, Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness, Morrison describes “debilitating and agonising” anxiety during much of his time as prime minister.
“Without this help, severe depression would have manifested. What impacted me was the combination of pure physical exhaustion with the unrelenting and callous brutality of politics and media attacks.
“As a politician, I know this goes with the territory. That’s not a complaint or even an accusation. It’s just reality. Politicians are not made of stone, yet they’re often treated as though they are, including by each other.”
While the Bible says, “No one can serve two masters”, speaking of God and Money, Scott Morrison had two masters to serve – his political constituency and God. A non-religious politician has to serve the pragmatic needs of his party room. As is often said, not quoting the Bible, “politics is the art of the possible.”
In terms of what many Christians would have wanted from Morrison, politics might have been described as the art of the impossible. This can be seen most clearly in the last few weeks of his government as the Religious Discrimination Bill dominated the agenda.
In February 2022, The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL)asked the Morrison Government to withdraw its Religious Discrimination Bills from the Senate. This was after the House of Representatives removed protection for religious schools from the Sex Discrimination Act, with liberals crossing the floor.
The ACL had wanted the Religious Discrimination Bills passed without changing the Sex Discrimination Act. Christian schools had been prepared not to discriminate against enrolling gay students and maintained that they did not do that, but transgender students were a bridge too far for them. But Morrison could not deliver the numbers. His party room was split.
This is not to say that the ACL or the Christian schools whose independence they were protecting were wrong or right – but what was politically possible. I am sure that for Morrison, it was being asked to serve his masters – the party room and his Christian constituency.
In politics, the art of the possible rules. But Christian convictions – which the ACL and the schools were resolute about – don’t lend themselves to compromise.
So, in the dying days of the Morrison government, pragmatism and principle were locked in conflict.
We can perhaps see the same thing happening in the US, where Christians who want bans on abortions are finding that republican politicians are failing to support the cause. A prime example is Donald Trump, who sees abortion as a “loser issue.” Which it is. It turns out that Roe v Wade, built on dubious law, was strangely popular. Or rather, the US population shows a marked tendency when given a chance in state referenda to vote for legal abortions – seven states, including conservative “red” states, so far since Roe was overturned and more to come. Trump is now saying it’s a Staes rights issue – but has chosen to disagree with the most severe bans.
An interesting approach was taken by the UK Conservative politician Jacob Rees Mogg, who was asked about whether he would vote for abortion. He responded that it was a settled policy, and his views would not be likely to prevail and, therefore, irrelevant. It was a clever answer at a time when, in theory, he was a possible leader of his party or PM. It may be a response we might see used more often: “Well, personally, I think xyz, but the law is settled in the other direction …” In effect, in Australia, virtually every christian politician would say something like that about abortion.”
Unless something Christians support is popular with the general public, relying on a politician who happens to be a Christian is no shortcut to winning a Christian agenda.
The theme verse for the Morrison era should be: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day, their plans come to nothing. Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them– the LORD, who remains faithful forever.” (Psalm 146:3–6)
Christians in secular workplaces experience a “double load” of seeking to serve their organisation well and with a load of expectations from being a Christian as well. Christian leaders who are worthy of “double honour” (1 Timothy 5:17), as well as stricter judgement (James 3:1), will feel embattled from time to time. But in today’s society, workers in secular jobs are on the frontline: consider teachers and social workers who have to negotiate two sets of thinking as they seek to integrate their professional lives and faith.
The tensions for Morrison revealed by Neil Mitchell and in Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness can be considered part of the “double load”. And taking the criticisms of Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness on board – the lack of discussion about refugee policy during his time in charge as a Cabinet Minister and Prime Minister is a good example – increases the double load. Any person put in charge of refugee policy in either a Labor or a Coalition government who happens to be a Christian would have more than a double load – with the job conflicting with faith.
Consider being a Christian as treasurer, seeking to damp down inflation, knowing that the policy will raise the unemployment rate, putting people out of work. And God forbid leading a country in a time of war.
Whether you sympathise with him or not, Scott Morrison was a bearer of a double load.