Former Oz PM Tony Abbott's Dubious Speaking Engagements

The very bad Australian Prime Minister (yes, in my humble opinion), who was known for his horrendous gaffes and awkward moments, is now doing the rounds in the US. He is a Christian (Catholic) fundamentalist who opposed, in his tenure, all sorts of progressive measures and ideas (you know, like gender equality). He was an outdated anachronism in representing his country in this day and age.

Here is the classic John Oliver segment: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3IaKVmkXuk[/youtube] Here is a montage of 10 classic moments: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VmR9CesbXk[/youtube] He was a plonker. Indeed, the suppository of wisdom. His strong Catholic views have instilled a right wing agenda into his political ideology. So there is no wonder that the Guardian reports:

Tony Abbott spent Australia Day travelling to the United States for a speaking engagement. The occasion is private, but it should be a matter of public concern. Especially in the wake of his decision to remain in politics, the event should raise some questions about the increasingly international ambitions of the Christian right, and its connections with the right wing of the Liberal party.



The organisation Abbott is speaking to – the Alliance Defending Freedom – is a pillar of the US Christian right. It’s the legal arm of Christian right behemoth Focus on the Family, has a budget of $40m, and is currently focused on waging a broad legal battle in the wake of some key supreme court rulings.

These include their victory in the Hobby Lobby ruling, which recognised corporations as having religious rights, and their defeat in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same sex couples the right to marry in all US states.

The Alliance Defending Freedom employs 50 lawyers and is networked with thousands more who cooperate on state and federal litigation intended to stonewall the expansion of civil rights for those whom evangelical protestants consider to be living against God’s law.

One strategy they advise on is what Fred Clarkson, senior fellow at Political Research Associates calls “religification”. Groups like ADF have issued handbooks that instruct organisations such as churches, schools, universities and hospitals, how to redefine all of their jobs and functions as essentially religious in nature, so that they can be wholly exempted from discrimination provisions in the Civil Rights Act under the “ministerial exception”.

When successful, this allows them and their employees to discriminate against job applicants, and even clients, who are LGBT, or with whom they simply have a religious disagreement.

In the face of rapid and seemingly unstoppable social change around issues of sexuality, this essentially defensive strategy allows Christian organisations to retain bastions of control where their identities and practices can be protected.

Assisting fellow conservatives to resist the advance of gay rights is the ADF’s top priority, and Abbott is visiting them at the same time that the Liberal party is conducting a civil war over same sex marriage.

In the Australian context, prominent conservatives like Eric Abetz are running a similar, defensive, delaying political strategy in the face of broad community support for marriage equality .

Abbott himself, when prime minister, similarly stonewalled on this issue.

Speaking to me by phone, Clarkson conceded that the closed-door nature of the meeting – which has not been advertised on ADF’s site – made it difficult to know what was happening. But it may not just be an after-dinner speech.

“There could actually be some strategic thinking going on. What kinds of contacts does the ADF have in Australia, and how can Abbott tap into them?”

There is something deeply insidious in nature about such a speaking engagement and meeting. If Australians in such prominent positions are sseking advice from such terrible organisations who have nonetheless had strategic and legal effect, then Australians and the wider progressive community should be worried.

I hate these sorts of clandestine machinations that appear to be driven by ingroup, bigoted motivations.

Sort it out, Abbott.

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By MystifyMe Concert Photography (Troy) | CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia[/caption]