AUSTRALIA’s Catholic bishops are calling for a shakeup of the country’s politics with a focus on the common good of all, including the most vulnerable who struggle to participate in the community.
In the second week of a federal election campaign, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said no one political party fully embodies Catholic social teaching.
The bishops are, however, offering an election statement – ‘Towards a Better Kind of Politics’ – to encourage Catholics and people of good will to reflect on as they prepare to vote.
The statement is also being sent to federal politicians.
“We all long for what Pope Francis calls ‘a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good’,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“This ‘better’ politics pursues the common good of all Australians by recognising the dignity of every individual and the solidarity we all share as a national community,” Archbishop Coleridge said.
“Since the last federal election we have seen the impact and the challenges of a global pandemic, floods, summers of bushfires, wild weather events and a world on edge because of military conflict.
“Foremost in the minds of many will be Australia’s economic recovery from the effects of COVID-19. The societal disruptions from the pandemic have revealed significant levels of poverty and disadvantage within Australia.
“We need a new social contract that focuses the economy more clearly on the common good.”
The bishops’ statement highlights a number of key issues.
Among them is the provision of high-quality palliative care across Australia, “to ensure that no one is pressured into choosing assisted suicide because palliative care is unavailable”.
The statement advocates for vulnerable people in the community, including those in need of aged care, First Nations people, asylum-seekers and refugees.
It calls for a government committed to the common good that will deliver a medium to long-term plan for eradicating poverty in Australia.
The bishops also say people who have a religious faith should be protected from discrimination, “including the ability to undertake activities and form religious bodies that can pursue their religious mission”.
“This includes commonsense provisions to allow religious schools to preference the hiring of staff who support the school’s ethos,” the statement says.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised religious freedom laws that would allow faith organisations to decide on hiring and care according to their beliefs before the last election but he withdrew the proposed legislation from the Senate in the final days of the last parliament as Labor, the Greens and five Coalition senators pushed for amendments.
Mr Morrison accused the Greens of undermining the laws by demanding unacceptable changes to protect the rights of gay and lesbian teachers, but Opposition leader Anthony Albanese blamed the prime minister for the failure of the laws because he waited too long to introduce the bill into parliament.
So far in the current election campaign neither leader has fully committed to reintroducing legislation to provide religious freedoms.
The Bishops’ election statement can be found at: www.catholic.org.au
