Scott Morrison has been an infrequent contributor to parliamentary debates since he took up a place on the backbench.
Sitting in a corner hidden away from question time TV cameras next to his factional ally Alex Hawke, Australia’s 30th prime minister generally only rises to speak on weighty matters like the death of Queen Elizabeth II or a motion on Israel.
Morrison’s two most significant speeches have been truculent defences of his legacy: a 24-minute denunciation of the “politics of retribution” when parliament censured him for his multiple ministries; and 15 minutes for a statement on indulgence accusing Labor of a “political lynching” over the findings of the robodebt royal commission.
But as he rose on Tuesday to give his last speech, Morrison was calmer and more gracious, “released from any bitterness”, which he said was “due to [his] faith in Jesus Christ”.
Morrison said it was “not an opportunity to run through a bullet point list” of achievements, but still managed to touch on Aukus, Australia’s triple AAA credit rating, support for Ukraine, lives saved in the pandemic and even a reduction in suicides, which he said was “nothing short of an answer to prayer”.
There was a long list of thank yous, with folksy nicknames for all: “Big Mac” McCormack, “Benny” Morton and “Scotty” Briggs. Morrison’s voice cracked as he thanked police officers “terribly injured” in a car crash in Tasmania while in the line of duty protecting him.
Morrison acknowledged one of his chief persecutors in Bill Shorten, allowing himself a moment of pride by noting “I’ve had my wins and my losses”, a reference to his “miracle” election victory over Shorten in 2019.
In office, Morrison leaned into his daggy suburban dad persona, with references to his rugby league team the Cronulla Sharks far more frequent than his faith.
Scomo was on show again on Tuesday, as Morrison fulfilled a request from his daughters Abbey and Lily to pepper his speech with Taylor Swift references.
Brandishing a Taylor Swift friendship bracelet – “by the way – has ‘Scomo’ on it” – Morrison said his opponents “have often made me see Red”.
“In response, I always thought it important to be Fearless and Speak Now. Or forever hold my silence and allow those attacks to become folklore.
“Ever since leaving university in … 1989, this has always been my approach.”
Time will tell if Morrison can make good the promise of no Bad Blood and to Shake It Off in his post-parliamentary life.
Morrison touched on the rise of “strategic competition” with China, which will stand him in good stead as he takes on new challenges in the corporate sector, mainly related to defence, and extends his stint on the international speaker circuit.
He thanked his family, without who he said he would “never have known God and my saviour Jesus Christ”, tearing up at the “emotional stuff” and reflecting that Australians are “not used to seeing that side of me”.
Morrison’s next step after he exits parliament will be spruiking his new book Plans for Your Good: a prime minister’s testimony of God’s faithfulness.
The little glimmers of evangelical Morrison in office when he invited reporters in to his church or said he had been called to do God’s work are now replaced by the high beams, blasting God’s light into the dark corners of Australia’s secular life and the lucrative US market, where they care not at all for another auspol memoir and quite a bit about God’s plan.
There were American inflections in Morrison’s speech: his standard acknowledgment of the defence force (the “providers of our freedom”), his reference to his constituents as “patriots”, and echoes of John F Kennedy in his claim his community thinks of “not what it is owed” to it but “what it can contribute”.
Morrison claimed that the “respect for individual human dignity”, representative democracy and “even market-based capitalism” were derived from Judaeo-Christian theology.
That these are “unique” Judaeo-Christian principles would be news to secular thinkers of the Enlightenment or citizens of ancient Athens, I’m sure.
“We should be careful about diminishing the influence and voice of Judaeo-Christian faith in our western society as doing risks our society drifting into a valueless voice,” he said.
“In that world, there is nothing to stand on, there is nothing to hold on to.”
Morrison addressed “those who perhaps may feel uncomfortable with my Christian references and scripture references”, telling them “I can’t apologise for that”.
He explained through scripture – deliciously, through an apparent misreferenced section – that he is “not ashamed” of his faith.
In reply, Anthony Albanese said he didn’t “doubt that everyone” in Morrison’s government “had good intentions”.
“Not everything was perfect [but] today’s not a day to dwell on that.”
It’s a good thing it wasn’t.
Aside from one passing reference by Morrison to the fact his faith gives him the ability “to both forgive but also to be honest about my own failings and shortcomings” one could easily come away from the hagiography with the conclusion that in Morrison’s view he had no shortcomings at all.
