Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians should reject the Greens' divisive and resentful form of extremist politics.

As a practising Catholic I am fed up with how Catholics are portrayed by some in this chamber and some in the media. The Catholic Church is far from perfect but then it is far from evil, too. Some members of the Catholic Church have done some terrible things over time, and the Church deserves admonishment for those things. The Church itself has shown remorse and is trying, however imperfectly, to repent for the sins of some of its members.

What angers me most about the prejudice of some is their ignorance—their wilful ignorance, at times—of the good works that many Catholics do. I met my wife while volunteering at the Edmund Rice Camps when I was young. On these camps, young volunteers like my wife and me gave up their university holidays to help disadvantaged children go camping. They were full of great young people just striving to live by the example of Jesus Christ and help their fellow man. How is it, though, that an entire religion now can be denigrated for the sins of some? We should never denigrate the many for the mistakes of a few.

None of this is to suggest that I think it is improper for Senator Waters to raise the Pope's encyclical. It was quite appropriate for Senator Waters to do that. It was inappropriate for her—as the President ruled—to impute motives to Catholic cabinet ministers just because they were Catholic.

I have not had a chance to read the whole encyclical myself. I have had a quick look at it, and the central lesson that I took from it—and this is where the Pope speaks with the most authority, I think—is that the wellbeing of humankind, in particular that of the poor, has to be front and centre when we look at complex issues like climate change. Pope Francis makes the very strong point that any policy must put humanity as its central concern and that the moral course is to use human wellbeing, in particular that of the poor, for our standard. The Pope says in it that it is not for the Church to 'settle scientific questions or to replace politics', and he highlights the need for honest and open debate. He states:

For poor countries, the priorities must be to eliminate extreme poverty and to promote the social development of their people. At the same time, they need to acknowledge the scandalous level of consumption in some privileged sectors of their population and to combat corruption more effectively.

He goes on to say:

… demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development …

The most polluted places on earth are in the developing world, in countries without the benefit of industrial development and of cheap energy and electricity. So, industrialisation and fossil fuels have a place too. When we push up power prices, it is the poor who suffer the most. Also, in the 44,000 words of the encyclical, the word 'climate' appears just 16 times. The most common words are 'human' and 'God'.

Some other pressing moral issues identified by the Pope that the Greens might have missed—or, at least, hope the government will ignore—are the dangers of welfarism and the importance of the dignity of work in helping the poor. The Pope says:

Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work.

He goes on to say:

… Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?

While the encyclical did not touch directly on the definition of marriage, the Pope spoke strongly on this in January this year when he said:

The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life.

These are all important points that Pope Francis raises. I welcome the Greens new found interest in the teachings of the Catholic Church, and I hope Senator Waters does take the time to read the full encyclical.