Morrison picks candidates in his own image as he moves to remake the Liberals

How do you get to be a captain’s pick in Scott Morrison’s Liberal Party? 

This week, the civil war simmering over the preselection of candidates became very public, sparked by the case of Katherine Deves, Morrison’s pick for the seat of Warringah.

How Deves emerged from utter obscurity to national prominence — and provoked a spectacular meltdown of the NSW Liberals — is a mystery. How do you become a prime minister’s pick for a one-time blue-ribbon Liberal seat when you weren’t even a member of the party six months ago? We have a stab at solving that mystery later.

For all the furore generated by Deves, it could have been worse. Morrison had another captain’s pick in the mix earlier this year, in the seat of Dobell on the NSW Central Coast, currently held with a 3% margin by Labor. Morrison’s candidate, Jemima Gleeson, didn’t get up. Preselection went to Dr Michael Feneley, a leading cardiologist with an Order of Australia for services to medicine.

So, who is Jemima Gleeson? Gleeson is a Pentecostal preacher with Hope Unlimited Church (HopeUC). The church has several sites on the Central Coast as well as branches in the US and India. HopeUC’s lead pastor, Darlene Zschech, is well known in Pentecostal circles as a former worship pastor at Hillsong, where she built a huge name as a singer and producer of worship music under the Hillsong Music label.

Gleeson describes her life thus on her Twitter account: “blessed beyond measure. love my God. love my family. love my church. love my life. totally blessed.” Her last posting is from 2012 and includes nothing to indicate any interest in politics, Liberal or otherwise.

Significantly, Gleeson is also a graduate of Alphacrucis College, the official training college for Australia’s Pentecostal churches, where she completed a theology degree in 2019. The head of Alphacrucis’ governing council is Pastor Michael Murphy, a highly influential figure in Australia’s Pentecostal circles.

Murphy founded a training organisation, Leaderscape, which aims to build the leadership skills of pastors. One of its aims, candidly put, is to help “release enhanced generosity for churches and ministries in the order of millions of dollars”. Murphy is a former Hillsong pastor and was also lead pastor for 18 years at Shirelive, the southern Sydney Pentecostal church that Morrison attends. 

So, how did theology graduate Gleeson come into the orbit of the prime minister and into the mix of Liberal Party politics in Australia? And what role, if any, did Murphy have? Crikey sought comment from Gleeson and Murphy but neither returned our calls.

Also unclear is the role Morrison has played in the elevation of another Pentecostal Christian, Linda Aitken, who late last year was preselected as the Liberal candidate for the West Australian seat of Pearce (replacing Christian Porter). Aitken is a member of Victory Church, whose lead pastor (and former tennis great) Margaret Court is famously opposed to homosexuality.

It was also revealed yesterday that the National Party’s candidate for the NSW seat of Richmond, Kimberly Hone, had told worshippers at a Pentecostal church that her “ultimate goal” in politics was to “bring God’s kingdom to the political arena”.

And what of Katherine Deves?

As Crikey’s Cam Wilson has reported, Katherine Deves had been politically homeless until several months ago when she joined the Liberal Party. So how does someone with no party pedigree to speak of become a prime minister’s captain’s pick?

Earlier this year, Deves proved she had the right stuff and would run through a brick wall for her cause — if that’s what you’re looking for — when she spoke at a forum in Hobart alongside Liberal Senator Claire Chandler. Chandler had tabled the Save Women’s Sport bill in federal Parliament, gaining the public support of Morrison for her stand. The “Gender Identity in Law” forum had been deferred three times. Opponents had attempted to have the event cancelled or removed from Hobart Town Hall.

Forum chair Sydney University Professor Emerita Bronwyn Winter, who describes herself as a feminist and lesbian activist and a life-long ALP voter, told Crikey that the women and sport issue “cuts across the political spectrum”.

Of Deves she said: “She is a sincere woman. I am not inside her head but I think Katherine ran with the Liberal Party because the left is not listening and it is very difficult to run as an independent. But I stress I am not inside her head.”

(Crikey contacted Senator Chandler’s office for comment on her role in linking Deves to the Liberal cause but received no response.)

Deves’ preselection appears, then, to be a marriage of convenience — where an opportunistic prime minister comes with a political platform for a candidate passionate about a single issue.

But how much longer can she last as Morrison’s cannon fodder for remaking the Liberals?