‘It always starts innocently and it’s always said it is just a joke – just like most discrimination,’ treasurer says

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has vowed to stand up to “mockery” and jokes about Christians.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, Morrison sought to reestablish his credentials with the conservative wing of the Liberal party by vowing to “call out” mockery and jokes about religion.

He also promised to play a leading role in the push to enshrine further “protections” for religious freedom in law next year, part of a review being led by former attorney general Philip Ruddock.

“It all starts when you allow religious freedoms [to be eroded], mockery to be made of your faith or your religious festivals – it always starts innocently and it’s always said it is just a joke – just like most discrimination does,” Morrison told Fairfax.

“And I’m just going to call that out. With what I’ve seen happen in the last year, I’ve just taken the decision more recently, I’m just not going to put up with that any more, I don’t think my colleagues are either.

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“Where I think people are being offensive to religion in this country – whichever religion that might be, but particularly the one I and many other Christians subscribe to – well, we will just call it out and we will demand the same respect that people should provide to all religions.”

Morrison was once the leading champion of the conservative right in the Liberal party, but his standing was damaged by his support for Malcolm Turnbull in the leadership challenge that unseated Tony Abbott.

He has since been superseded in that role by the now minister for home affairs, Peter Dutton, who even took his place on the Ray Hadley breakfast radio show, where Morrison once enjoyed a weekly pulpit.

But Morrison, a devout Christian, has again started to flex his conservative muscles.

When the Greens senators Nick McKim and Peter Whish-Wilson posted a photo on Facebook purporting to celebrate a “Merry Non-Denominational Seasonal Festivity” with the word Christmas crossed out, Morrison called them “muppets”.

“I’m always reluctant to talk about the religion issue, but when it is front and centre in a debate like that [same-sex marriage] then obviously, you can’t avoid it. I did again this week with Nick McKim,” he said.

But Morrison said his interventions in the debate were not related to leadership ambitions, saying it had “nothing to do with any of that, I was just being myself”.

“If others are making those judgments, good for them, but for me it wasn’t about that.”