In yet another bizarre story to add to your 2021 bingo card, NSW Police Minister David Elliott called Hillsong Church’s founder Brian Houston *checks notes* an “ungrateful twat.”
Houston, who is currently travelling in the US, was recently charged by NSW police for allegedly concealing historical sexual abuse, with a spokesperson for NSW Police confirming that they’ll allege in court that Houston was aware of information about the sexual abuse of a young man in the 1970s by his father, and did not take that information to the authorities. Houston has since declared that he will be returning to Australia to clear his name.
Police Minister David Elliott was outraged that Houston was traveling in Mexico despite the COVID-19 lockdown, saying the preacher “is setting a shocking example to the millions of Australians forced into lockdown and I can’t think of a more hypocritical set of values for a so-called Christian leader.”
Hence this spicy Sydney Morning Herald interview with Elliot by columnist Peter FitzSimons, which reads more like a mix of satire and dialogue you’d find in a Netflix teen drama, than an actual interview with an actual government minister.
“Minister, thanks for your time, but if we can bring it back to ME for a moment, I was as pleased as I was surprised to see the strength of your remarks about Brian Houston being in Mexico right now,” FitzSimons began.
“It is not often we see conservatives of your ilk taking down big wheels of the ruling class?”
“His church is in my electorate,” Elliott responded.
“I had one of his parishioners in my office who had lost his 12-year-old niece to suicide due to strains of lockdown, and his pastor, Brian Houston, was nowhere to be seen. He was in Mexico! And at that time, I didn’t know that the local constabulary were putting a brief together to charge him with allegedly concealing child abuse.
“Beyond that, last year, he had to go overseas and he wanted preferential treatment for quarantine, to go into a five-star suite. We arranged it – despite the fact that the Pope, President Biden and Foreign Minister Marise Payne can do most of their foreign work remotely, and he is just a suburban preacher – and then he criticised our COVID policy! He’s an ungrateful twat!”
Yes, I know what you’re thinking – I mean, aside from the fact that this man really said ‘ungrateful twat.’ Why the fuck did they actually give Houston preferential treatment and a five-star suite? But this is the man who found Black Lives Matter posters offensive and said Australia “doesn’t have a race problem” so really, are we surprised?
@nswpolice Minister, David Elliot says “We don’t have a race problem in Australia.” https://t.co/jqCJEpAA9p
— IndigenousX (@IndigenousX) April 21, 2021
The conversation eventually moved away from Houston and went on to discuss NSW’s response to COVID-19, with quotes from Elliott including: “No shit, Sherlock” and “I am a working-class protestant, and I love my institutions!”
See what I mean about sounding like satire? It seems that a lot of people were equally confused, with many saying they read the very honest, if not bizarre, interview and dismissed it as a joke.
I genuinely believed it was satire.
— Chris Downing (@ChrisDowningAU) August 8, 2021
Others were less amused by the light-hearted approach to Elliot’s quotes given his track record regarding Black Lives Matter protests and his support for strip searching children.
https://twitter.com/AJ_Whittaker/status/1424157200226811907?s=20
I need to make time to read this b/c I worry this is the same guy who thinks strip searching children is all fine and dandy.
— Jenny Frecklington-Jones #VoteYes ❤️💛🖤 (@JonesHowdareyou) August 8, 2021
You know when racism-denying, strip-search defending Police Minister David Elliott is criticising the government and actually making some occasionally correct points that shit is really dire, huh? You can read the whole interview here.
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