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Comment by RWeaver | Hacker News Reader

The leader of the opposition is a devout Catholic. As the minister for health he tried to block abortion treatments until overruled by his party, and nearly became a priest before settling for lifetime politician.

He became the leader of the opposition by one vote (internal votes) after a debate between him and the previous leader over climate change (which he successfully argued to his party wasn't occurring, later changing his mind to satisfy the polls)

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The leaders of the three biggest parties, ALP, Liberal and Greens are all Catholic or in the case of Rudd a Catholic turned Anglican. Catholics are the second biggest cult after the Protestants in Australia and just ahead of the non-believers by a whisker. Catholics are possibly over-represented due to private school networking in the case of the Abbott and Pyne types and a concern with social justice issues in the case of a Rudd or Milne type. It really isn't about the religion though.

It is all about power, money and special interests corrupting democracy. Abbott for all his Catholicism will have signed his soul over to big carbon polluters, the tobacco lobby, Rupert Murdoch and lots more to take the election.

Abbott has demonstrated that he is prepared to distinguish between his private beliefs and his public policy. He has no choice: trying to introduce the Catholic wishlist would see him voted down like an obese person on reality TV.

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