More Australians believe in political violence than go to church each week. This won’t end well

October 16, 2026 — 5:00am

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More Australians think political violence is sometimes justified than go to church each week. Actually, it’s not even close. Last year’s McKinnon index – the best measure we have – had 9 per cent of us entertaining violence. If we confine that to the adult population, that amounts to around 2 million people. Compare that to about 1.35 million weekly churchgoers, according to the National Church Life Survey. All those figures are a year old. But if I’m reading our social temperature correctly, that gap would only have widened.

This week gave us the revelation from Small Business Minister Anne Aly that she has received 19 death threats in the past week. It came in response to a Liberal MP who said in parliament that both she and the prime minister should be “stoned in the square” after the Australian Taxation Office decided not to let businesses pay tax by credit card. Those comments are obviously inflammatory, but they aren’t the definitive part of this story, because Aly’s experience is not an aberration. It’s increasingly becoming a fixture in our political culture. The federal police say there are around three threats made against federal politicians every day.

But it’s not just politicians. Merely working in a political office will do. Between politicians and their staffers, one survey found 85 per cent have had to deal with........

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