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EDUCATION
The trump card John Howard asked him to judge the inaugural Prime Minister’s History Prize, the Deputy Prime Minister launched his biography of Harold Holt, and the new Leader of the Opposition often engages him in vigorous debate. He is The Right Reverend Dr Thomas Frame, a man in the thick of the national political picture. Dr Frame is the new Head of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Theology and Director of St Mark’s National Theological Centre.
 Dr Frame: A deeply religious man who also just happens to be fascinated by politics
Photo: Marina Neil
Dr Frame is a deeply religious man who also just happens to be fascinated by politics. His most recent book, Church and State: Australia’s Imaginary War, argues that Australia does not have a constitutional separation of church and state – no wonder then, “I have been involved in some fairly vigorous debate with Kevin Rudd on that matter.
“It is impossible to keep religion and politics apart. It seems to be quite unfair, quite unreasonable, not to mention impossible, that people’s beliefs somehow get banned from public debate.
“I don’t see why a Christian ought not to be able to contribute their perspectives whereas environmentalists are able to say whatever they like. Both are ideologies of one kind or another, so to bar one and not the other doesn’t seem right.”
Dr Frame believes politicians in the 1970s and 80s “thought religious perspectives were not welcome. What we are returning to now is a situation that prevailed perhaps before the 1960s where people’s religious affiliations were a part of their public life”.
In other words, politicians who wear their religious hearts on their sleeves. Politicians such as Kevin Rudd, who has made it known he is a committed Christian, and Tony Abbott.
“Tony Abbott says his Catholicism has not informed his policy making. I think it is a little bit disingenuous to say that you could separate out the two.
“I’m sure his world view is shaped by his Catholic beliefs. And I don’t think that is a bad thing. What I do think is bad is when people try to hide these affiliations and associations. But he is not the only person who makes health policy. Health policy is made by the Cabinet and within his department. His Catholic perspectives are one among many factors."
Tom Frame’s journey to ordination was a circuitous one, even though he says his calling “never went away”. He knew from an early age what he wanted to do. “I announced to my family when I was seven years old that I wished to be a clergyman or a butcher.
 “I announced to my family when I was seven years old Right Reverend Dr Thomas Frame (above) “But as time went on I hankered after a sense of excitement. I had an uncle who encouraged me into the Navy. So for 15 years I was waylaid from that earlier sense of call to be a Naval Officer.”
His time in the Forces coincided with what he calls The Great Peace – after the Vietnam War and before the first Gulf War. No deployments, no peace keeping, no armed conflict. He and his colleagues were men and women training for something that never eventuated.
When the time of great activity did come, Dr Frame had an entirely different role within the ADF – as Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force. He was mentoring and providing leadership to the Services Chaplains who were in turn dealing with young people seeing dreadful atrocities.
“I am hoping to develop subjects in the School of Theology that will help chaplains, non-government organisations and the Defence Force deal with the exponentially more complex circumstances in which they are now deployed,” said Dr Frame, who was also recently appointed to the Australian War Memorial Council.
Described as “one of Australia's leading naval historians”, Dr Frame is the author of nineteen books including the best-selling naval histories Where Fate Calls: the HMAS Voyager tragedy and HMAS Sydney: loss and controversy.
Along with his interest in naval history and politics is a fascination with explorers, especially of the Arctic and Antarctic variety and the continuing debate – Who reached the North Pole first?
“I’m not interested in the answer. I am interested that people think this is so important. People still want heroes.
“All walks of life have their heroes - football fans, explorers, and naval officers. If Nelson was the greatest of all time, who was the second greatest?
“Personally, I’m a great supporter of Admiral Sir John Jarvis, who was one of Nelson’s colleagues. He was a very good politician in addition to being a great naval commander. He was not an especially likeable person, but he was determined.”
A naval officer who combined politics with strong convictions – no wonder Dr Frame is an admirer. “I’ve never had religious doubts. I have never had need of anyone to tell me that I have fallen short of the ideals that God calls me to live out.” Neither is he afraid to point out a friend’s failing to them.
“If you see them acting self-destructively, then it is immoral to do or say nothing.”
No one could accuse Dr Frame of doing or saying nothing. His career path so far - naval officer, Bishop, writer and now academic – has seen him pushed into the public eye. Notoriety came with his decision to support the invasion of Iraq – the only Anglican bishop to speak in favour of the war. It was a decision he came to regret.
“I now concede that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. It did not pose a threat to either its nearer neighbours or the United States and its allies. It did not host or give material support to al-Qa'ida or other terrorist groups,” Dr Frame wrote in 2004.
 “I now concede that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. It did not pose a threat to either its nearer neighbours or the United States and its allies. It did not host or give material support to al-Qa'ida or other terrorist groups,” Dr Frame wrote in 2004.
Photo: Marina Neil
“I asked him directly, ‘Why did you support going to war in Iraq?’” said Dr Heather Thomson, lecturer in Systematic Theology in the School of Theology. “And he said he had stood next to the PM who had said to him, ‘They have weapons of mass destruction and they are going to use them within the next few months’.
“He told me that having a history of how Australia refrained from helping when we should have, like in Rwanda, then we should be going in to help. As it turned out, the information about WMDs was incorrect and he publicly retracted. And I admire him for that.”
Dr Thomson was on the selection committee for the new Director of St Mark’s. Does she think he is an outspoken person? “Yes he is.” Could that be a problem? “Yes - but he is also happy to say sorry when people point out he is wrong.
"And he said quite clearly that he wants us to be speaking out for ourselves as well. He expects what he gets.”
What Deputy Vice-Chancellor Ross Chambers expects is that Dr Frame’s robust opinions and outspokenness will be an asset to CSU. “He is an effective public intellectual, and that is what we want in the University.”
Dr Thomson agrees. “Someone described him to me as CSU’s ‘trump card’. He will bring to this place a profile and a vision of what’s important, and make it work well.
“He has a wide overview of what is happening in theological education in Australia. And I heard he is the most published person within CSU,” she added.
Professor Chambers is able to confirm this. “He is the most prolifically published person last year by a long shot. He is a very successful scholar.”
Professor Chambers says Dr Frame brings several assets to CSU: his profile as a public intellectual, his ability to build bridges between the various branches of Anglicanism, his research scholarship (“particularly research on contemporary Christianity in an Australian context”) and his “very broad intellectual background which will help in terms of the dialogue between theology and other disciplines in the University.”
Dr Frame says some in his circle of family and friends wonder why it took him so long to finally find a home within a University. After all, he has an Honours degree in History from UNSW, a Dip Ed from Melbourne University, a PhD from the University of NSW Defence Academy Campus, a Masters degree in Theology from the Sydney College of Divinity, and an MA Hons degree in Applied Theology from the University of Kent in Canterbury.
“I am hoping at St Mark’s to help people who say they are called to a sacred vocation to be trained for it and to live it out in integrity.
“I am very excited about this position and I want to make a contribution to CSU in its public persona. I’m looking forward to highlighting the visionary approach that CSU is taking to all forms of intellectual endeavour, theology not least amongst them.” ends Author: Elizabeth Heath
Editor's Note: Dr Frame is now Head of CSU's School of Theology, based in Canberra. Media Note: The Right Reverend Dr Thomas Frame is available for interviews. Contact CSU Media. For print quality photos, contact CSU Media.
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