Desperate to avoid the toxic fallout from the resignation of his friend and mentor Brian Houston from Hillsong, Scott Morrison has told an astonishing lie today, claiming he hasn't been to Hillsong for "15 years" when pressed on the scandal by journalists.

"I haven't been at Hillsong now for over, about 15 years, I go to a local church," Morrison said this morning, professing himself "disappointed and shocked to hear the news".

But his efforts to dissociate himself from Hillsong are profoundly at odds with his enthusiastic support for Houston and Hillsong in recent years, as Crikey's David Hardaker has documented.