‘Disgusting’: Brethren Church responds to PM Anthony Albanese’s ‘cult’ remark
The secretive Plymouth Brethren Christian Church were described as a “cult” by the Prime Minister after its members were seen volunteering for the Liberal Party. Here’s how they responded.
Members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church donated at least $700,000 to conservative lobby group Advance during this year’s federal election campaign.
The notoriously secret Brethren, who historically do not vote, also revealed their links to business and opposition to Labor’s industrial relations policies led many members to volunteer for the Liberal Party at polling booths.
Senior Church members have further expressed their “disgust” at being labelled a “cult” by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, claiming his strong remarks resulted in Brethren children being “bullied” at a local primary school.
It’s understood an upcoming parliamentary inquiry into the election will attempt to examine the Church’s involvement in campaigning.
The Daily Telegraph is this week providing readers with an exclusive window into the lives of the Plymouth Brethren, who have just 16,000 Australian worshippers. People are overwhelmingly born into the faith and its members are strictly not allowed to share meals with the wider community.
In an exclusive interview, Sydney Brethren member Gavin Little said Mr Albanese’s public lashing had prompted more people from his Church to begin “handing-out” for the Liberals.
“Everyone knows the expression - don’t poke the bear. If you start attacking a religious organisation that is as connected as we are, it is very personal” Mr Little claimed.
“(Our members) are typically on the business employer side … we have a lot of business owners” Mr Little said.
“So when you start looking at (Labor’s) industrial relations laws, or laws about how much someone is ‘entitled’ to ... we were all like, we just need a change of government,” Mr Little said.
Dean Hales, the son of global Brethren leader Bruce Hales, told The Daily Telegraph he feared Mr Albanese’s comments were “inciting hatred against Christianity.”
“If you take what happened recently in the USA with Charlie Kirk, for him to be assassinated for his love of Christianity and love of Christ - it concerns us that the most important figure in Australian politics has labelled us as a cult” Mr Hales said.
His brother Charles Hales added: “when the Prime Minister spoke about the ‘Exclusive Brethren’, as he labelled us the second time, it happened outside of a school in Western Australia.”
“I think five of our young (Brethren) children attended that school. And as a result of his comments, those children were bullied … and the school had to put out a letter to remind everyone that every religion was welcome.”
The appearance of high-profile Brethren members in blue shirts on polling booths also prompted Mr Albanese to ask if there was a “quid pro quo” for their assistance.
“To think there’d be a ‘quid pro quo’ - that we’d get some special treatment from a Coalition government is just ludicrous. It’s laughable,” Dean said.
The Hales brothers said Brethren had traditionally believed “Government is of God … and we leave it to God” when it came to voting. However, in recent years, it was “left up to individual choice.”
The Telegraph has confirmed multiple Brethren members cast their vote at the most recent election, and many are registered on the electoral role.
“We just felt that the current government wasn’t giving Australia a chance. And we thought a change in leadership would restore Australia to its true intrinsic values...” Dean Hales said.
“But there is a clear line of demarcation between the PBCC and its members volunteering.
The Church doesn’t offer any volunteering for any political party - never has and never will,” Charles said.
Dean added: “but to make it really clear - we’re not trying to create an ‘us versus the prime minister’, because we absolutely respect the office and respect the prime minister.
“In fact, we pray for him every night in church,” he said.
While Dean and Charles Hales said they had not personally donated to the Liberal Party during the campaign, a spokesperson for the Church said it had “asked some parishioners who are known to have strong political views as to their donations.”
“Based on our inquiries, five parishioners came forward who said they had made individual political donations to Advance, totalling around $700,000,” the Church said in a statement.
Advance, formerly known as Advance Australia, is categorised as a “significant third party” by the Australian Electoral Commission. Its website is currently running petitions to “Dump Net Zero”, “Stop Immigration” and “End Welcome to Country.”
The Brethren has been linked to the Liberal Party and conservative politics in previous decades.
In 2004 it was revealed Brethren members had donated $370,000 to former Prime Minister John Howard’s campaign. In 2007, when Mr Howard met with senior Church leaders in his office, then-opposition leader Kevin Rudd described them as an “extremist cult” which had been known to “break up families.”
During this year’s poll, several Labor MPs also voiced their concerns about the behaviour on polling booths in seats where Brethren members were volunteering.
“If there was a member of the Brethren anywhere that didn’t act in a right way, we’re not standing behind that ... we are not a cult - we don’t have control over what our members do,” Charles Hales said.
“If a member did act in a bad way, we’d apologise ... but you can’t put us under one umbrella.”
Mr Albanese’s office declined to answer questions.
But a government spokesperson said “it’s up to the Liberal Party to explain what the arrangements were and what promises were made to this group to reward their significant investment in the Liberal Party’s campaign.”
Do you know more? Email james.willis@news.com.au
