EXCLUSIVE BRETHREN

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (12:20): Today I refer to the activities of the Exclusive Brethren cult, and add my voice to those expressing concern about their activities—including the Hon. Mr Parnell, who has spoken about them before in this chamber. The Exclusive Brethren cult holds views which are seen by the majority of Australians as extreme and bizarre. If the leaders of this cult of apparently 43,000 members Australia-wide merely enforced their beliefs on their own members it would be cause enough for concern, but the fact that they attempt to force their beliefs on the rest of us, and the underhanded and secretive manner in which they do this, should be cause for alarm. I indicate at this point that it is not their involvement in political campaigning I object to; indeed, all groups have a right to do that. What concerns me is that the Exclusive Brethren have chosen to do so in a secretive way, and their involvement in politics has certainly tried to be hidden.

Our political system requires openness and transparency if it is to remain healthy. It is crucially important that citizens understand the context of the political messages they receive, and to understand properly one must know who is giving the message. Since 2004 (and perhaps before), the Exclusive Brethren have been secretly involved in many political campaigns in many countries in an attempt to secure the election of conservative politicians and to attack those they disagree with. These campaigns have involved massive flows of money, phone canvassing and extensive advertising. In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with that if the Exclusive Brethren did not try to hide their involvement, to use false addresses to authorise material and to use frontmen to hide the source of their moneys.

How can the Brethren justify the hypocrisy of refusing to participate in that most basic of political rights—the right to vote—and yet meddle in politics to the extent they do, albeit behind a veil of secrecy? They spent up big in aid of George Bush by donating vast sums of money to his 2004 re-election campaign. They launched campaigns against civil union bills in both Canada and New Zealand. The group hired a private detective to investigate leading members of the New Zealand Labour Party, and it has been accused of running a smear campaign against the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, and her husband. We know that the Brethren have run political campaigns in Australia and attempted to keep their involvement secret.

The Brethren have an advertising account with the public relations firm Jackson Wells Morris, which has close links with the Liberal campaign, as revealed in The Australian of 5 June 2007. During the 2004 election, the Exclusive Brethren launched advertising campaigns in New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia worth an estimated $370,000. In the lead-up to the 2004 election, the Prime Minister met with members of the Exclusive Brethren, including Mr Mark Mackenzie, whose pumping company, Willmac, donated $270,000 to the Prime Minister's campaign in Bennelong.

In South Australia, three days before the last election, the Mount Barker Courier featured two half-page ads urging people to keep Australia in safe hands and to keep John Howard as Prime Minister. This advertisement was paid for by a business believed to be owned by a member of the Exclusive Brethren, as recorded in the City Messenger of July 2007 in an article headed 'Brethren adverts query.' Anti Green pamphlets distributed in New South Wales during the 2004 campaign by members of the Brethren were later found to contain false authorisation addresses. The pamphlets were authorised by Mr M. Mackenzie of 11 Baden Powell Place, North Rocks, New South Wales, before the 2004 election; however, the 2004 electoral roll does not have a Mr MacKenzie listed at that address.

This follows a pattern already established by the Brethren in New Zealand, Canada and America. In the 2006 Tasmanian state election, the Brethren were involved in the placement of anti Green advertisements in three prominent Tasmanian newspapers on the direction of a senior Brethren leader. These advertisements were billed to an advertising account held on behalf of the Liberal Party. It was later established that those ads were funded by a company owned by three members of the Brethren.

On 24 October this year, Channel 9's Current Affair reported that the Exclusive Brethren were believed to be involved in distributing leaflets in Malcolm Turnbull's electorate of Wentworth in an attempt to see the environment minister re-elected. Who knows what other campaigns the Brethren are currently involved in? They will not tell us, although their closeness to the Liberal Party is a recurring theme. It is time that the Exclusive Brethren were forced to account for their dubious financial and political activities, and a thorough investigation by the AEC and perhaps the Australian Tax Office might be the place to start.