In the final weeks of the 2025 federal election campaign, as chair of three Liberal campaigns in Western Australia, I was asked by a senior party official to meet two men described to me as small business people who wanted to assist local federal campaigns.
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who → ask → campaigns
I was not told they were members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
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they → tell → Church
However, I had met Brethren members previously in the course of my political work and recognised them from that prior experience.
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I → meet → experience
They offered campaign assistance and during the discussion sought confidential campaign financial information and individual logins to Feedback, the Liberal Party’s voter-contact system, so they could conduct telephone canvassing from their own premises.
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they → offer → premises
Feedback contains electoral-roll data and information recorded through contact with voters.
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Feedback → contain → voters
As a former deputy federal director of the party, I was not prepared to authorise unsupervised access of that kind and refused their requests.
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I → prepare → requests
When I raised my concerns with party officials, I was assured the relevant party liaison would “turn off” all involvement in my three campaigns.
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liaison → raise → campaigns
I understood that to mean their participation would cease.
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participation → understand → ?
I was also requested not to refer to them as Brethren.
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I → request → Brethren
But that made it more important, not less, to know who was helping, what they wanted in return, if anything, and who had facilitated the support.
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who → make → support
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is a tightly-knit Christian community of about 16,000 members in Australia, led by Sydney-based Bruce D. Hales.
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Church → knit → Hales
It practises separation from the wider world and, traditionally, most members have not voted, although the church says some now choose to vote.
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some → practise → world
Some Brethren members and businesses associated with members have a documented history of political campaigning and making donations.
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members → associate → donations
The church says such political activity is undertaken by individuals, not the church itself.
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activity → say → individuals
At pre-poll booths in my campaigns, I saw people I recognised as Brethren members turning up in growing numbers, often wearing similar generic Liberal T-shirts.
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I → see → shirts
I also saw them being co-ordinated and briefed by people who were not members of local campaign teams.
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who → see → teams
While some candidates understandably appreciated the extra assistance, long-standing volunteers told me they felt uncomfortable, and at times intimidated, by some of the activity around the campaign.
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they → appreciate → campaign
Recent reports in this masthead alleged that some Brethren members paid far-right activists, some with neo-Nazi links, to track and heckle the prime minister as well as Labor, Greens and independent candidates during the election campaign.
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members → allege → campaign
It was also reported that Brethren figures paid influencers thousands of dollars to create headline-generating stunts.
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figures → report → stunts
The church has denied those allegations.
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church → deny → allegations
It appeared to me that either the assurance I had been given to “turn off” Brethren involvement in the campaigns I managed had not been carried out, or the involvement was continuing through some other arrangement I had not been told about.
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I → appear → arrangement
This apparent secrecy concerned me.
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secrecy → concern → me
After the election I raised these issues in the Liberal Party room during a session with election reviewers Pru Goward and Nick Minchin.
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I → raise → Goward
Some colleagues accused me of religious discrimination.
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colleagues → accuse → discrimination
I made it clear that my concern was not their faith or their right to participate.
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concern → make → ?
It was the terms of the assistance, the lack of internal transparency and the request for information I did not believe should be given outside the campaign.
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I → believe → campaign
Brethren members have the same right as every Australian to support the party or candidate they believe in.
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they → have → party
Legitimate participation and transparency are not competing principles.
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participation → compete → ?
The public record since then has made the questions I raised inside my party even more important.
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I → make → party
In its submission to the parliamentary inquiry, the church denied co-ordinating its members’ political involvement.
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church → deny → involvement
Yet the same submission acknowledged that participating members “clearly were” co-ordinated.
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members → acknowledge → ?
So, if the church did not co-ordinate them, who did?
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who → co → them
The Goward-Minchin review recorded divided views about the Brethren’s role and said further investigation was needed into why their involvement had attracted such objection.
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involvement → record → objection
I have seen no public account that the party has taken that step.
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party → see → step
This matters well beyond a single political party.
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This → matter → party
If significant groups such as trade unions, lobby groups or churches are involved in campaigns, voters should be able to understand who is participating, how they are engaged in the campaign and under what rules.
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they → involve → campaign
Parliamentary scrutiny of the Brethren church’s election involvement has itself become highly politically contested.
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scrutiny → become → involvement
The Coalition members’ dissenting report argues that the inquiry has become partisan and risks undermining confidence in the committee’s work.
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inquiry → dissent → work
That makes fair, evidence-based scrutiny more important, not less.
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scrutiny → make → ?
My concern is not the Brethren’s faith or their right to participate in politics.
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concern → participate → politics
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
