Exclusive Brethren leader denies knowledge of members' Liberal campaign work
Bruce Hales, the most senior member of the Exclusive Brethren church, told a parliamentary inquiry he had no involvement in or knowledge of church members volunteering for the Liberal Party at the 2025 federal election.
Hales gave evidence to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, the parliamentary body that examines Australian federal elections. He said he did not plan, coordinate, direct or fund the activities of members who volunteered or took part in the election, according to The Guardian.
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, as the Exclusive Brethren is formally known, rejected claims that it coordinated volunteers and a campaign for the Coalition, the alliance of conservative parties that includes the Liberals. It rejected claims that it paid far-right figures to stage stunts against the prime minister and other Labor MPs.
Committee members questioned Hales about a sermon he gave on 20 April 2025, in which he told members to be "fervent in prayer for good government" and said the country needed to be happy and smiling again. Hales denied the sermon was a call to action. He said he had no knowledge of his words being used in billboards and advertising during the election campaign.
His son, Gareth Hales, denied reports that his company, Sante Global, paid Morgan C Jonas and Chris de Bruyne to disrupt other campaigns. Gareth Hales said he met Jonas and de Bruyne separately in a business capacity.
Bruce Hales denied that his church was a cult. Gareth Hales told the committee it was "a bit rough" being labelled a cult. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, a member of the Coalition, said the committee's line of questioning looked "a lot like religious persecution".
The church states that most of its members abstained from voting on religious grounds, with only a few choosing to vote. It has called on the Australian Electoral Commission, the agency that runs federal elections, to issue guidance making it explicitly clear that volunteers should not be singled out, insulted or discriminated against. The electoral matters committee had resolved to invite Bruce Hales and Gareth Hales to a public hearing.
