Bruce David Hales

Nobody in this country had the authority to issue a decree that the brethren right down to the age of young teenagers should make hundreds of thousands of phone calls, distribute millions of pamphlets, erect billboards, accidentally knock down other parties' billboards, and so on.

Everyone knew that they were acting under the direction of Bruce Hales.

Nothing like this ever happens in the brethren except what comes from him.

Of course, in recent times, the chain of command has been deliberately muddied.

That's not on us.

That's not on us observing and putting two and two together and seeing a cult.

That is on you for creating a cult or Bruce Hales or whoever you wanna put the blame on.

Let me just be very clear on that.

It's like you're trying to get all of these people to following your commands and then you're expecting them to also be the ones that wear the responsibility.

And I know that Bruce has worked that way his whole life.

I mean, there's stories going back a long time with Bruce making mistakes and then making other people pay the piper.

He's never there when the bill comes to be paid, ever.

But this is just another case of it.

And of course, people are confused at the idea.

I'm confused at the idea.

Bruce Lloyd arguing that the church is an unincorporated fellowship.

So you have a choice right now.

Clean up and tell the truth or keep lying and Bruce Hales will be pulled in front of the committee.

The first thing I want to talk about is the emails.

Lloyd sits in the hearing and makes a big open offer to anyone with concerns about the church.

The church is the RRT.

The church is the secretariat entity you have conjured up.

And every one of them answers to one man, Bruce Hales.

You know it.

The Exclusive Brethren have been around for decades.

They've got about 50,000 members all over the world, but their base is really here under world leader Bruce Hales.

They're incredibly wealthy, a lot of these senior elders.

They have mansions and businesses everywhere.

That's despite those big ad spends on those mysterious posters we saw crop up repeating Brethren lines like make Australia happy again.

And the committee weren't buying it.

They talked about bringing in the church's actual leader, Bruce Hales, to give evidence instead.

So certainly I think that that inquiry has a bit more ground to cover yet on exactly how the Brethren operated at the last election.

In an appearance before a parliamentary inquiry, the head of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church rejected assertions his organization attempted to influence the outcome of the 2025 federal election.

It comes as media reports published today suggest church leaders paid far-right influencers to disrupt Labor campaign events last year.

Bridget Fitzgerald has the latest.

So what brings you out campaigning? I'm just volunteering.