‘Weird mates’: Brethren ‘up to their eyeballs’ in far-right election plot, Labor tells parliament

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church were “up to their eyeballs” in dirty tricks aimed at helping the Coalition win the 2025 federal election, including paying far-right agitators to tail and harass federal members of parliament, MP Jerome Laxale said on Monday.

Speaking in parliament, Laxale led a chorus of Labor MPs calling on the opposition to come clean about its entanglement with the shadowy operation run by the sect formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren, after reporting from this masthead proved church elders were working behind the scenes with neo-Nazi associates to disrupt campaign events.

Some Liberals have dismissed concern about the revelations as a witch hunt and religious discrimination.

On Monday, this masthead published messages leaked from inside the secret operation that showed the “election influence” plot led all the way to the top of the church, with Brethren leader Bruce Hales’ son Gareth among the senior elders in co-ordinating chats with far-right figures.

“The reporting leaves no doubt about their involvement,” Laxale told parliament. “It names Brethren leaders involved. It documents payments to people associated with Nazis. And it blows up all denials by the Brethren that they weren’t involved … The Brethren undertook a co-ordinated, well-funded and secretive disruption of our free and fair elections, using known agitators and aggressors.”

The church and elders approached about the revelations, which this masthead first reported last month, have repeatedly denied any involvement in the stunts, including when questioned last month by a parliamentary inquiry chaired by Laxale.

But a senior Brethren figure behind the operation, Lester Sharples, has now confirmed “it was organised by a number of people, of which I was one”.

The investigation by this masthead traced more than a dozen staged ambushes of MPs at the last election back to the covert campaign, with thousands of dollars changing hands.

Brethren elders tracked MPs and fed “private intel” on their locations to agitators with a history of white supremacy association. At times, Brethren cars followed the prime minister’s protective detail, driving far-right figures to Anthony Albanese’s hotel for ambushes, and then paying them in bundles of cash.

It was all designed to embarrass opponents of the Coalition, and throw suspicion away from the church – in just one arm of the Brethren’s multimillion dollar, undisclosed effort to elect a Peter Dutton government.

The parliamentary committee examining the 2025 election is now considering calling key leaders of the church including its “Man of God” and world leader, Bruce Hales, to answer questions about the allegations.

A dissenting group of seven Coalition MPs issued a statement last month defending the Brethren and its campaign, and condemning the inquiry. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor and federal Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott participated in an annual charity bike ride sponsored by the church the day after news of the church’s far-right plot broke.

“It’s been remarkable to watch the Liberal Party defend their weird mates to the bitter end,” Labor MP Rob Mitchell told the chamber on Monday.

Libby Coker, the Labor member for Corangamite, called the undercover Brethren campaign an attack on democracy.

People had a right to feel safe and not be intimidated on the campaign trial, Coker said, including at polling booths where undercover Brethren members turned out in their thousands to campaign for the Liberals.

“We still don’t know what the Liberal Party agreed to in order to get these Brethren volunteers on those booths,” she said in parliament.

MP Alice Jordan-Baird said she had seen an astonishing campaign from Brethren members in her own seat of Gorton, even though census data shows no members of the Brethren live in her Victorian electorate.

“What was the deal made between [the Liberals] and this fringe group?” she asked the chamber.

Marion Scrymgour, a Labor MP from the Northern Territory, accused Brethren members of being flown to remote Indigenous communities to intimidate Aboriginal voters, including in her electorate of Lingiari.

“Who sent them? Who paid for their flights and accommodation?” Scrymgour asked.

Meanwhile, Labour MP Shayne Neumann said he estimated a thousand Brethren came out in his Queensland electorate during the 2025 campaign. He accused the Coalition of colluding with the church, quoting the Liberal Party’s election review which described the Brethren as a “support group”, and called on the opposition to give evidence to the joint standing committee on electoral matters.

“What are you so scared of over there?” Mitchell asked MPs across the aisle. “Are you worried the Brethren will quietly stop funding you and go and join your mates over at One Nation?”

Angus Taylor’s office was contacted for comment.

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Sherryn Groch is a journalist at The Age covering crime. Email her at [email protected] or contact her securely on Signal @SherrynG.70Connect via X or email.Michael Bachelard is a senior writer and former deputy editor and investigations editor of The Age. He has worked in Canberra, Melbourne and Jakarta, has written two books and won multiple awards for journalism, including the Gold Walkley.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement