Plymouth Brethren barely rate a mention in Liberal Party review

March 11, 2026 — 5:00am

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The massive intervention of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church on behalf of the Coalition in last year’s federal election campaign has created all sorts of ripples – except, it seems, inside the Liberal Party itself.

To remind you, thousands of members of the isolationist church – whose members don’t vote – hit the hustings on behalf of the Liberal and National Parties, swamping polling booths with identically dressed men and women and their signage. Then both the Brethren, formerly known as Exclusive Brethren, and the Liberals furiously denied any organisation had been involved.

It prompted Anthony Albanese to label the church a cult, ask what the arrangement was between them and then-Liberal leader Peter Dutton, and to suggest there was a policy “quid pro quo”.

On the streets, according to evidence before a parliamentary inquiry, it made people feel unsafe and intimidated. One young mum, a victim of domestic violence, described running the gauntlet of dozens of Brethren men and being hit repeatedly with Liberal pamphlets after she refused to take one.

It prompted questions from the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Matters about whether the Brethren effort nationwide amounted to “domestic interference” in the poll, and whether the church should have been registered under electoral law as an “independent........

© The Sydney Morning Herald