Bruce Hales denies coordinating Brethren campaigning as MPs clash at election inquiry

Bruce Hales, the leader of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, denied coordinating members’ campaigning for the Liberal Party in Australia’s 2025 federal election when he appeared before a parliamentary inquiry on 16 October 2026. His son Gareth acknowledged encouraging church members to take part, while MPs clashed over the committee’s questioning of the family.

Giving evidence to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, Bruce Hales said he had not coordinated, directed or funded the activities. He told the committee that his first indication his eldest son had been at polling booths was a photograph in a newspaper, and said he would have denied permission had he been asked. The Guardian reported that he considered it ‘quite likely’ his sons had not sought his permission.

Gareth Hales describes his election role

ABC News reported that Gareth Hales acknowledged brief business meetings with Chris De Bruyne and Morgan C Jonas, whom the report identified as figures accused of intimidation tactics during the campaign. He said he had not known their political affiliations at the time. He also denied allegations that Sante Global, a company with which he was formerly associated, paid neo-Nazi associates to disrupt Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s campaign.

Election signs and polling booths draw scrutiny

Committee members questioned Bruce Hales about ‘Make Australia Smile Again’ signs reported in several electorates. ABC News said the phrase resembled a sermon he delivered the month before the election, urging church members to pray for ‘good government’ and saying Australia needed to be happy and smiling again. He said he did not know whether his sons had taken the sermon as an endorsement of the Liberals.

Gareth Hales said he had not seen the signs and was surprised that a Liberal Party internal review described Brethren members involved in the campaign as a support group. When asked whom he meant by ‘us’ while discussing that description, he said he meant members of the Australian public, ABC News reported.

Committee chair Jerome Laxale said thousands of church members had gone to polling booths. Gareth Hales challenged how Laxale knew they belonged to the church; Laxale said it was well documented. Coalition members called the questioning a ‘witch hunt’, and Liberal senator Richard Colbeck described the hearing as ‘ridiculous’, according to ABC News.

The committee’s final report on the 2025 election is due by the end of 2026, ABC News reported.