Plymouth Brethren leader Bruce Hales denies knowledge of directing members’ 2025 election volunteering

Bruce Hales, the global leader of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, was at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 federal election. According to a report by The Saturday Paper, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters heard evidence that the Brethren provided financial and volunteer support to Liberal and National party candidates. That report said thousands of members were reportedly transported to marginal seats to assist with voter outreach, and that the church was reportedly granted access to Liberal campaign resources, including phonebank databases.

Hales, 73, is described by news.com.au as the highest elder of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. He and his son, Gareth Hales, were invited to appear before the committee on a Friday. News.com.au reported that the invitation followed media reports alleging that church members paid known agitators and Nazi-associates to disrupt democracy. Those allegations are reports, not findings of the committee.

Hales denied any knowledge whatsoever of planning, coordinating or directing church members to volunteer in the 2025 federal election. According to news24.com.au, he told the committee that members who volunteered in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and regional areas were acting in their personal capacity. He also denied knowledge of hotels being used to house members and of political donations being made. He denied any contact before the election with then-Opposition leader Peter Dutton or with adviser Sam Jackson-Hope.

A separate account of Hales’s testimony, published by The Klaxon under the headline “I never investigated,” states that he testified before a parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 federal election and said he assumed his leaders acted appropriately. The material available for this account ends at that point, so the full substance of that testimony is not reported here. Where the accounts overlap, they describe the same inquiry, but the emphasis differs: the Saturday Paper report presents evidence about the church’s support, while Hales’s own statements focus on his denials and on the activity of individual members.

The church’s own website, plymouthbrethrenchristianchurch.org, published a statement in October 2026 about a segment on the ABC’s Media Watch titled “The Covert Crusade.” The church said the segment contained several inaccuracies about the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and its members, and included misleading claims about Mr. Bruce Hales, the most senior elder of the PBCC. The statement is the church’s position; the segment’s claims are not independently confirmed in the material provided. In the same statement’s context, the church also described OneSchool Global, which it established to serve students and families within the church community. It said OSG operates more than 120 campuses in 20 countries, with more than 9,500 students.

Hales’s denials and the church’s response to the Media Watch segment show that the accounts of the church’s role in the 2025 campaign remain contested. Testimony given under inquiry and claims made by the press are both matters for public scrutiny, and the record of the committee’s findings is not included in the material supplied. Public hearings like this one test whether accounts can be checked against one another (Proverbs 18:17).