Many well known businesses are run by members of the Exclusive Brethren, a fundamentalist protestant Christian group or movement which some people would categorise as a “cult”.

There are number of groupings which are generally classified as being “Exclusive Brethren” but some adherents would dispute or deny such a label.

The history of the Exclusive Brethren is littered with schisms and splits some of which when you read the reports of the circumstances surrounding them would cause you to seriously question the morality if not the sanity of the main actors.

In Australia the majority of those regarded as Exclusive Brethren are members of a branch commonly known as Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren. Wikipedia has a detailed article on the Brethren and their beliefs – click here

The group have an official website which is worth visiting if only because it includes a “sociological appraisal” by a leading academic which outlines their history and theology. Click here to link

You can also find out much more at Peebs.Net. This is “a website that endeavours to investigate and report the Truth behind the Exclusive Brethren, a group of so-called Christians, and by so doing, help break the chains and break down the barriers that prevent us from seeing our families, friends and loved ones, trapped in what many are calling a bona fide Cult.”

Knowledge is Power

Regardless of any other bees in their bonnets, they don’t like The Greens and although they don’t believe in voting themselves they have funded a number of advertising campaigns denigrating the party and its policies ahead of recent elections in Australia and New Zealand.

We believe that citizens should be able to make up their own minds about organisations like the Brethren. Here are a variety of links for those that are interested in their background and activities:

• The Exclusive Brethren – article at Source Watch
• Elusive Exclusive Brethren – transcript of Background Briefing radio program
• Brethren Online – site written from a sympathetic point of view
• “Behind The Exclusive Brethren” is a book by Michael Bachelard to be published in Australia in October 2008 which shows how a small, fringe group, whose values are completely detached from those of most Australians, managed to influence the outcome of elections and obtain favours from prominent politicians.

Brethren Businesses

The businesses associated with The Brethren include:

• Coolibah Cubbies, Unanderra, NSW – manufacturers and retailers of cubbies and children’s play equipment. This business also trades as “Moduplay Commercial Play Systems” or just “Moduplay“. Currently the business is conducted by “THE QUINSEY FAMILY TRUST” (ABN: 99 576 695 996). Formerly the business was conducted by QUINSITE NOMINEES PTY LTD (ACN 001 421 110) which in 1998 was found by the ACCC to have engaged in anti-competitive behaviour in regard to the supply of equipment to local government authorities – see ACCC Undertakings register (s. 87B)
• Crest Office Interiors, Penrith, NSW – manufacturers and distributors of office furniture
• Archway House Furniture and Furnishings (also known as Archway House Group) (ABN 36 399 318 906) Ryde and Ermington NSW – manufacturers of office furniture, partitions. general furniture, and office supplies run by Bruce Hales (the minister of the Lord in the Recovery ie. the head honcho) of the EB. The business is actually run by “BD & JJ HALES AND GJ & KJ HALES & THE HALES TRUST”. Officelink Project Management and Design Pty Ltd ( ABN 45 124 818 980) has been associated with Archway House and may still be.
• Supawood, Bathurst, NSW – manufacturers of decorative and acoustic panels
• Billi Systems, Thomastown, Vic – distributors of tapware, water filters and coolers (the family business of Victorian Brethren leader John Gadsden)
• Allpumps Sales & Services, Parramatta, NSW – importers and suppliers of pumps run by Stephen Hales brother of Bruce Hales,
• Jaybro Civil & Safety Products, St Marys, NSW – manufacturers and suppliers of environmental products
• Tyremax, Sprinter Tyres and STI Tyres Australia Pty Ltd – importers and distributors of tyres etc (Maxxis brand tyres from Asia)
• Aspen Commercial Interiors (ABN 65 752 033 790) Blacktown and Armidale, NSW – manufacturers and distributors of commercial and office furniture. They carry out “office fit-outs, workstations, joinery, and commercial joinery” according to their Whitepages entry. The business is a partnership comprising the following: “D.J HEANEY & K.A HEANEY & M.A HEANEY & M.E HEANEY & M.J HEANEY & P.T HEANEY & S.H HEANEY & S.R HEANEY & ROSEHAM PTY”. This last “partner”, Roseham Pty (ABN 59 114 858 089) is an unusual creature: an “unlimited” company. Roseham Pty also trades as “The Grove Gourmet”.
• Fortress Fencing & Safety Systems (The Trustee for THE JOYCE FAMILY TRUST trading as) ABN 42 714 139 511 – sell barrier fencing for construction sites etc.

How to tell if you are dealing with the Exclusive Brethren

The rules the EB operate their businesses under are many, varied, convoluted and subject to change. They are (or have been) not allowed to have faxes in their offices which means that they will often use a fax number in a neighbouring business. Until recently they have not been allowed to use the internet. However practicality reigns supreme for the EB and they are now allowed to use a computer which has been significantly hamstrung and can only access certain sites and email.

Here are a few pointers on how to tell if the EB are running a business:

1. the business will have email addresses but no website or at least no significant web presence. You can look up their domain name at the .com.au “whois”. If the domain is registered to “TELCO IN A BOX PTY. LTD.” you can be almost sure that it is a EB business. You should understand that there is no suggestion of any ulterior motive or deceptive conduct in this third party registration by “telcoinabox” as they call themselves or that that company is a run or owned by EB. Another clue is that when you go to the web address you will see the words “Dies ist eine mit SysCP angelegte Domain. Hier sind noch keine Inhalte hinterlegt worden.”
2. the only females you will ever talk to in their business are doing low status jobs such as reception or process work and will not engage you in any real conversation. They will be unmarried.
3. they may seem to only want to talk to the males in your business and sometimes will be abrupt (but polite) with females.
4. they will try to avoid having you send them a fax.
5. they will show no real interest in discussing any topic other than business with you – and they will not accept your invitation to go to lunch.

Televison and video on Brethren Activities

• Brethren Express – ABC Four Corners program broadcast October 2007

Press Articles on Brethren Activities

• Believers A World Apart – article on the cult’s political activities (The Age, Sep, 06)
• Brethren reap millions in tax-free donations – article in documents how the cult’s leadership enrich themselves to the tune of millions of dollars a year, tax free, by drawing systematic donations from their flock (The Age Sep, 06)
• Hidden Prophets – all about the Hales family (Sydney Morning Herald, Jul, 06)
• “Exclusive Brethren school kids ‘brainwashed’” – information of EB schooling

Jackson Wells Pty Ltd
The Exclusive Brethren have engaged this very well connected public relations outfit to represent them and conduct media campaigns on their behalf.

A former member of the Exclusive Brethren has revealed the secretive religious sect has been transferring large sums of money across the world to fund political campaigns in Australia and the US.

In recent years Brethren leaders have met with numerous Liberal ministers, including Prime Minister John Howard.

Now ABC TV’s Four Corners program has revealed that tens of thousands of dollars in Brethren cash have been transferred around the world in envelopes.

Watch the Four Corners report at 8:30pm on ABC TV. or check the Four Corners website

More on Liberal Party and Exclusive Brethren links can be found in this article in The Age

Following a complaint by Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown, the Australian Electoral Commission investigated the activities of Willmac but couldn’t seem to find any evidence of wrongdoing.

Now an Adelaide suburban newspaper, Messenger Newspapers, has been doing a bit of investigatiing and found out more with its limited resources than was the AEC. In particular it has found that out an Adelaide businessman and Brethren capo, Warwick Joyce, had a significant involvement that was unknown to the AWC. Notwithstanding the information that it has passed on to the AEC, the Commission is still prevaricating refusing to make public what it has done to investigate the matters raised. Read more here.

Crikey reports today:

What we now know about the Adelaide versions of these ads is that they were booked by one Exclusive Brethren member, authorised by several others and apparently paid for by yet another Brethren member’s company. Claims that all these people were acting off their own bat and not as part of a campaign seem risible.

Meanwhile it was revealed in Senate Estimates last May that a matter concerning Willmac Enterprises has been referred by the AEC to the Australian Federal Police, who have yet to confirm whether or not they will investigate.

Who can doubt that with another federal election just months away, we should all be watching this space?

Clearly the AEC should give an account for its tardy and inadequate response in regard to this matter.