‘Just business’: Brethren leaders admit meeting far-right – and Trump

The son of the Exclusive Brethren’s world leader has admitted meeting with far-right agitators and belonging to secret chats where neo-Nazi associates and Brethren elders plotted an “election influence” campaign of stunts targeting left-leaning MPs at the last election.

But, in a fiery three-hour hearing before a parliamentary inquiry on Friday , Gareth Hales claimed the meetings were “just business”, and not about campaigning.

In his own testimony before the joint standing committee examining the 2025 election, Exclusive Brethren leader Bruce Hales revealed that members of the secretive sect have met with American President Donald Trump in New York.

Senators questioning the Hales were frequently interrupted by Coalition MPs who slammed the inquiry as a “witch hunt” and religious discrimination – a line that is also being pushed by far-right lobby group Turning Point in America.

Gareth Hales confirmed that he had met then opposition leader Peter Dutton and his staffers in 2025, though he called the encounter “brief”. Both Gareth and Bruce Hales insisted their church, which is now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, did not directly order members to turn out in their thousands around the country and covertly campaign for the Coalition, as revealed by this masthead.

Committee chair, Labor’s Jerome Laxale, and independent Monique Ryan were among MPs who said they were not persuaded by the Hales’ evidence. “It had all the credibility of a Melbourne weather forecast,” said Ryan, after the hearing.

“I’m not buying what you’re selling,” independent and former Nationals MP Andrew Gee told Gareth Hales flatly before proceedings wrapped.

The father and son of the normally secretive church were called to give evidence, under threat of subpoena , by the parliamentary committee after leaked messages published by this masthead revealed that Gareth was among the church elders party to a secret stunt campaign where far-right agitators were paid to ambush MPs at campaign events and hotels.

The investigation found Brethren elders followed the prime minister’s car and plane and fed “private intel” on his location to neo-Nazi associates.

Gareth Hales’ company Sante Global was also implicated in the stunt operation. A meeting of Brethren elders and far-right figures at a Sydney golf club was booked in the company’s name in April last year.

Hales claimed that the meeting was about business, not the election.