Correcting the Record: The Australian Prime Minister’s comments regarding the “Exclusive Brethren” on 24 August 2026
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has repeatedly stated that it did not participate in the 2025 Federal Election.
For almost a year and a half, the Church and its members have been attacked by some politicians and sections of the media.
The Church’s spokesperson, Lloyd Grimshaw, appeared before the Joint Standing Committee into Electoral Matters and answered questions for three hours.
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church did not fund any stunts or donate to any party.
The Church was not involved in, did not coordinate efforts in, and made no payments or donations during, the 2025 election.
The Church had no interaction whatsoever with any political party or third-party group.
Church members who volunteered or donated or otherwise participated in the democratic process were doing so as individual citizens and not representative of the church.
Media reports claiming that unnamed members of our church were campaigning alongside far right and neo-Nazi actors are uncorroborated and unsourced.
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church completely rejects antisemitism, which is completely antithetical to our views.
Finally, it is bizarre to us that all anti-social behaviour that may have happened during the election campaign– verified or not – is continually blamed on both the Church and its members by members of the media and government.
The Church would never excuse poor behaviour. But we also do not accept that church members could have been responsible for every anti-social act during the campaign, in a country where our members make up less than 0.05 per cent of the population.
It is disappointing that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has once again been critical of the “Exclusive Brethren” in his latest comments to the media, which are unfortunately based on uncorroborated and unsourced reports from the Age.
In The Age story today – like the stories on Saturday and Friday – not one member of the Plymouth Brethren has been named as having supported any third party, not one source identified, and not one transaction detailed. This is not an investigation, it is say-so.
Mr Albanese began his comments today by once again stating that “we need to turn the temperature down”. Our church could not agree more. Words matter.
