Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2025 Australian election

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) has made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters following the unprecedented assault launched against our church and community by members of Parliament and media.

In the lead up to the Australian election in May 2025, our church found itself at the centre of significant political and media attention because some individual members of our church participated as volunteers in the election campaign.

Following on from this, our church was labelled as a cult by the most senior politician in Australia, and accused of interfering in the Australian electoral system, doing ‘quid pro quo’ deals with political parties, and launching a coordinated “assault on democracy”.

None of these allegations are true.

Everyone in Australia has the right to volunteer in elections irrespective of their religion, and that includes members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

And while many members of our church did exercise this right in the 2025 election – this was an individual decision and nothing to do with our church.

The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church does not campaign for, nor support, any political parties and did not organise or coordinate any volunteer efforts or any donation efforts of any type in any location.

So in an unprecedented move, we have written to the Committee and asked them to make recommendations for action which would prevent future elections from descending into environments where people feel comfortable openly attacking us or anyone else of religion, because of their religion.

The PBCC’s submission, with redactions of names, titles and political parties made by the Committee, can be read here: PBCC submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2025 Australian election