Wednesday 21 November 2007

Exclusive Brethren - serial offenders, yet again!

The ever-so-exclusive Exclusive Brethren has made yet another underhand attempt to influence Australian politics. This group, whose access to the PM and government ministers is way out of proportion to that of similarly sized lobby groups, has decided its pay back time in Tasmania and is targeting the Greens in general, but Senator Bob Brown in particular.

The Sydney Morning Herald (November 21) http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/sect-back-in-fray-with-blast-at-greens/2007/11/20/1195321782667.html
reports the religious sect has dramatically intervened in the federal election campaign with a letter sent "To the citizens of Tasmania" warning about the "anti-development and immoral policies" of the Greens leader, Bob Brown.

The letter refers readers to a number of websites, including an anonymous, US-registered blog at www.greenswatch.com. This site makes wild accusations about the Greens. It would have readers believe the Greens started the 2004 race riots on Palm Island. And, get this, the site reckons the Greens are have been plotting to infiltrate the Exclusive Brethren.

Senator Brown's response: "I think the church's members are pouring hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars into this campaign … and under the Government's new electoral laws, an individual can put in $100,000 around the country without any disclosure being made."

Not unexpectedly, the Brethren denied any input from the Liberal Party.

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