It is wise to be careful who you lie down with, a lesson the Abbott-Turnbull Government chooses to ignore.....
The Age, 17 June 2016:
Members of an extremist Christian sect which has covered up child sex abuse have given secret, coordinated donations to the Liberal Party.
Dozens of Exclusive Brethren members - who practice a radical doctrine of "separation" and are not permitted to vote - donated more than $67,000 to the Liberal Party on the same day in December 2010.
The donations were revealed in documents tabled at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption during its inquiry into the source of funds flowing into Liberal Party coffers.
The Exclusive Brethren, recently rebranded the "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church", was described by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "an extremist cult" which breaks up families. But the Liberal party operatives who accepted the en masse donations described them as "friends".
The church first came to public attention in 2006 when it was revealed the group had raised and spent $370,461 to influence the 2004 election on behalf of John Howard, with whom they were close……
Good Weekend today reveals that Mr Hales ordered that some victims of child sexual abuse be paid off to keep quiet. One victim was told his abuse was a "family matter," and nothing to do with the church, even though the church had placed the child with his abuser.
In 2003, the Brethren first excommunicated and then reinstated a man to the church despite overwhelming evidence that he had sexually abused two young girls who were living with him and attending the school where he was a trustee. The Brethren ignored the girls' letters, direct to Mr Hales, in which they begged him not to bring their abuser back.
The man was later convicted and jailed for offences including sexual intercourse with a child under 10.
The Brethren have issued a number of legal threats in recent weeks to try to stop the Good Weekend story being published. In a statement it said it was "misinformed and plainly wrong" to suggest the church had a problem with sex abuse. The Church "considers any abuse of any member of society abhorrent," the statement said.
Documents tabled at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption's Operation Spicer show 62 separate donors, all known members of the Brethren church, sent donations to the Liberal Party's alleged slush fund, the Free Enterprise Foundation.
Each donation was in individual amounts of $1500 or less, and appeared on a document labelled, "Friends".
According to the NSW Electoral Commission, the Free Enterprise Foundation was used to "channel and disguise" donations "by major political donors, some of whom were prohibited donors" to the Liberal Party. While individually the Brethren were not "major" donors, together their contribution was well above the legal disclosure threshold. It suggests they may have deliberately tried to avoid any need to disclose their collective contribution…..
Brethren members run highly successful businesses, a network of charities, and received $26.6 million in government funding for their private school system…..
Read the full article here.
Malcolm Turnbull says he has "no criticisms or complaints" to make of the controversial Exclusive Brethren and is happy for the extremist Christian sect to continue donating to the Liberal Party…..
Mr Turnbull says he has no problem with the sect and religious groups are entitled to manage their own affairs….
"I've got no criticisms or complaints about that organisation," he said. "As you know, everybody is free to make political contributions."…..
The Exclusive Brethren - recently rebranded the "Plymouth Brethren Christian Church" - practice a radical doctrine of "separation" and are not permitted to vote.
Brethren members cannot eat or socialise with "worldly" people, and excommunicated members are usually prevented from seeing their families, including their own children.
The group's wealthy leader, Sydney-based Bruce D. Hales - known as "the Elect" - has told his members to maintain an "utter hatred" of the outside world.
He recently addressed a sermon to a mentally tormented young member of his flock saying it would be better to "finish yourself off" with poison than communicate with members of his own family.
Fairfax Media has revealed Mr Hales ordered that some victims of child sexual abuse be paid off to keep quiet…..
The
Age, 19 June
2016:
Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull's Wentworth electorate appears to operate an
under-the-radar donations fund, with little disclosure of what it earns,
from whom, or how it's spent.
A Fairfax Media
investigation has revealed the Wentworth Forum, a fundraising vehicle
that raised $1.4 million during Mr Turnbull's first stint as Liberal Party
leader, appears still to be active, despite claims by a spokesman for the
Prime Minster "the forum ceased to operate in 2009".
Other donors report
putting cash into the "Wentworth FEC", although that body itself does
not report receipts or distributions.
Australia's patchwork
and opaque disclosure regime makes it virtually impossible to make sense of how
much money is flowing in and out of Mr Turnbull's electorate's fundraising
entities.
About 20 of Australia's
richest 200 people, including billionaires Kerry Stokes and Frank Lowy, kicked
in to the Wentworth Forum between
2007 and 2009, with membership then costing up to $55,000.
Prime Minister Malcolm
Turnbull's Wentworth electorate appears to operate an
under-the-radar donations fund, with little disclosure of what it earns,
from whom, or how it's spent.
A Fairfax Media
investigation has revealed the Wentworth Forum, a fundraising vehicle
that raised $1.4 million during Mr Turnbull's first stint as Liberal Party
leader, appears still to be active, despite claims by a spokesman for the
Prime Minster "the forum ceased to operate in 2009".
Other donors report
putting cash into the "Wentworth FEC", although that body itself does
not report receipts or distributions.
Australia's patchwork
and opaque disclosure regime makes it virtually impossible to make sense of how
much money is flowing in and out of Mr Turnbull's electorate's fundraising
entities.
About 20 of Australia's
richest 200 people, including billionaires Kerry Stokes and Frank Lowy, kicked
in to the Wentworth Forumbetween
2007 and 2009, with membership then costing up to $55,000.
"The Wentworth
Forum" maintains an active Australian Business Number and is a trading
name owned by the Wentworth Federal Electoral Conference (or FEC, a structure
that incorporates all party branches located within the Prime Minister's
federal seat).
The forum's website remains
live, listing former party treasurer Michael Yabsley as honorary chairman and
linking to Mr Turnbull's and the party's websites. Its domain registration
was updated by an employee of the Prime Minister's private company, Turnbull
and Partners Pty Ltd, last year.
An email inquiry sent
via the site was answered within hours, but, in his reply, Mr Yabsley said he
had not been involved in party fundraising since 2010 and "the Wentworth
Forum has not operated since 2009". Mr Yabsley recently told the ABC's Four Corners that
he had known of illegitimate fundraising by the Liberal Party, and called for
root-and-branch reform.
The Wentworth FEC – like the broader party itself – is an unincorporated entity, a structure not-for-profit experts say is risky for an organisation handling significant sums of money. They have no reporting obligations, cannot hold assets in their own name, cannot be sued and may not pay tax.
Neither the Wentworth
Forum nor Wentworth FEC make funding disclosures to the Australian
Electoral Commission as an "associated entity", unlike many other
fundraising bodies associated with current senior Liberal ministers.
However, according to
disclosures by donors to the NSW Electoral Commission,
"Wentworth," "Wentworth FEC", "Malcolm Turnbull"
or the postal address of Mr Turnbull's electorate office, received a number of
political donations…..
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