Pay per view at Tasmania's The Examiner online? No thanks

I happened on a story about that high profile and influential sect, The Exclusive Brethren, via an overseas open media site last week and trying for a source article I stumbled on Tasmania's The Examiner out of the Fairfax stable.

This is what this newspaper's website stated when I attempted to access the July 2009 article Sect stole my kids' Tasmanian father tells of Exclusive Brethren anguish - SPECIAL REPORT:

PAY-PER-VIEW

If you decide to read the whole story your account will be debited by the number of credits indicated next to the heading. If you think you might want to refer back to this story you should print it out or save it to your hard disk.
The cost of stories (daily news and archive*) from July 1 2002, is 20 credits (AUD 22 cents incl. GST) but you will not be charged any more than 100 credits (AUD $1.10 incl. GST) in any one session. This equates to the average cost of The Examiner hardcopy.

A nice polite offer, but no thank you. I'll spend 5 minutes more on the Internet digging further.

The original online mention gave me enough information to go straight to the free published court judgments without findings being filtered by paid journalists and here they are:

Peter Elspeth [2009] FamCA 551 (25 June 2009)

Elspeth Peter; Mark Peter; and John Peter [2007] FamCA 655 (5 July 2007)

Elspeth Peter [2006] FamCA 1385 (21 December 2006)

Which quite frankly makes The Examiner's attempt to make me pay for information somewhat laughable. Especially as pay per view online newspapers will obviously have to continue running homepages with revealing 'teasers' in the hope of attracting paying customers - thereby defeating their aim of locking away the news.

Now Launceston in which this newspaper is based had an estimated population of 103,000 in 2006 and this same newspaper bragged in 2008 that it had a readership of 33,488 Monday to Saturday and 103,000 on Sunday. Enough said.

How well do you know your accountant?

Attending university is taboo for Australia's 15000 Exclusive Brethrens

Consequently, the Brethren produce heaps of accountants but no doctors, lawyers or teachers.

That may explain how the Brethren have been able to shovel piles of cash in the direction of the conservatives (i.e. the right wing side of politics = the Coalition mob, not the left wing Labor lot!) in Australia.

Yep, that's right, chances are that your accountant is an EB. Well, there's a higher probability that your bean counter rather than your local GP is an EB.

tvnz.com.nz reports that children of the Brethren attend well-equipped schools with low teacher-student ratios and solid HSC results, but none of them will be going to university. ... for them university is taboo.

They can study at TAFEs and other tertiary institutions, but not at universities.

You won't find Brethren children watching TV programs, either, or going to the movies, or visiting google on the Internet.

It's all part of their belief in separation from the sinful world around them, and elders admit that can mean they can grow up ignorant of the extent of that wickedness.

The university ban is one aspect of the Brethren lifestyle that outsiders, known as "worldlies", find hardest to understand.

It means that the 15,000-strong Australian Brethren community is producing plenty of accountants but no doctors, lawyers or teachers.

Which means, ironically, that no Brethren teachers are tutoring the 2,300 students at 43 Australian schools run by the Christian sect, which was described by Labor leader Kevin Rudd last year as an "extreme cult" that broke up families.

Every teacher is a worldly.

"I would say it's not much different from teaching in any other school," says Ewoud Vogel, principal of the original Brethren school at Sydney's Meadowbank, founded in 1994.

"In fact I would say it's my most positive teaching experience in Australian schools," says the South African-born teacher after stints at a Greek Orthodox school and another Christian school in Sydney.

"The students are most compliant to work in the classroom."

Meadowbank has 120 students, 80 in high school and 40 primary.

It has a well-equipped science lab, food tech kitchen, computer room, playgrounds and other facilities.

The teacher-student ratio of less than one to 10 at Brethren schools around Australia is up to three times lower than public schools.

The principal, who also takes geography, has a current HSC geography class of six students.

"I have not found my teaching restricted in any way, or had to change any of my programs," he said after leaders of the secretive Brethren sect went public to correct what they said was years of untrue and negative stories about them.

"About the only difference is that I can't just pull a video off the shelf and show it to students without first having its contents scrutinised.

"And that's probably a good thing."

The school's televisions are used only for showing educational programs.

"I can't come in and ask my students if they saw reports of Hurricane Gustav on the news last night, because I know they haven't," said Mr Vogel.

"So I just open up the newspaper, and we talk about it that way."

Even Disney films are out.

"They're really just entertainment value," said Mr Vogel.

"Some of our children are reading Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at present.

"They won't be going to see the movie, but I think their imagination is enhanced and heightened by reading rather than seeing the movie."

Internet use on the computers is strictly controlled.

Rather than applying filters that block out certain subject material, the Brethren has gone the other way, allowing access only to approves sites and links.

Clearly, the almost ubiquitous google search engine is a no-no.

"From an educationist's point of view, it's great," said Mr Vogel.

"The kids don't get distracted or waste hours on unnecessary material," he said, though he conceded Brethren students may not have as much practice in digging out information as others.

"I am a Christian by faith so I enjoy teaching in a Christian atmosphere," Mr Vogel said.

"I believe in what they (the Brethren) basically stand for, even if I may not believe in all of their interpretations of the scriptures.

"We all believe in the same Bible and the same God."

Brethren schools receive government funding in line with other non-government schools, but overseer David Stewart denies they get any special treatment.

He says the curriculum of all schools is approved by the Board of Studies.

The Meadowbank school ranked 96th of 800 in NSW in terms of HSC results, he said, but that won't lead to university for any of the students.

A chat with senior elder Daniel Hales makes it clear the hippie generation of 1960s and 70s changed all that.

"Universities were once Ivy League bastions of conservative Christianity," he said.

"Then came Flower Power and professors advocating drugs, and so on.

"They became the vanguard for re-engineering society."

"I was enrolled myself once," said the 58-year-old father of five.

"I was going to study law or medicine.

"Then I thought it all through, and I realised it would draw me away from my Christian faith and my family."

"We feel our children would find their faith being challenged (at universities).

"The first thing they learn at university is to question everything.

"We are not afraid of them but we don't see why our children should be subject to that."

"We're not goody-goodies. I have tried cigarettes, and I have seen movies in my wayward youth."

With friends such as these ...

... who needs enemies?

Previously, members of the Exclusive Brethren in Australia snuggled up to John Howard and his mates when they held the reins of government.

Now, in an attempt to gain recognition from the other side of the politics in Australia, the Brethren are claiming to have an attachment with the Rudd Labor government.

This report comes from the Fairfax website WAtoday.com.au

Brethren are Kevin 07 fans after all

The normally publicity-shy Exclusive Brethren sect has asserted in a rare interview that Labor best represents its conscience, despite repeated stories of it cosying up to and funding the Liberals.

The secretive Christian fellowship has even laughed off Labor leader Kevin Rudd's description of it as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families, an accusation the Christian prime minister made during last year's election campaign.

"I don't blame him for saying that," said senior elder Daniel Hales in an interview with AAP.

"Labor has done well representing the conscience of Brethren members, in fact better than the conservatives."

He cited the freedom for Brethren members not to join trade unions, and Labor's decision not to support what he called Greens leader Bob Brown's "witch hunt" in the form of a failed Senate move for an investigation into the Brethren.

The Brethren's opposition to voting stems from a belief it interferes with God's right to ordain the government of the day, though critics have accused them of giving God a helping hand.

Brethren do believe, however, in taking their concerns to government, which led to meetings with former Howard government ministers from the PM down, including Peter Costello and Tony Abbott.

Read the full report here.

Exclusive Brethren off the hook, again!

The move in the Australian Senate by The Greens to have a wide-ranging inquiry into the activities of the Exclusive Brethren religious sect was blocked today (28/08/2008) by the combined vote of Government (Labor) and Opposition (Liberals and Nationals) senators.

The only senator to side with The Greens was the Independent Nick Xenophon.

How sad!

news.com.au reports

The Australian Greens, who proposed the inquiry, said the Brethren was preventing its young members from undertaking tertiary education courses and forcing young women into arranged marriages.

"The light of day needs to be shone onto the activities of the sect," Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said.

Those activities included making large political donations to the Coalition.

Senator Brown moves to have Exclusive Brethren examined

Finally, someone in Australia's Federal Parliament has been shown to have sufficient gumption to have the Exclusive Brethren examined in relation to its shady operations.

ABC News has reported that the Leader of the Greens, Senator Bob Brown, has moved a notice of motion to refer a number of matters concerning the Exclusive Brethren Christian sect to the Senate's Community Affairs Committee.

Senator Brown wants the Committee to examine public funding and tax arrangements which may advantage Brethren members.

He says the inquiry would examine the education opportunities for Brethren children, who are not allowed to attend tertiary institutions.

"It would also perhaps look at the $10 million paid to five Brethren schools around Australia in January this year, those schools have a population combined of just 2,000 students," he said.

Kevin Rudd needs to lift his game

A question for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd:

Why is an extremist cult, whose activities break up families, given a wide berth by the Australian Government?

Prior to the November 2007 election Mr Rudd described the Exclusive Brethren as an "extremist cult" whose activities "break up families" and called for investigations by police, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Electoral Commission and Austrac, the anti-money-laundering agency into the Brethren's activities.

So, Mr Rudd, what's changed? Why are there no inquiries?

Today The Age reports PM Kevin Rudd has rejected the pleas of former members of the Exclusive Brethren for a broad-ranging inquiry into the sect, saying such an investigation would "unreasonably interfere" with their right "to practise their faith freely and openly.

Former members of the Brethren seized on the comments and, in February, wrote to Mr Rudd asking for an inquiry, particularly into its "disproportionately high taxpayer funding of Brethren schools, dishonest political campaigning, their charitable status in relation to rate and tax exemptions, and their well-known intimidatory tactics during traumatic Family Court cases".

The letter was written by former Brethren member Peter Flinn and signed by 33 others. Attached were 13 stories outlining the misery inflicted by practices of the sect, including the doctrine of separation, which keeps lapsed members from contacting their families.

Mr Rudd's chief-of-staff David Epstein wrote in reply last week that the Prime Minister "does not resile from the views he expressed last year," and that he "remains concerned about the reported imposition of doctrines that weaken family bonds" and "prevent children accessing online learning tools".

Mr Epstein also added that religious observance "should not be regarded as a shield behind which breaches of the law can be hidden", and urged anyone with details of criminal behaviour within the Brethren to tell police.

However, he wrote, on religious freedom grounds, the Prime Minister would not be instituting an inquiry.

Mr Rudd's stance suggests the Government also will vote against a motion by Greens Senator Bob Brown calling for an inquiry into the sect, its tax concessions, public funding, and practices that may harm children or families.

Senator Brown tabled notice of the new motion, his third proposed inquiry into the Brethren, in the Senate on Thursday.

Senator Brown described Mr Rudd's position as "appalling", saying his priority "should be the welfare of children and families, and the taxpayers' money that is going to this organisation".

But Mr Flinn told The Sunday Age the Exclusive Brethren could take no comfort from Mr Rudd's response: "Whilst Mr Rudd did not give a specific commitment to an inquiry, he acknowledged the 'moving personal accounts'."

Mr Flinn also pointed out that Mr Rudd reiterated his Government's commitment to "enhancing transparency in the Australian electoral system, with reforms recently announced relating to the disclosure and sources of donations".

"We have no desire to interfere with the fundamental right of any religious group to freely and openly practise its beliefs. We just want to highlight other equally fundamental human rights, such as access to family who remain Brethren members, a right callously denied by the Brethren," Mr Flinn said.

The Exclusive Brethren is a wealthy Christian-based group that practises a radical doctrine of separation from the world. Its leaders became very close to former Prime Minister John Howard over many years of lobbying and political activism, and, in 2004, they poured $370,000 into his re-election campaign.

Under Mr Howard, Brethren schools enjoyed similar funding to schools for disabled and Aboriginal students, even though, by their own admission, Exclusive Brethren members are in the top echelon of income earners. Mr Rudd has continued the funding arrangements, worth $50 million over the next four years.

DESPERATELY NEEDED: A Federal Government that's prepared to take on Exclusive Brethren

Is someone, anyone, in the Rudd Government prepared to stand up and be counted in relation to the continued funding of Exclusive Brethren schools?

The issue is a simple one. Exclusive Brethren schools receive federal government funding that should be directed towards the education of the nation's poorest children.

Funding deals for Exclusive Brethren schools were set up by the Keating government. They continued and were promoted under the Howard government and still operate under the Rudd government.

The Sunday Age (April 6, 2008) reports rich Exclusive Brethren schools are receiving the same generous rate of government funding as the nation's poorest schools, including those in impoverished Aboriginal communities.

The Rudd Government has pledged to continue paying millions of dollars to the religious sect despite the group boasting that its students are "found in the middle to upper levels of the socio-economic group".

Exclusive Brethren schools are being funded as if they are Category 12 schools, which are the poorest schools in the lowest-income communities in the country. In other words, Category 12 schools serve communities which have very low incomes. Does that sound like the communities Exclusive Brethren school students come from?

Government documents obtained by The Sunday Age show Brethren schools in NSW and South Australia receive category 12 funding despite not meeting these criteria.

Federal school funding documents show that the Brethren's multi-campus NSW school, Meadowbank, and the South Australian school, Melrose Park, were funded at the same rate as "special schools", giving them the same per-student funding as Nyangatjatjara College, in the Northern Territory, the Giant Steps school for autistic students and schools for the hearing-impaired.

The Brethren's MET school in Meadowbank does not meet the criteria for category 12 funding: it is in suburban Sydney, has small class sizes, and is financially supported by a community that boasts it has no poverty.

This scandalous matter need to be addressed, and soon!

The Brethren still have friends in high places

Question: Just how stupid is Brendan Nelson?

Answer: Very!

He provided first-hand proof of his idiocy when he spoke in reply to The Apology in parliament on Wednesday. However, confirmation that his idiocy knows no bounds has arrived in the news that he sponsored a leader of the Exclusive Brethren sect getting a special pass to Parliament, thus giving the Brethren unfettered access to the corridors of the legislature.

The Sydney Morning Herald (14/02/2008) reports that Nelson and former Tasmanian Liberal MP Michael Ferguson sponsored a pass application for Brethren elder Stephen Hales, who is the brother of the sect's Australian leader, Bruce Hales, to roam the corridors of power in Canberra.

Dr Nelson's days as Leader of the Opposition are surely numbered.

Read the Herald's report at http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/brethren-lobbyists-given-passes/2008/02/13/1202760399016.html

Exclusive Brethren fleece the public purse

The Sydney Morning Herald (11/2/2008) reports that a secret review by the federal Education Department reveals how the Exclusive Brethren and other organisations that have been identified as receiving an already too-generous share of government funding are exploiting a loophole to claim even more money from taxpayers - simply by building more campuses.

The report shows the Exclusive Brethren to be the "biggest winner" in this rort by establishing 16 campuses around NSW.

The MET School at Meadowbank, run by the Brethren, is an example of what the Education Department sees as schools getting an unfair advantage. The MET School is the parent school for the other 15 campuses. Only one of these, at Kellyville, is within 50 kilometres of the parent school. One, Lavington, is 600 kilometres away in Albury. If they were called new schools, they would not qualify for the same generous funding. But as "campuses", they keep it.

The department is critical of the "inequities" being entrenched because these schools, under a deal struck with the Howard government, have had their funding maintained at the same level as before the SES system was introduced in 2001.

The overfunding has cost taxpayers more than $2 billion over four years and, according to the review, will cost $2.7 billion over the next four-year funding cycle, starting next year.

Despite having previously criticised the Funding Maintained system as unfair, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, locked Labor into keeping it before the federal election.

The Department of Education's internal review of the funding for private schools was commissioned by the Howard government and completed last year.

The Rudd Government refused to release it to the Herald under a freedom of information request. The leaked report recommends dealing with the extra funding by gradually taking money away from many schools until they receive their correct entitlement.

When John Howard was Prime Minister he had meetings with senior members of the Brethren. Why? Perhaps the sect, which does not allow its followers to vote, but has been linked to funding and advertising campaigns supporting the Liberal Party was getting a few tips on the rort directly from the horse's mouth.

Read the Herald's report at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/loophole-keeps-schools-in-clover/2008/02/10/1202578600919.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

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.

Government's hush up with Exclusive Brethren continues

For a mob that doesn't vote, the Exclusive Brethren certainly has a very strong interest in the political scene in Australia and isn't backward when it comes to lobbying the Prime Minister.

The Age (November 19) reports that Prime Minister JohnHoward has exchanged letters five times with the Exclusive Brethren since 2003, but after 14 months of stalling on a simple freedom-of-information request, his office will not release the correspondence until well after election day.

WHY PRIME MINISTER? WHAT IS THERE TO HIDE?

The Prime Minister's office has at long last acknowledged that it has corresponded with the religious sect with which the Prime Minister has had very close contact over many years.

PLEASE, PRIME MINISTER, TELL THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC WHAT THE CORRESPONDENCE AND CONTACTS INVOLVE?

Mr Howard was embarrassed in August when The Age revealed he had met Brethren world leader, Bruce Hales, and at least one sect member who is under police investigation over his role in funding pro-Liberal campaign advertisements in the 2004 election.

Greens leader Bob Brown said the Government had once again manipulated the FoI Act to hide information. Mr Brown was told by the Prime Minister's department, in response to his own FoI request in 2005, that "no records of correspondence with persons identifying as representatives of the Exclusive Brethren … were located". The response to The Age reveals that three relevant documents existed.

"I was lied to. That's clear. Straight deception," Senator Brown said. "But I'm used to it with the Government."

SENATOR BROWN, LIKE ALL OTHER AUSTRALIANS, HAS THE RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS MATTER.


Read the full report from The Age at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/pmbrethren-letters-held-until-after-poll/2007/11/18/1195321608622.html

Exclusive Brethren's easy access to the PM's ear

Getting access to PM Howard and Ministers in the Coalition government is, for most people, not an easy task, but members of the Exclusive Brethren don't seem to have such troubles.



What's so special about them?



Perhaps the ABC's reports that "a former member of the Exclusive Brethren has revealed the secretive religious sect has been transferring large sums of money across the world, possibly to fund political campaigns in Australia and the US" provides an explanation as to why thet get 'special treatment'.

The full report is at http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/15/2059279.htm?site=elections/federal/2007



On October 15, ABC TV's Four Corners provided an informative examination of the machinations of the Exclusive Brethren. See the program at

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20071015/brethren/default.htm



Are the Exclusive Brethren on the nose, or what?



PM Howard and his Ministers who have provided Exclusive Brethren members with easy access to them defend their actions by saying that the EB are like any other constituents and have the right of access to elected representatives. Sure, but why do they get to the front of the queue so easily AND so often? Something ain't right!