The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has denied it secretly paid far-right influencers to stage stunts targeting Anthony Albanese and other politicians during an appearance at a parliamentary inquiry into the 2025 election.
The church also denied claims it had coordinated hundreds of volunteers to support Liberal candidates, including at polling booths across the country.
The Nine newspapers reported on Friday that the church, formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren, paid influencers to disrupt the Labor campaign, including Laurence McIntyre, who was filmed heckling the prime minister.
McIntyre has been previously pictured with neo-Nazis figures Joel Davis and Blair Cottrell and was reported by the ABC to be an organiser for a March for Australia anti-immigration rally in 2025.
Lloyd Grimshaw, a director at the Brethren church, told the parliamentary inquiry on Friday that the reporting by Nine was a “complete lie”.
“My church did not make any donations or support in any way political parties or third parties who were involved in the election,” Grimshaw said.
“As I recall, this story doesn’t point to one amount of money, one detailed transaction, one quote, one communication between my church, or even an individual member of my church, and one politician or political party, or third party … It doesn’t even meet a threshold of gossip.”
Grimshaw alleged the church had been targeted with “unsubstantiated” allegations about its activities, claiming some members did volunteer at the election but for “pretty normal reasons”, such as backing their local candidate or being worried about the economy.
He also said multiple church members had contacted him about how they were treated at polling booths, saying claiming some faced “aggressive questioning” and “verbal abuse” over their involvement.
Volunteers from the Brethren church were seen at polling booths across the country during the campaign, but Grimshaw denied they were instructed by the church. He told the committee the church had not facilitated any payments to volunteers who had to travel to support Liberal candidates in their electorates.
“I’m not saying that members didn’t participate, and clearly they did, and there must have been some coordination, but they would have coordinated amongst themselves,” Grimshaw said.
“I can confirm that the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church did not participate in the 2025 election campaign in any way, shape, or form, and that includes paying for any political activity, chartering planes, moving people around, doing any of that activity that you described. There was not one single cent paid from the church to fund that type of activity.”
Asked about the alleged campaigning activities of senior Brethren church members, including reports regarding its director, Mark MacKenzie, in previous elections, Grimshaw again said their actions were not coordinated by the church.
“What’s the issue with someone that happens to be a director of an entity doing a perfectly legitimate, normal, democratic thing in their own private capacity and private time?” Grimshaw said. “Why is it being conflated as representing that entity?”
Grimshaw also criticised the prime minister’s description of the Brethren church as a “cult”.
“Not only is it offensive, but it’s, it’s completely untrue, and it’s hurtful,” he said.
“We seek to have a positive engagement with all members of parliament, and you know it’s a cardinal principle of our church.”
In its interim report, the electoral matters committee claimed democracy was “under assault” from third parties including the Brethren church and right-wing lobby group Advance.
The Labor-chaired committee recommended a new code of conduct for campaigners, but the Coalition accused Labor of turning the election inquiry into a “hyper-partisan witch-hunt” against members of the church.
On Friday, the Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, claimed the Labor party was weaponising the inquiry against the Brethren church and “launching a war” against those of religious faith.
“I find these attacks on people of faith in our country completely unbecoming of an Australian government in our democracy,” Canavan told News 24.
“What I saw this morning at this committee is an attempt to apply collective guilt to people of a certain religious faith. And the Labor party here seems to be launching a war on those of religious faith that seek to involve themselves in politics.”
