Answer: these three politicians came into contact with the Exclusive Brethren and have suffered political damage as a result.
Don Brash and John Howard are now history, but Kevin Rudd currently remains the Prime Minister of Australia. Will Rudd manage to retain his role in the next Australian General Election? Time will tell, but the informed media are sharpening their swords over a mounting list of unfathomable decisions that simply do not add up. Of greater import perhaps is the ‘chatter’ from members of the Australian electorate who are the final arbiters in the future of any politician.
For example, consider the voices of those who have objected to the seeming duplicity in Keven Rudd’s decision to allow over $70 million to be paid to the Exclusive Brethren school system in Australia. It is almost mystifying to watch the man who had the courage in late 2007 to call the Exclusive Brethren what they are – “an extremist cult and sect … who break up families” – and then just two years later, to fork out an almost obscenely disproportionate contribution to the school system blatantly designed by the cult for the cult.
These are not schools aimed at producing well-rounded citizens of the countries and communities in which they are located. They serve one main purpose –
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November 21st, 2009
The impact of Australian senator Nick Xenophon’s comments in Canberra this week regarding the Scientology ‘church’ should not be under-estimated.
First there is the man. Nick Xenophon is an independant and carries no party allegience. His 400BC namesake was also a soldier as well as a respected historian. Nick has a background in law and is a resourceful and intelligent political warrior. Several are noting that the modern-day Xenophon seems to have a strategy in his carefully worded attack against the ‘religion’ of Scientology.
“There are a couple of things to know about Nick Xenophon. The first is that the independent senator from Adelaide has a genius for publicity. He’s a hustler par excellence. The second is he’s rationing his tabloid impulses in Canberra. Xenophon’s record to date suggests he’s opting for strategy rather than sensation; picking his political fights, not going at everything like a bull at a gate.”
This is not a ‘flash in the pan’. Xenophon has been planning his attack for some time:
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Bruce Hales is a different kind of Exclusive Brethren leader than all those before. Not gifted as an orator, not particularly learned, apparently a shy and retiring man who is reportedly scared of media attention and that ‘someone may attack him‘. As a result, sightings are rare and Bruce Hales travels secretly and normally with a contingent of bodyguards. No other Exclusive Brethren leader has ever acted this way.
Even the Exclusive Brethren recognize the differences between Bruce Hales and his predecessors. The varied spokesmen now publicly decry the use of the term ‘Elect Vessel’ and ‘Man of God’ which is both an admission of the lack of quality doctrine and teaching involved in BDH ‘ministry’ but is perhaps also an unusually realistic assessment of his spiritual stature. It has been noticeable that there has been a recent increase in the travel and use of other more gifted teachers within the Exclusive Brethren community.
This should not to be viewed as a sign of weak leadership however! ‘Mr Bruce’ is very much in control and is adulated by most Exclusive Brethren. Expressions like “Mr. Bruce will look after us” or “Mr Bruce is filling our storehouses for the coming famine” are frequently heard and these speak to the new position that Bruce Hales has carved for himself. Playing off the ‘End Times’ forecasts of doom and panic that have been the main doctrinal heritage provided by many EB writers and teachers, Bruce is placing himself in a role of ‘Joseph’, the biblical son of Jacob who became the savior of both his family and Eygpt. One obvious difference of course, is that Joseph didn’t keep most of it for himself …
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New Zealand is politically tumultuous. There is no question in anyones mind as to one of the sources of the ripples of paranoia and suspicion that have dogged the 2008 New Zealand elections. It simply traces back to 2005 when the ‘secret seven’ Exclusive Brethren commenced their undercover role of spending money raised at the world-wide command of Bruce Hales, leader of the Australia-based cult.
The smear tactics and ‘dirty tricks’ that the involvement of the Exclusive Brethren initiated was utterly outrageous. Within 2 years of taking over ‘EB Inc.’, Bruce Hales had declared his intent of making an impact on the world political stage – but the route he chose was a dismal failure.
Everything Bruce Hales touched politically was disastrous. He lost Don Brash his position, he lost the NZ National Party their chance to rule and later he repeated the effect in his home country and constituency by helping John Howard, the sitting Australian Premier, lose his own seat and office. It is rumored he also once met George W. Bush … (the EB have deleted the reference to this meeting from their web site)
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May 24th, 2008
A news article published today in New Zealand highlights one of the most outrageous and frankly, stupid projects the Exclusive Brethren ever funded during their laughable ‘political’ enterprises in the last NZ elections.
When the book is finally written on the political impact of a cult living separated from society whose then new leader (Australian Bruce D. Hales) arbitrarily decided during 2004 to throw bushel-loads of money in ‘supporting’ selected political figures, the names of their ‘chosen’ immediately tell the tale:
- George Bush
- Donald Brash
- John Howard
‘Firestorm: Black Saturday’s Tragedy’ and the familiar sound of Exclusive Brethren silence
Frequently, it is what the Exclusive Brethren do not say that speaks loudest.
Many will recall the first cult smear advertising that first hit the streets in New Zealand in 2005. Later, Australia suffered the same influx of brochures, pamphlets and handouts. They all had one thing in common - the group behind the material was never mentioned.
Rather than provide any normal route to identity, the Exclusive Brethren intentionally obfuscate their publications. When you consider the way they hide their tracks, this is perhaps understandable: false addresses, misleading names, even the business premises of their unsuspecting tenants … One thing is constant, the name of the Taylorite / Symington / Hales Exclusive Brethren never appears.
9/11 and now 'Black Saturday'
And now, in perhaps their most cynical effort todate, they use their own children in an effort to extract money from a public for whom they care nothing and even seemingly entrap a Prime Minister who has publicly declared them an “extremist cult” to assist them. And their public relations lever? The killer bush fires that swept across Victoria in southern Australia during February, less than a year ago.
‘ Firestorm: Black Saturday’s Tragedy‘ is published by Dennis Jones & Associates of Byswater, Victoria, Australia and there is even a website dedicated to the PR cause: http://www.blacksaturdaysfirestorm.com.au
The Glenvale School is an Exclusive Brethren school – one of those campuses that is set to receive some of the over $70 million hand-out authorized by Kevin Rudd over the next two years:
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