Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister, as Senator Milne says, talks about fundamental values. But it is a breach of fundamental values when there are covert groups like the secretive, antidemocracy Exclusive Brethren meeting with the Prime Minister and he will not say why. What is the Hon. John Howard’s explanation for not wanting to say whom he met and why, or what matters were discussed with the Exclusive Brethren—whether or not it was the Elect Vessel himself, Bruce Hales, the multimillionaire who lives in the Prime Minister’s electorate and whom he has met; or was it Mr Hales’s brother or some other member of the Exclusive Brethren? Why can’t the Prime Minister say what was discussed? We know what was discussed in New Zealand: it was election campaigning to get at opponents and pour thousands of dollars into a pro-conservative campaign—while hiding that fact from the voters; being dishonest with the voters.

The questions about the last election in this country, about the extensive and hugely expensive advertising by the Exclusive Brethren on behalf of or in the interests of the Prime Minister and the government, have not been answered. It is one thing for the secretive Exclusive Brethren to cover up on that, but it is another thing for the Prime Minister and the ministers of this government to cover up on that. Why has not one minister of the government in this parliament been prepared to answer these very simple questions and has preferred to breach standing orders which say that those questions shall be answered within 30 days? What is the embarrassment that is being covered up here? What secretive dealings are being kept hidden on this side of the Tasman while we await emails to be leaked or some honest person to come out and say, ‘Here is the record.’ All we want is the record of the relationships between this sect and the government. Amongst other things it has given the Exclusive Brethren specific provisions under the Industrial Relations Act to ensure that workplaces controlled by the Exclusive Brethren are no-go zones for unions looking after the rights of workers—30 of them! That is what I call quid pro quo. What I do not know is what the ‘quo’ is—