Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Milne says they will be thrown out—and, chances are, that may well be right. But in a free society people will continue to join the Exclusive Brethren. They will also continue to leave the Exclusive Brethren—we had a story, through Senator Milne, of a family that left the Exclusive Brethren and did all sorts of wonderful things, including pursuing careers. And, whether we like it or not, some people will stop talking to each other in this society. Exclusive Brethren have a particular view with which I, respectfully, very strongly disagree. But how on earth can a Senate inquiry force somebody to talk to somebody else if their religious belief, for whatever reason, is that they will not talk to such a person? People actually do have free will, and if that is the decision they make, regrettable though it is, then that is unfortunately the way it will turn out.

I simply say in conclusion: what is all this about? Very simply, what all this is about was shown and exposed by Senator Brown’s own words in the Sunday Tasmanian of 13 August 2006. He said:

... my beef with the Exclusive Brethren is not about religious belief.

So all this talk about cult and religious belief is not Senator Brown’s concern; he has admitted that himself. He went on to say:

“It’s about them venturing into politics ...

That is the beef that Senator Brown has. It is not their religious beliefs, that they do not allow people to talk to each other or allegedly allow computers to be used. That is not his concern. If they had not have ventured into politics, as he alleges, he would have been happy for them to continue with all the practices that he now claims he abhors. That shows the double standard with which Senator Brown comes to this debate. Even more so, under a heading of ‘Exclusive Brethren payback’ Senator Brown called for a public register of all Exclusive Brethren business premises. Can I say: that is very distasteful. Why would you have a public register of Exclusive Brethren businesses? Why not green businesses or Roman Catholic businesses or Protestant businesses or Muslim businesses? Very, very distasteful, might I suggest. And when the leader and deputy leader of an Australian political party start descending into this sort of behaviour on a personal vendetta because people dared to venture into politics, then I think we have come to a very, very sad state of affairs in this country.

In relation to the Exclusive Brethren not voting, I think it is an unfortunate decision, a regrettable decision. I encourage everybody to vote. But the Commonwealth Electoral Act has an exclusion based on religious belief. It applies to everybody. I do not know how many Exclusive Brethren there are in this country. I would think 10,000 would be tops—by a long, long way.