CALLS for parliamentary investigations into the role of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in the LNP’s Federal Election campaign have been backed by Member for Blair Shayne Neumann.
Last week, in his first speech to Parliament since being re-elected, Mr Neumann said the fringe Brethren church operated as an unofficial third party during the election, describing the presence of church members in the LNP campaign in Blair as “aggressive” and “intimidating”.
Mr Neumann said he hoped Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters would take the issue up as part of its post-election inquiry.
“I believe the coordinated conduct of the LNP and the Exclusive Brethren in this campaign in Blair and elsewhere, all around the country, highlights why we should consider a truth-in-political-advertising framework at a federal level, like they have in South Australia and the ACT,” Mr Neumann said in his speech.
“We also need stronger and better electoral rules and laws around groups like the Exclusive Brethren operating as an unofficial third party.”
Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, a branch of the Exclusive Brethren, opened a church in Brassall in 2007 and more recently at Sadliers Crossing.
Both the church and the LNP have denied the Brethren took part in a coordinated campaign.
But Mr Neumann said in Parliament last Thursday there was a “clear arrangement, a quid pro quo, between the LNP and the Exclusive Brethren”.
“What did the LNP get out of it?” he asked.
“We saw bullying, and aggressive, intimidating and offensive behaviour at polling booths by the Exclusive Brethren in LNP paraphernalia.”
Mr Neumann also spoke on aggressive campaign tactics from the LNP in Blair, including his election signs being defaced and destroyed.
A spokesman for the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church said the church did not “donate to, organise volunteers for, or otherwise support any political candidate or party in any way, and never has”.
“Our church is aware that some members volunteered for various parties at the last election. They were doing this in their own capacity, not representing the church,” he said.
The spokesman said parishioners from the Ipswich region who were involved in the election said the campaign was “relatively collegial”.
“The reports relayed to us was that yes it was a contest, but everyone got along pretty well,” he said.
“We didn’t hear any stories from Blair like we did from other booths, of our parishioners being subject to name calling, shoving, being spat on, filmed by media and attacked on social media.”
An LNP spokesman refuted the allegations about its campaign in Blair and said Mr Neumann should be more concerned about the “nastiness and negativity coming from within Labor”.
