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What we're talking about
- Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah, with your permission, I would like to add that I thank you sincerely for acknowledging my success at being a ... more
- Bella on Preferential voting FIRST PAST THE POST ~ is not as democratic as you may like to think.In a preferential system every registered voters final ... more
- steve on A few facts on illegal boat people Hey Wendy - I'm an immigrant - I've lived here for 40 years and have learned to ignore people with attitudes like yours but ... more
- James Weir on A few facts on illegal boat people Wendy, I'm surprised anyone lives in Adelaide. Even the Welsh born redheads are getting out of the place. more
- Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." @Bigfellah. Again in typical Socialist Fashion, you are denying me my right to form an opinion. Mr. and Mrs. Newton ... more
- Meg on "He's a dog..." I believe that any ordinary person who assaults women would have been charged and jailed not sent to rehab. Has Matthew ... more
- Wendy on A few facts on illegal boat people Look around..In Adelaide now, you cannot spot an Aussie. Everywhere you look its Chinese/Asians, Indians and Pakistani's. ... more
- bigfella on "He's a dog..." Hi z,The point is: How the heck would Phil of Springwood know what sort of parents Bert and Patti were to their son? For all ... more
- z on Bob Brown Lazarus Where is the costings that they demand of everyone else, thier 5 minutes of fame will be up shortley more
- Shanelle on System failure The whole system is stuffed. I have been apart of it for 10years now and still im confused. Im in a bad place at the moment ... more
- James Weir on Barnaby Joyce How many Clem 7's would you like in your Super Fund, Barnaby? It lost $1.5B in it's current reporting period. Only Govts can ... more
- Steve Martin on "He's a dog..." Rebecca Wilson as per normal is just plain out of touch.The hitting of women is wrong but personalising this with "he's a ... more
- Ronny Of Brighton QLD on Preferential voting MichaelIve just come back from a holiday.That bloke Dean Jaensch Siad that if someone(call Him RONNY) had 40% he said 60% of ... more
- z on Preferential voting the way it is working at the moment is the first loser joins with 2nd loser and so on untill they beat the winner, so a ... more
- brisman on Bob Brown The guy is not green he absolutley red through to the core. His environmental visions are shallow and don't serve ... more
- z on "He's a dog..." bigfella, Phil of Springwood is not talking from so called flippantly expertise, Ivory tower stuff but more from commonsense ... more
- robert goodchild on Support our Diggers the sticker Idea is great.I would happily part with $20 for one and would like to see the profit go to families who have ... more
- Phil of Springwood on "He's a dog..." Hey Bigfella, back again so soon after your mobs magnificent defeat by the Tories, I thought you and the rest of your Left ... more
- z on "He's a dog..." Hey Phil, why don't you say what you really mean more
- bigfella on "He's a dog..." Congratulations to Phil of Springwood,We've become accustomed to his astute political and social commentaries based on ... more
The Exclusive Brethren
I've never encountered anything like the Exclusive Brethren.
On Monday evening I interviewed Michael Bachelard, the author of "Behind The Exclusive Brethren". We spoke about the $17.8 million in government funding that The Exclusive Brethren's schools receive.
The next day the Exclusive Brethren's PR company phoned me from Sydney and asked for the right of reply - so yesterday I spoke with David Stuart who represents the Exclusive Brethren's schools.
David Stuart confirmed that the Exclusive Brethren receive something like $16 to $17.8 million a year in government funding for the organisations schools and that there are about 2,300 children at the Brethren's schools around the country.
That's about $8,000 per child that you the taxpayer is funding.
I've been flooded with notes and calls from people with concerns about this group. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called The Exclusive Brethren an extremist cult. The ALP's website still carries a statement about the Brethren which refers to them as a shadowy ultra-right wing sect, an extremist shadowy group which breaks up families and doesn't believe in normal things like using computers and voting and a range of other frightening statements.
The Australian Electoral Commission has investigated two complaints against the Brethren relating to electioneering and campaign funding - you can read the results here and here
In essence the AEC and the Australian Federal Police found no evidence of impropriety against the Brethren. The Brethren spokesman David Stuart yesterday told me that the Brethren has never made any donation to any political party in Australia - the AEC investigation says that's technically correct although a business closely associated with Brethren interests has made substantial donations.
My main question out of all of this is why is the Federal Government funding an organisation that it calls a shadowy extremist group? Why are your taxes paying for what the Prime Minister calls an extremist cult's schools? I'll be putting those questions to Julia Gillard the Education Minister when next we speak but I'd love your views.
Blog comments
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The Exclusive Brethren have over 2,000 businesses throughout Australia.
I am told they do not pay Company Tax because their businesses are owned by their Tax Exempt church.
Is this unfair and anti competitive considering they compete with other hard working Australian businesses
who do not have this financial advantage.John Wednesday 11 August, 2010 - 6:07 PM -
brethren over a blind childrens school ?! what the hell is going on in this country i think its time we over throw the current government and set things right !
ben Tuesday 3 August, 2010 - 7:40 PM -
i would like to know why this church, sect, cult, elitist, whatever it is group is being funded by the australian tax payer being me for one! can anyone tell me more about this brethren ?
ben Tuesday 3 August, 2010 - 7:28 PM -
I endorse Debra Evans comments about doing business with Bretheren - they are honest people with excellent business ethics. However Debra is a bit off the mark when she says she would consider joining their sect - it is a strictly closed shop - no outsiders can join; and Bretheren can only marry within the sect. Makes one wonder about the gene pool a couple of generations down the track!
Ben Bowyang Tuesday 27 July, 2010 - 7:22 PM -
It seems that the Bretheren are not opposed to driving around disregarding the speeing limits and Australian road rules in very expensive vehicles that are controled by computers. If they were genuine and not just wishing to get rich with tax payers money then they would be more like the Amish who have relinquished technology completley. One can't be a little bit pregnant!
R Clarke Thursday 1 July, 2010 - 8:41 PM -
I have started doing business with EB members and I found them to be very polite they pay their bills on time all the time I do not have to wait for payment unlike other companies.
Before I started doing business with them I had the understanding that they were very rude and kept to themselves now I know different I would consider joining their church but for the fact that they dont watch tv and do not use things like computers or mobile phones and that being a married women their belief is that married women should not work and unfortunately I have to work in the family business but I would join them tomorrow if they asked me to.
Debra Evans Thursday 13 May, 2010 - 6:00 PM
