Nine people organised or funded the political campaign. In our assessment every one of them can be traced back to Bruce Hales or to his church, whether through a company he audits, a business his sons run, a trust his grandson sits on, or a family tie. Follow each chain from left to right. Between 2004 and 2025, church directors, members and their companies put more than $1.2 million into the Liberal Party and fundraising vehicles aligned with it.
Bruce Hales audits Voltex's accounts. Rod Tunley is Voltex's director and shareholder. Tunley gave $246,000 to Advance Australia in April 2025, and Voltex itself gave $116,000 to the Liberal Party in May 2022. The auditor is one step from the company, and the company one step from the donor.
Bruce Hales audits Westlab's accounts. Gavin Grace is Westlab's director & shareholder, a Principal at the Hales sons' Sante Group, and a director of the church's OneSchool Global. He organised for the campaign and gave $18,500 to Advance Australia.
Bruce Hales audits Westlab's accounts. Peter Grace, father of Gavin, is also a director and shareholder of Westlab. He gave $18,500 to Advance Australia. Father and son, one audited company, two donors.
Operations Director of Sante Group, the company run by Bruce's sons Gareth and Charles. Co-trustee of Meadowbank Education Trust beside Bruce's grandson Dion. Nephew of John Proctor, director of the church's Rapid Relief Team.
Gave $226,500 to Advance Australia in May 2025. Trustee of the Prospect Hill Trust, where his fellow trustee Lance Nipper is a director of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church itself.
Gave $145,000 to Advance Australia. Trustee of the Bowenfels Gospel Trust alongside Michael Horsfall, the brother-in-law of Karen Martin, Bruce Hales' daughter. His company FVA employs David Humber, cousin of organiser Paul Humber.
Brother-in-law of Jane Henderson, Bruce Hales' daughter. One family step from the leader.
Lester Sharples' father Norman directs the church's Australian Halls Trust. Anthony Watt's brother Doug is a PBCC director and the church's New Zealand spokesman. Both organisers are one family step from church officers.
Willmac Enterprises, a company of Mark MacKenzie, who is now a director of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, spent $370,000 on advertising that supported the Liberal Party at the 2004 federal election. The ABC reported the spending in 2007.
NSW ICAC Exhibit 138: in 2010–11, 62 donors recorded as “Friends” gave $67,230 to the Free Enterprise Foundation, a fundraising vehicle associated with the Liberal Party that ICAC later scrutinised over donations channelled without disclosing the donors. The list includes Stephen Hales and John Anderson (PBCC directors), Warren Henderson (Bruce Hales' son-in-law) and Mark MacKenzie.
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has publicly addressed the Australian Parliament's Inquiry into the 2025 federal election. In a statement on its website, the church says it has written five times to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters confirming it would appear and give evidence, and that it is awaiting a hearing date. The statement notes that the Committee's Interim Report does not directly mention the church, disputes a description of the church as a 'significant third party', and says the church "did not support, coordinate or otherwise participate in the 2025 election."
The roles, relationships and donations traced on this page are drawn from public records spanning 2004 to 2025 and are set out above so that readers can weigh them alongside the church's statement.
Every person, company, trust and charity in the dataset: 144 entities and 194 recorded connections, drawn from public company, charity and electoral records. Click any node for its connections and amounts. In our assessment the links shown reflect those records.