A recent service of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church,with women at the back of the room,men at the front.

A recent service of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church,with women at the back of the room,men at the front.

“There are a small number of media outlets who have written about our church in the past and got the facts wrong,” a spokesman told CBD.

“Papers likeThe Age are not Independent Always as promised,with one journalist there even recently admitting in print that he has run an 18-year campaign against us.”

J’Accuse! In fact,our esteemed colleagueMichael Bachelarddid not admit to a “campaign against them”;he merely pointed out he’d been writing about the church for 18 years.

The Brethren’s new website purports to tell “the truth about our church,contribution,values and way of life”.

Intrigued,we read how the Brethren’s public-facing charity,Rapid Relief Team,was made up of Brethren members who helped people in emergencies.But thought we should note this newspaper’s previous reportage about Australian Tax Office raids on businesses in Goulburn whose owners help to run the Rapid Relief Team.

What really struck us,though,was the website’s defence of the “doctrine of separation” after allegations that the church encourages families to cut off excommunicated members. “The Church would never stand in the way of families communicating with each other,” says the website.

This masthead has reported before how a New Zealand man,Braden Simmons,was kicked out of the church. Now a letter to his father,also excommunicated,has come to light. Two Brethren heavies explain that one reason he’d been kicked out a few years after his son was his “refusal to disassociate” from Braden. He’d been “poisoned by darkness”,they wrote.

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“You know we have held for years separation should be moral,physical,and legal,” the pair wrote.

When CBD asked about this contradiction,the church said it was very rare to ask people to leave and it would never stand in the way of families communicating with each other.

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“We can confirm there was a case in New Zealand where there were various significant reasons that we asked contact to be ceased with a former member,” the church spokesman said.

But our jaws really dropped when we read from the same letter to Simmons that the two Auckland “priests” defended the church’s “Man of God”Bruce Hales and particularly the size of his mega-mansion,one of the biggest and most opulent in Sydney’s Eastwood.

“He lives in a comfortable fairly ordinary house (his lounge is no bigger than ours),” say the New Zealand enforcers. If only.

Political animals at the zoo

The Liberals haven’t had much to celebrate north of the bridge for a while,where the party became a threatened species thanks to the 2022 teal wave.

On Friday night,local political animals gathered at Taronga Zoo to toast past glories and build up the coffers for the upcoming campaign at the 80th anniversary celebrations for the Mosman branch. Ain’t no party like the Liberal Party.

Peter Dutton,man of the hour in blue circles,was guest of honour alongside shadow treasurerAngus Taylor. In the crowd were federal senatorsAndrew Bragg andMaria Kovacicas well as a gaggle of state MPs includingJames Griffin(the last man standing on the northern beaches)Felicity WilsonandTim James. No sign ofTony Abbott,still in London at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship saving Western civilisation along withJordan Peterson,Nigel FarageandLiz Trusswe presume.

There was both an auction and a raffle for items that might animate only the truest of believers. Auction items included bottles of wine signed by the likes of Abbott and Dutton,and so muchRobert Menzies-related paraphernalia.

First prize in the raffle was a bottle of vintage wine donated byJohn Howard,while also on offer were coffee mugs with cartoons byThe Australian’snepo baby scribblerJohannes Leak. Cartoons of Menzies of course. Also a book of quotes by Menzies. They’re a party of the future after all.

Cup runneth

With Racing NSW chief executivePeter V’landys focused on the NRL season opener in Las Vegas,his Melbourne Cup host rivals the Victoria Racing Club is on the mother of all resets after losing $70 million over four years.

Hence its Long Lunch at Flemington racecourse,where it showcased its premium food and beverage alliance with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival during the autumn carnival (very Australian Open,you might think).

Star of the show proved to be last year’s Cup-winning jockeyRobbie Dolan,once a contestant on TV talent showThe Voice. He confessed he had broken one of racing’s great taboos:he had handled the coveted Melbourne Cup trophy before winning,a practice that is regarded as extinguishing any chance of that happening.

Robbie Dolan celebrates his Melbourne Cup win on Knight’s Choice.

Robbie Dolan celebrates his Melbourne Cup win on Knight’s Choice.Credit:Eddie Jim

“I held it,got a photo with it,and everyone was like,‘ah,it’s bad luck to hold it’,and then I won it like two months later,” the Irishman said. “So,it’s obviously not that bad of luck,is it?”

Dolan,who shocked Flemington by winning the Cup onKnight’s Choice last year,is in hot demand,booked for a gig at Wednesday’s Launceston Cup. That’s a singing gig. As of the weekend,he didn’t have a ride.

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