magine a country where an Islamic media outlet is handed hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money funding extremist antisemitic social media propaganda, while at the same time a government-funded inquiry is persecuting Christian leaders for the political actions of parishioners.
This isn’t happening in an authoritarian enemy state.
It is happening on the shores of one of America’s closest allies, our diplomatic and democratic partner, Australia.
Shocking? Yes, but this is the situation in Australia right now, and it should strike fear in the hearts of Christians and conservatives across America.
As I have previously explained, the Australian Government is forcing the senior leader of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church to front up to a parliamentary inquiry this week.
Mr Bruce Hales, a great grandfather from Sydney who has led the small but devout fellowship since 2002, will face a barrage of questioning from left-wing politicians – all because members of the church chose to campaign for conservative candidates at the 2025 Federal Election.
The left-wing Labor government has justified this parliamentary inquiry, claiming it is investigating allegations of “intimidating behaviour”. But really it’s a very open threat to religious liberty by weaponizing a political committee to silence voices with a different point of view.
It is important to note that the majority of the evidence against the Church members is coming from members of the Labor Party and opposers of the Church itself, and is largely hearsay.
Mr Hales has publicly stated that he was not involved - directly or indirectly - in the 2025 election.
As the Christian coalition Freedom for Faith has warned, religious leaders are not automatically responsible for “the political choices, associations or conduct” of those who share their faith.
After the threat of legal action was held over his head, Mr Hales has agreed to give evidence and he said he is confident that truth will prevail.
The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has 55,000 members around the world – 16,000 in Australia and 7,000 in North America – a small but mainstream Christian Church.
Yet sadly, this is not the first time the church has been publicly attacked by its political leaders in Australia.
It has been the target of appalling abuse from the top of the Australian Government multiple times.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese himself publicly labelled the Plymouth Brethren a “cult” in a media conference in April last year.
Since then, Mr Albanese has refused repeated requests from the Church and its members, who have offered to meet with him so he can see they are peaceful people, devoted to family, faith and working hard.
When Mr Albanese won the election last year, he promised the Australian people his Government would “build national unity on the enduring foundations of fairness, equality and respect for one another” – no matter who they voted for or who they worship.
So why would the Prime Minister continue this attack on a small group of Christian conservatives – over a year later?
The left-wing government won power again in Australia in May last year – but the witch hunt of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church is ongoing.
All because these Christians dared to exercise their democratic right to be involved with the political process, by volunteering their time to campaign for the opposing party.
Meanwhile, the very same Australian Prime Minister has remained silent on hate cleric Wisam Haddad.
Haddad is a jihadist preacher based in Sydney with links to Islamic State. And Mr Albanese has never publicly condemned him or what he stands for.
After Naveed Akram allegedly gunned down 15 people in December 2025 in an attack on the Sydney Jewish community at Bondi Beach, it was revealed that he was one of Haddad’s followers.
According to reports, despite his alleged links to Islamic State, Haddad is still freely preaching hate against Christians and Jews on the streets of Sydney.
And, worse still, Australian media has now revealed that four months after the Bondi terror attack, Anthony Albanese’s left-wing Government handed $300,000 in taxpayer funding to a Sydney-based Islamic media organisation, OnePath Network, that posts antisemitic social media videos.
It seems the Australian Government is not just turning a blind eye to Islamic extremists.
It is enabling them to spread hate against Christians and Jews. Disturbingly, this is happening at the same time that the Government is conducting a public witch hunt against the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
The left-wing Australian government is using its claims of “electoral interference” to stigmatize an entire religious community.
This looks like an attempt to scare conservatives from ever getting involved in the political process again.
The Australian Government should explain to the Australian people why their money is funding Islamic hate and targeting Christians.
And as Americans who value our religious freedom, we should be watching this situation closely.
Because if this can happen to Christians at the hands of one of our closest democratic allies, then who’s to say that we won’t be next?
As the Hales family themselves have warned, “While it might be our Christian religion being targeted today, our deep concern is we won’t be the last.”
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