Left to right: the Australian Christian Lobby's Martyn Illes, Tony McLellan and James Wallace. (Images: ACL)

The religious discrimination bill has been a test of strength for the Australian Christian Lobby, which has suffered political losses on its conservative Christian agenda, especially with same-sex marriage laws. But today it has declared it is “encouraged” by what it sees in the government’s draft bill but “disappointed” at what has been left out. 

It could have been better, it could have been worse — and the ACL plans to keep fighting for the cause, starting with a 40,000-signature petition which it is delivering to Prime Minister Scott Morrison.  

The organisation is now in its 20th year and has the backing of some powerful individuals as well as strong connections to the Liberal Party and Morrison. Yet for all the public flexing of its muscle there is not much known about the people and the money behind it. Crikey went in search of those exercising power in God’s name.

Tony McLellan: God, mining and the Liberal Party

McLellan was chairman of the ACL board for 10 years and now has the honorary title of chairman emeritus. He is one of Australia’s best networked and most successful business people and has been on the boards of several mining companies, including the predecessor to international miner Barrick Gold, as well as Felix Resources, Norton Gold Fields, Elementos Limited and Signature Gold Limited.

McLellan moved to the United States in the late 1980s and was appointed chairman of giant real estate group LJ Hooker America. It was then, at the age of 47, that the Concorde-flying business hero, hopping from CEO job to CEO job across the globe had a midlife crisis and a near marriage breakdown which led him to embrace Christianity.

McLellan recounted in his book A Glorious Ride: from Jumble Plains to Eternity that he and his wife Rae changed course and decided to give their “remaining time” to serving Christian ministries. They established The McLellan Foundation, which seeded several Christian not-for-profit organisations.

While still in the US, McLellan co-founded Citizens for Community Values and We Care America, based in Washington DC. There, he recalled, he worked closely with president George W Bush’s faith-based initiative which represented what it called a “determined attack on need” by “strengthening and expanding” the role of faith-based organisations in providing social services.

After he returned to Australia, McLellan joined the board of Christian not-for-profit Opportunity International, the micro-finance initiative established by David Bussau and Leigh Coleman. (Prime Minister Scott Morrison is close to both men.) McLellan later joined the board of the Australian Christian Lobby and its affiliates. 

McLellan spelled out his wishes in a submission to the expert panel on religious freedom convened in 2018 under former veteran Liberal MP Philip Ruddock, after same-sex marriage laws were passed. His demands included:

  • Parents should have the right to be notified of and then withdraw their children from classes teaching radical LGBTIQ sex and gender theory
  • Preachers should be allowed to place their sermons regarding man-woman marriage online without fear of being taken to an anti-discrimination tribunal or commission
  • Religious schools and organisations should be allowed to positively discriminate in employing people who adhere to their beliefs on marriage. 

The million-dollar charity with no name

The McLellan Foundation is not so easy to find on the public record. It is hidden on the site of the Australian Charities and not-for-profit Commission behind an entry which says “Charity name unavailable”.

“Charity name unavailable” lists only one name as the responsible person: (Brigadier) James Wallace, who is chairman of the ACL board and was the ACL’s managing director from 2000-15. Wallace spent 32 years in the army, including with the SAS.

A foundation financial statement says it supports programs that combine scripture, social analysis, Christian apologetics, lawmaking, political science and philosophy. 

It operates on $2.2 million in donations. Last year it donated $10,000 to the Liberal Party’s think tank, the Menzies Research Centre. There is a further tie: McLellan’s book, published this year, was co-authored by Nick Cater, executive director of the Menzies Research Centre.

The centre told Crikey it didn’t comment on why individuals or organisations choose to donate to it “in accordance with the disclosure law”.

The ACL: what the record says and doesn’t say

The ACL, too, has important information hidden from public view on the charities’ commission website.

For several years it has used its connections to wield political influence, yet it has been impossible to know who the key people are behind it nor where its money comes from.

Australian Charities and not-for-profit Commission records show that in 2015 the board of the ACL had nine directors, but none of the names are now shown on public documents. The blackout on directors’ names has applied every year until 2019 when three names out of the six directors were made public. 

Those names are: Wallace; Martyn Iles, current managing director; David Burr, a Melbourne businessman and lawyer.

The ACL’s latest annual report discloses revenues of $5.8 million, including $5.3 million in donations, $138,000 in JobKeeper payments and an extra $100,000 called “Australian government cashflow boost”. 

Wallace, Iles and Burr are also directors of other ACL-linked entities:

  • The Human Rights Law Alliance, which works to support Christians facing “persecution or discrimination” because of their beliefs. It received just under $500,000 in 2020, including $80,000 in COVID support payments
  • The Lachlan Macquarie Institute, which trains Christians in public advocacy. It has an annual budget of $1.1 million; $100,000 donated by The McLellan Foundation.

So why the secrecy?

The ACL received special dispensation from the Australian Charities and not-for-profit Commission in 2017 after it was the subject of violent threats. The ACNC confirmed there were six grounds for withholding information from the public record: 

  • Publishing the information could endanger public safety
  • The information is commercially sensitive and publishing it could cause harm to the charity or a person
  • The information is inaccurate, or likely to confuse or mislead, or
  • The information is offensive
  • The information is likely to identify an individual donor
  • Publishing contact details would create an unreasonable administrative burden for the charity.

ACL’s national political director Wendy Francis told Crikey the secrecy was for the safety of individuals and wasn’t against the law. 

One consequence, though, is that we do not have the full picture on the religious and political connections influencing government policy on religious discrimination.