Former health minister Greg Hunt an adviser to Exclusive Brethren-linked firm

Former health minister Greg Hunt joined an Exclusive Brethren-linked health equipment company as a board adviser months after retiring at the 2022 federal election, a position he still holds as the closeness of the Liberal Party’s relationship with the church is under fresh scrutiny.

Companies owned by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’s “Royal Family” – the sons of world leader Bruce Hales – and other Brethren churchgoers won contracts to supply COVID-19 tests, rapid antigen tests and personal protective equipment worth about $5.1 billion in Australia, the UK, United States, the Netherlands and Canada.

Greg Hunt (right) was billed as being from Connected, owned and directed by Brethren churchgoer Gavin Grace, in promotional material from the PharmOut conference.

The church has become controversial because its financial and on-the-ground support for the Liberal Party at the last election was so overwhelming that some Liberal operatives feared the church would have undue influence over an incoming Peter Dutton government.

One of the big beneficiaries of federal government COVID-19 contracts was an Australian company called Westlab Pty Ltd, which is owned and controlled by senior Plymouth Brethren Christian Church brothers Gavin and Russell Grace.

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Westlab won a number of federal Health Department contracts without an open tender, pursuant to COVID-19 emergency rules, between August 2020 and August 2022.

The contracts were administered by the health and industry departments. The Australian National Audit Office subsequently confirmed the procurement processes were independent of ministers, including Hunt, and prices paid were within or below the appropriate range.

In December 2022, seven months after Hunt quit parliament, another company owned and directed by Gavin Grace, called Connected Global Pty Ltd, hired the former minister as a special board adviser.

A spokesman for Hunt said in answer to questions that he had been approached by Connected Global and worked for them one day a month.

He had “never met or engaged with any of the firms or individuals you raise while in office”, the spokesman said.

Under the ministerial code of conduct, former ministers are not permitted to lobby within 18 months of leaving their position, and Hunt’s advisory role explicitly ruled out lobbying.

“There is therefore no conflict of any form nor could there be,” his spokesman said.

The spokesman said Hunt had not, to his knowledge, met, been lobbied by or received any campaign donations from Brethren individuals or entities as an MP, and had not referred any approach from Westlab for a COVID-19 contract to his department.

This masthead reported in July that Hunt also chairs a “telehealth sector working group”, which is fully funded by medicinal cannabis giant Montu. Hunt said he was engaged as the independent chair of the group one day a month, with administrative support for the telehealth group being provided by Montu.

Greg Hunt, in 2019 when he was federal health minister, at the opening of a Sunshine Coast cannabis farm.Credit: AAP

A statement from Westlab said its dealings over the COVID-19 contracts were through nominated procurement panels and departmental officials, and “as we understand, were completely in line with compliance measures required from all potential providers in an emergency situation”.

Westlab’s financial report, lodged in 2022, shows its revenue increased by 926 per cent due to the pandemic between 2021 and 2022, from $52 million to $534 million.

Soon after the pandemic ended, Westlab’s co-owner and director, the Ballarat-based Brethren man, Gavin Grace, bought a luxury $14 million holiday home north-west of Sydney.

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A statement from Grace, sent via a defamation lawyer, confirmed Hunt had “worked with us since early 2023 in a clearly defined role of one day per month. His focus is on global healthcare and life sciences trends, providing strategic insights, participating and speaking at events”.

“Mr Hunt has made it very clear, and we were assured of this, that he had no involvement whatsoever in procurement decisions during the pandemic,” Grace’s statement said.

“There is no conflict of interest here, real or perceived ... his contribution to Connected Global is solely about future innovation, not past government processes.”

Grace added that Hunt was “eminently qualified for this role with our company ... and Connected Global is fortunate to benefit from his expertise”.

Under the Morrison government’s ministerial code of conduct, former ministers undertook not to lobby the government for 18 months, and not to take personal advantage of information they had access to as minister.

This masthead is not suggesting Hunt has engaged in any wrongdoing, or breached the ministerial code.

Gavin Grace is the Ballarat-based director of medical supply company Westlab.Credit: Westlab

During the pandemic, Gavin Grace posted to LinkedIn announcing, “Help is on its way!’, with a picture of an Airbus full of personal protective equipment (PPE) arriving in Australia from Malaysia.

“Thanks for all involved in co-ordinating this effort in the fight,” Grace wrote, tagging Hunt – then health minister – along with a number of Westlab staff members.

Grace’s company, Connected Global, hopes to make money from the nexus between Australia’s post-pandemic desire for home-grown manufacture and supply of medical products, and the purpose-built “life sciences” facilities required to do so.

Hunt has been providing advice to the company, including producing a “white paper” on the future of healthcare, identifying “megatrends” in the sector.

Greg Hunt at an event in July 2025.

Hunt features prominently in Connected Global’s marketing. On its website, under the heading “Australia’s biomedical boom”, Hunt is quoted as saying, “research is the single best way to advance health and medical care”, and setting out how government money is available to fund medical innovations.

At the recent PharmOut conference, Hunt was billed as being from the “University of Melbourne and Connected”.

In the UK, documents have revealed a Brethren company, Unispace – controlled by Gareth Hales, the son of Brethren leader Bruce Hales, and a British Brethren man – won contracts ultimately worth $1.2 billion after directly lobbying the then cabinet secretary, Michael Gove. Gove appears to have put them on the then-Tory government’s so-called “VIP Lane” for procurement.

COVID-19 contracts in Britain, including those fast-tracked in the VIP lane, are now subject to a special inquiry.

In Australia, the Australian National Audit Office in 2021 found the government had received approaches from more than 4000 companies to supply the National Medical Stockpile. Pitches for contracts included “direct approaches to Health ... referrals from other Australian government entities, ministers’ offices and ... approaches to market”.

Hunt’s spokesman said the Labor member for Ballarat, Catherine King, had written to him in late 2021 after meeting with Westlab.

“Any such letter from the Labor member for Ballarat … would have been sent to the department under standard procedures,” Hunt said.

The audit office concluded that procurement processes during the pandemic had been “largely consistent with the proper use and management of public resources,” though there had been “inconsistent due diligence checks of suppliers”.

It found the “appropriate delegate gave the approval [for contracts] in all instances”.

The statement from Westlab said that, during the pandemic, “at no point did Westlab, its directors, staff, or shareholders approach Greg Hunt or any government minister”, and any such inference was “categorically false”.

During the pandemic in Australia, Westlab worked directly in partnership with a company called Sante, run by Gareth Hales. Sante and Westlab supplied PPE and RATs to the government, some of which were co-branded. Hales campaigned prominently for the Liberal Party in the recent federal election campaign, and was pictured handing out leaflets in the seat of Bennelong.

This masthead reported this month that some Liberal Party campaigners were deeply concerned about the party’s relationship with the church. Former minister Linda Reynolds has asked for its role in this year’s election to be examined in the party’s review of its disastrous loss.

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Bruce Hales, the leader of the Brethren church – described by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in May as a cult – was Westlab’s “independent auditor” in 2022, according to company accounts.

Westlab, in its statement, claimed a senior registered auditor from Hales’ firm, “not Mr Bruce Hales himself” conducted the audit. The audit was “performed in accordance with ASIC and other regulatory standards”, Westlab said.

However, Hales is registered as an individual auditor with ASIC and it appears he personally signed the 2022 accounts.

Hales runs the church, of which Grace is a member, under extremely strict rules and can excommunicate wayward members, cutting them off from their families, their businesses and all their friends.

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