According to Scott Morrison (Australian Treasurer), he has been greatly assisted by Hillsong pastors Brian Houston and Ronald Leigh Coleman.
Morrison writes:
“Growing up in a Christian home, I made a commitment to my faith at an early age and have been greatly assisted by the pastoral work of many dedicated church leaders, in particular the Reverend Ray Green and pastors Brian Houston and Leigh Coleman.” [Source] [Archived]
In the infamous ‘Australian Story’ report on Hillsong, they captured Ronald Leigh Coleman saying the following (emphasis ours):
“Brian, as the leader of Hillsong church, is very critical because he, kind of sets the culture. And it’s a very empowering culture. I came on board as a staff member at Hillsong five years ago. If I come up with an idea, the reaction to get from Brian is, “Hey, that sounds great. How can we make that happen?” And it’s not that we don’t question the pros and cons of it, but the bias is towards yes, it’s not towards no. And most organisations, they have bureaucracies and systems that somehow tend to say, “Don’t change.” My role with the church is, I oversee all the community work. We work in a whole broad spectrum of community initiatives with people with all sorts of issues: sexual abuse issues, grief, divorce. We work with the Indigenous communities in helping economic development. We have a health centre. We have a drug and alcohol centre. We run personal development programs in schools. We work in the prisons. We do a lot of street teams.” [Archived]
Ronald Leigh Coleman was involved in a serious financial scandal as a leader at Hillsong. Just like the findings of the Royal Commission, Hillsong have escaped the consequences of their actions and claim (just as Brian Houston did with AHA), no ‘hush money’ was involved in silencing those who could have spoken out about the nature of this scandal.
Here are some of the reports covering this Hillsong financial scandal:
Hillsong salaries paid by taxpayer
By Ean Higgins, The Australian, http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/2006/june/aust6jun06.html, Published 6th June 2006. (Accessed 25/09/2017.) [Cached] [Archived]
Investigation into charity run by ex-Hillsong CEO Leigh Coleman, Many Rivers Microfinance
By Robert Burton-Bradley, News.Com, http://www.news.com.au/national/ex-hillsong-executive-leigh-coleman-and-charity-many-rivers-microfinance-under-investigation/news-story/de1f8e2af66c6ac443e729b889b96bd2, Published 19th August 2011. (Accessed 25/09/2017.)
Many Rivers Microfinance CEO Ronald Leigh Coleman – a career in finance charities
By Robert Burton-Bradley, News.Com, http://www.news.com.au/national/many-rivers-microfinance-ceo-ronald-leigh-coleman-a-career-in-finance-charies/news-story/dcdfbeda5b5efa38b70d59c2f09203e3, Published 18th August 2011. (Accessed 25/09/2017.)
Hillsong denies bribe allegation
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney Morning Herald, http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/hillsong-denies-bribe-allegation/2005/12/22/1135032135696.html, 23rd December 2005. (Accessed 25/09/2017.) [Archived]
Hillsong: no better than a “mission manager”
The Guardian, http://www.cpa.org.au/z-archive/g2006/1264hillsong.html, Published 8th March 2006. (Accessed 25/09/2017.) [Cached] [Archived]
Religion News Blog originally acknowledged these stories came from The Australian, via News.com.au, Australia in February 14th 2006, written by Ean Higgins.
Hillsong Church ‘spent indigenous grants on staff’
By Ean Higgins, http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13657, Published 13th February 2006. (Accessed 25/09/2017.) [Cached] [Archived]
Hillsong Church’s benevolent arm stripped of grant
By Ean Higgins, http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13659/hillsong-churchs-benevolent-arm-stripped-of-grant, Published 14th February 2006. (Accessed 25/09/2017.) [Cached] [Archived]
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