The Victorian government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into cults and “organised fringe groups” in the state, following revelations from several former members of a secretive Christian group in Geelong that exposed severe punishments and extreme teachings being administered.
Earlier this month, Christine Couzens, Geelong’s Labor MP and a member of the Legal and Social Issues Standing Committee successfully passed a referral to the state parliament’s lower house for an inquiry to examine how cults and organised fringe groups recruit and coercively control its members.
Survivors of the regional Victorian church as well as survivors of other cults, including Truth 2x2s, Children of God and Family International submitted their experiences of cults and high control groups to the Victorian State Attorney General and requested an inquiry.
The announcement comes four months after the Herald’s investigative journalist Richard Baker released the nine-part podcast Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder, which exposed the abuse, violence and sexism members of the the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC) experienced.
Survivors from extreme religious and high-demand groups are calling for criminal coercive control laws to be expanded to include “cult-like” leaders to ensure they are held accountable. Currently, Victoria relies on existing family violence laws to cover such control within domestic relationships.
Currently in Australia, there is no funded agency or program to support cult leavers. A peer support model is used by cult survivors to support other survivors.
Source: Cults to be examined in Victorian parliamentary inquiry
The Trans Gender Cult may want to be looked at too.,,