Lance Hoskins joined the church in the 1970's, and then worked for the Sea Org - the church's management body in the US. (duration: 44?58?)

PROSPECTIVE purchasers and commercial real estate agents were left standing at the altar again this week, after the Church of Scientology abandoned the sale of its city headquarters, just hours before a scheduled auction. The Church blamed planning delays, and other issues concerning the development of its new headquarters, as the reason it cannot vacate its 4-level Melbourne home of almost 30 years. This excuse was cold comfort for the dozens of investors who had shown an interest in the 42 ...

PROSPECTIVE purchasers and commercial real estate agents were left standing at the altar again this week, after the Church of Scientology abandoned the sale of its city headquarters, just hours before a scheduled auction. The church blamed planning delays, and other issues concerning the development of its new headquarters, as the reason it cannot vacate its four- level Melbourne home of almost 30 years. This excuse was cold comfort for the dozens of investors who had shown an interest in the ...

MORE than 15,000 schoolies on an annual party invasion will be bombarded with safe sex and anti-drug messages. A drug information booklet sponsored by the Church of Scientology, and free condoms from a health provider will be available to school-leavers letting off steam when official celebrations start on Saturday. About 7000 Victorians will flock to the Gold Coast, at least 5000 will party at Lorne and Torquay, and up to 3000 teens are anticipated at Phillip Island after exams finish today. ...

US actress and high-profile Scientologist Jenna Elfman has no time for people who criticise the controversial religion and urges people to get their facts straight before judging. Elfman, best-known for her role in the sitcom Dharma And Greg, says people are too quick to judge the church, which boasts celebrity members including Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and John Travolta. "If someone starts talking to me negatively about something they've never actually studied that actual text of, I don't really admire them ...

The on again - off again campaign to sell the Church of Scientology Melbourne headquarters at 42 Russell Street is on again, and it’s public. Colliers International’s Matthew Stagg and Pat Burke will auction the Church’s outgoing headquarters, on the north-east corner of Flinders Lane next month. The building has been touted off-market for private sale this year at between $7.5 million and $8 million, but no deal was done. The building was withdrawn from sale just before a scheduled auction ...

Church of Scientology's South Pacific Goodwill Tour that faced a legal challenge in the Cook Islands in August propped up in Sydney, Australia over the weekend. Spokesperson Mathew Andrews said that they have a few more weeks of activities at Palm Grove in Darling Harbour before the tour heads back to one of the islands in the South Pacific. While in the Cook Islands this year, Prime Minister Jim Marurai publicly opposed them while a Christian church leader took them to ...

The Mental Health Council of Australia has strongly criticised Victoria's national parks authority for leasing a historic public building rent free to a drug treatment service connected to Scientology. The council's chief executive says a group with secret treatment methods should not be able to use a public asset at a time when Australia is desperate for community treatment centres. But Narcanon, which follows the precepts of Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, says it is just as entitled to lease O'Shannassy ...

MENTAL health experts and the State Opposition have called for a rethink of Victoria's public land management with the revelation that a Scientologist-linked drug treatment group has exclusive, rent-free control of one of the state's grand historic properties. Narconon, a drug treatment program based on teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, operates a secretive and secluded rehabilitation centre at O'Shannassy Lodge, east of Warburton in the Yarra Ranges. The lodge is one of hundreds of properties managed by ...

IN the months before a psychotic 25-year-old woman stabbed her father and sister to death and seriously wounded her mother, her psychiatrist, Yolande Lucire, had prescribed 25ml of Largactil a day – a dose so small it used to be recommended as a treatment for hiccups. Last week in the NSW Supreme Court, judge Michael Grove found Pamela Willings (not her real name) not guilty by reason of mental illness. But the treatment she received has created a furore in psychiatric ...

Written by Marc Pallisco Saturday, 02 August 2008 The Church of Scientology is close to selling its Russell Street headquarters, as it prepares to leave the CBD. Sources say the church will reap about $8 million for the four-level heritage building, on the corner of Flinders Lane. It paid $720,000 in 1980. The church, whose members include Kirstie Alley, Tom Cruise and Lisa Marie Presley, is restoring and renovating the former Sisters of Mercy College in Ascot Vale. It is expected ...

A Sydney judge has found a father's association with Scientology did not affect the treatment of his daughter's mental illness before she stabbed him and her sister to death. The 26-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with killing her father and sister in July last year and inflicting grievous bodily harm on her mother. Justice Michael Grove today found her not guilty by reason of mental illness. The court had previously been told the woman was denied ...

A Sydney woman charged with the stabbing murder of her father and sister has pleaded not guilty due to mental illness. The 26-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is charged with murdering her father and younger sister at their Revesby home in Sydney's south-west in July 2007. She has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder her mother. The court previously heard the woman was diagnosed with a mental ...

The Church of Scientology says it is considering proposals to sell its headquarters in the central business district, in its move to the suburbs. The controversial religious denomination can expect to make about $8 million in today's market for the historic four-level building, on the corner of Russell Street and Flinders Lane. The building occupies a tiny slice of the city block, dominated by the Grand Hyatt hotel and near the 101 Collins Street office building. The Church of Scientology recently ...

THE South Australian Government was at odds with the Church of Scientology last night after backing the right of a senior state minister to brand its members "bastards". Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith has also questioned the organisation's tax-free status in comments to an anti-Scientology group called Anonymous, which it posted on popular internet site YouTube. While declaring Dr Lomax-Smith was entitled to her opinion, a spokeswoman for Premier Mike Rann distanced the Government from the remarks, saying they represented a private ...

EDUCATION Minister Jane Lomax-Smith has been caught on tape declaring Scientologists “should be taxed, the bastards”. Footage from a video recorded during a protest on May 10 by internet activist group Anonymous has emerged which shows Dr Lomax-Smith casually chatting to protesters in Adelaide. Clearly not a fan of the controversial Church of Scientology, Dr Lomax-Smith asks protesters how frequently they gather and exclaims, “oh, it’s great”. She then asks about the protest group, which is dedicated to “dismantling and ...

[Interview with Jason Beghe on Australian TV.]

THE Church of Scientology has lost its grip on James Packer. The billionaire's closest friends have revealed that he has quietly distanced himself from Scientology, labelled a cult by some former members, as it faces international controversy about its anti-psychiatry stance. Members of Mr Packer's inner circle have confirmed that the billionaire, who had ranked as Scientology's wealthiest member in the world, was no longer undertaking Scientology courses and had slowly moved away from the religion, telling his closest friends he ...

They've become the sworn enemies of a controversial religion, famous for unsettling online video attacks and protesting en masse in creepy masks. But the elusive internet group known as Anonymous didn't start out with a concrete plan to bring down Scientology. Before they got serious, Anonymous members say, they were only in it for laughs. In the years before "declaring war", the group's stock-in-trade was the creation of internet jokes revolving around, for instance, kitsch 1980s singer Rick Astley. Anonymous's transformation ...

It is quite immoral for taxes to be extracted compulsorily from citizens to subsidise extensive concessions for religious bodies. OUR constitution makes it clear Australia is to be a secular society. In particular, section 116 provides that "The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion or for imposing any religious observation …" Yet the spirit — even if not the letter — of that section is breached by the Commonwealth Government and all state governments in many tax ...

THE Church of Scientology has spent more than $7 million on a new Victorian headquarters and prayer facility in northern Melbourne. The controversial church has also quietly put out the feelers on selling its landmark five-storey Russell St building, which is expected to fetch about $7.5 million. Scientology officials would not comment on claims that James Packer - who allegedly has links to the church through his friendship with movie star and Scientologist Tom Cruise - had helped finance the new ...

The Church of Scientology made it clear from its first contacts with "Nightline" that it would not publicly discuss the ecclesiastical circumstances surrounding the dismissal of Mrs. Hill from Church staff, regardless of the nature of her allegations. The Church will not discuss matters surrounding Mrs. Hill, because given the thrust of her claims, she has used her name to make an otherwise ecclesiastical issue into a family matter and a personal attack on a family member. The Church will not ...

[Picture / Caption: Science friction ... former high-ranking Scientologist David Graham has gone public with his concerns about the religion and what he considers a denial of human rights Helen Nezdropa Photo: Helen Nezdropa] AN AUSTRALIAN man who was a former high-ranking member of the Church of Scientology is calling for the religion to be "totally dismantled" because of the human rights abuses he says it inflicts on its followers. David Graham has gone public after years of keeping quiet when ...

A Sydney woman has been ordered to stand trial after pleading not guilty to the stabbing murders of her father and sister. The 26-year-old will also defend a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder her mother. The attack allegedly happened at the family's Revesby home in Sydney's south-west in July last year. The Supreme Court was told mental health will be an issue at the trial, which will start in July. It is alleged that the woman ...

The controversial group has been labeled secretive, inspirational, dangerous and misunderstood. The Church of Scientology? [Picture]Disguised members of an internet-based group called Anonymous protest near buildings associated with the Church of Scientology on Saturday, March 15, 2008, in Los Angeles. (Chris Weeks/AP Photo) No, it's a mysterious group of masked men and computer hackers called Anonymous who say are committed to dismantling the powerful religious organization renowned for its celebrity members such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Over the past ...

Watch Tom Cruise goes Missing [G, 2:51min.] (Help): Play The video But there are some people whose tender feelings receive a lot more consideration from the News Ltd empire. On the same day that News's website carried a link to The Australian's piece about Carey's childhood, it carried another story right next door. Global Scientology protests begin in Australia. — News.com.au website, Global Scientology protests begin in Australia But what's this? A pixelated poster? What can it have ...

A Sydney woman will stand trial on charges of murdering her Scientologist father and teenage sister. The 25-year-old, who cannot be named, is facing two counts of murder and a third of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent to murder over a frenzied stabbing at her southwestern Sydney home in July last year. It is alleged that the woman, who has been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, fatally stabbed her 53-year-old father and 15-year-old sister in a psychotic rage at the ...