FORMER members of the Church of Scientology have told a Senate committee of the "ruthlessness" of the church and its judicial system, and argued it should not be eligible for tax-free status. "Australian taxpayers should not be funding systematic, organised abuse," said Janette Vonthehoff, who claimed her passport was taken from her and she was forcibly prevented from returning to Australia from the United States when she was eight weeks pregnant, because the church ordered she must finish "training". Sydney tax ...

A parliamentary inquiry has heard claims the Church of Scientology leaves members to fund local charitable activities out of their own pockets, as it siphons donations to church officials overseas. The Senate committee was formed after Independent Senator Nick Xenophon raised concerns about Scientology, and proposed changes to tax law that would require religions to pass a public benefit test in order to be exempt from income tax. The Church of Scientology says the bill is being used as a platform ...

The Church of Scientology has compared itself to The Salvation Army, while defending its benefit to the community in a Senate inquiry. The organisation was scrutinised by an inquiry into legislation proposed by independent senator Nick Xenophon, which would require religious groups to prove what public benefit they provide, before getting tax breaks. Its representative, Virginia Stewart, told the committee its members lent a hand in times of disaster and promoted drug-free messages. "The church believes the proposed bill is inherently ...

THE Church of Scientology says allegations it is using Adelaide as an off-shore base for its international operations to avoid paying tax are "offensive". An investigation by Channel 7's Today Tonight reporter Bryan Seymour alleged to have uncovered a ploy used by Scientology to dodge tax obligations in the United Kingdom and eight European countries. Mr Seymour said he had details of how the Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc registered those operations in South Australia, to a Cowandilla address, ...

Introduction This document is aimed at local government bodies in the UK faced with requests from Church of Scientology entities for business rates reductions or who are making a reapplication for the same. The author of this document is an ex-Scientologist who was a member of the Church of Scientology for five years and so is aware of the practices and beliefs of the Church of Scientology as well as their pricing structure. The author has no legal qualifications. Reference will ...

It's alleged Scientology has avoided paying tax in the United Kingdom by claiming it is run out of South Australia. In Britain, the Church of Scientology is supposed to pay tax on the millions of pounds it brings in each year. Now, the organisation has been accused of claiming its entire UK operation is part of its Australian outfit. Here, Scientology is recognised as a religion and does not pay tax. It's alleged the church is using this, combined with some ...

THE Uniting Church is continuing to offload prime real estate. It can expect to make about $6 million from the sale of a church, hall and car park (above) at 12-14 Spring Road, Malvern, near the Toorak and Armadale borders. The 3033-square-metre site, which is zoned residential 1 and has two street frontages, is expected to make way for a medium-density residential project, given the push to build up, instead of out, as per the government’s Melbourne @ 5 Million planning ...

The Fair Work Ombudsman is investigating the Church of Scientology over allegations it has grossly underpaid staff members. A number of former employees of the church have told ABC's Lateline they were only paid a few thousand dollars per year for full-time work and had to resort to welfare payments to survive. Janette Lang, who worked for the church for seven years, says the most she was paid in a year was $3,114 in 2001. She was second in charge of ...

The industrial inspectorate has confirmed it is investigating the employment practices of the Church of Scientology. Fair Work Ombudsman Nicholas Wilson told a Senate estimates hearing it had looked into the controversial religious group but declined to give details. It is understood opposition frontbencher Eric Abetz wrote to the ombudsman in March with the idea of an inquiry. The inspectorate has subsequently interviewed Scientology members along the east coast of Australia to establish whether they are being properly remunerated for their ...

[...] Scientologists move on THE Church of Scientology has finally offloaded the CBD headquarters it has occupied for 30 years. Property developer David Marriner, responsible for the redevelopment of Collins Street’s Regent Theatre, has bought the building, which has redevelopment potential despite being on a small site of about 346 square metres. The religious group, whose tax-free status has been the subject of two recent Senate inquiries, is believed to have made about $ 8.5 million from the sale of the ...

The Church of Scientology is vigorously denying accusations a senior figure in the organisation tried to cover up the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in Sydney. It says the allegations, aired on ABC1's Lateline program, are false and highly defamatory. A former Scientology member, Carmen Rainer, told Lateline she was coached by a senior figure in the church to lie to police about the abuse at the hands of her then stepfather, Robert Kerr. Her mother, Phoebe, was a member ...

A senior figure in the Church of Scientology has been accused of trying to cover up the sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in Sydney. In an exclusive interview for ABC1's Lateline program, a former member of the Church of Scientology says she was coached by a senior figure in the church to lie to police about the abuse at the hands of her stepfather. Carmen Rainer's mother Phoebe was a member of the Church of Scientology and went to the ...

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia is speaking out for the first time about past treatment of children within the church. In an exclusive interview with Lateline, Scarlett Hanna has described Scientology as a toxic organisation and says that many of those who've grown up in the church are damaged. Scarlett Hanna talks of children being deprived of contact with parents and communal living conditions where 25 children lived in one unit. ...

The daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia has spoken out against the organisation, describing it as toxic and accusing the church of tearing some families apart. In an exclusive interview which will air on ABC 1's Lateline tonight, Scarlett Hanna has detailed life growing up in the former Cadet Org - a group set up for the children of Scientology's elite unit - the Sea Org. "The best way I can describe it is cattle," Ms ...

The Senate has agreed to launch an inquiry into the tax exempt status of religions and charities after allegations of abuse within The Church of Scientology. TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Well the Senate has agreed to hold inquiries in the laws regarding the tax exempt status of religions and charities. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has proposed a test which asks groups to demonstrate whether their activities are of public benefit or cause harm before being granted tax exempt status. The inquiry was ...

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has slammed the major parties for blocking his moves for an inquiry into the Church of Scientology. Senator Xenophon has been calling for a full inquiry into the church since revealing claims of forced abortions and other abuses in Parliament last year. Today he accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of hiding behind process and vowed to continue to fight for further examination of Scientology in Australia. "There is a certain cowardice in turning your backs on people ...

Inside Scientology, superstar Tom Cruise is regarded as its most dedicated follower. The mystery is why he never joined its most elite unit. Now, a former top-ranking defector who was just a teenager when recruited into Scientology says she knows why. Amy Scobee claims she knows the truth about how the cult controls celebrities, the way it handled Tom Cruise's marriage to Nicole Kidman and tells eyewitness accounts of what happens when its leader loses it. She began life and work ...

RUSSIA is set to ban dozens of texts and recordings by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. "Materials on Scientology by Ron Hubbard have been found extremist and will be banned from distribution in Russia," the Russian prosecutor general's office said in a statement. The ban relates to 28 books and audio-video discs containing lectures by Hubbard, a US science fiction author who founded Scientology in 1954. The ruling was the latest blow to the Church of Scientology, an organisation that some ...

Yesterday, we were visited by Aaron Saxton, who is in town visiting friends. Saxton is a former Scientologist, and his Orwellian tales of being one of the Sea Org's ruthless enforcers during the 1990s are part of a national scandal that has become big news in Australia. In November, an Australian senator with the unlikely name of Nick Xenophon stunned his colleagues and the nation with a surprising speech filled with allegations of abuse by Scientology and calling for a federal ...

BRISBANE Scientologists claim they’re being vilified following recent TV reports calling their religion a dangerous cult. In March, ABC’s Four Corners program aired claims of forced abortions, imprisonment in boot camps and separation of families, and Channel 7’s Sunday Night program explored Scientology’s controversial beliefs. The allegations preceded independent senator Nick Xenophon’s failed bid to get the Senate to launch a Parliamentary inquiry into the church, which he labelled a cult. The Church of Scientology of Brisbane, at Annerley, has about ...

[...] Time for a fair go AFTER many years of perusing the media on minority religions, I know how it works. Media feeds on media. Falsehoods are published, then taken to be fact and republished by other media. The disaffected minority who have left a religious group are treated as if they are experts on their former group. I have no information on the Exclusive Brethren apart from what I have read in newspapers, but I am willing to believe that ...

PAT Jarvis reckons he has finally found something tougher than Les Davidson. ‘‘Yep, a grand piano is far tougher than Bundy,’’ the former Dragons prop said. ‘‘I’d rather run at him any day of the week.’’ A fiery front-rower who had many battles with the likes of Davison over the years while playing with the Dragons, the Bulldogs, Easts and North Sydney, Jarvis now spends his days working as a removalist. ‘‘I can tell you that I don’t have to spend ...

When allegations emerged that shonky insulation installers operating under the Federal Government's home insulation program had exposed householders to the risk of fires and workers to injury or death, the Liberal and National Parties promptly referred the matter to a Senate inquiry. And when trade unions claimed that Australia Post was cutting its workers compensation costs by using company doctors to force injured employees back to work prematurely, the Labor Party was more than willing to ask a Senate committee to ...

The Government and Opposition have again blocked Independent Senator Nick Xenophon's moves for a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology. But the failed motion has not deterred Senator Xenophon's desire to probe the church's activities and he will move another motion when Parliament sits in May. Senator Xenophon wanted the Senate to examine whether the criminal code is adequate to deal with allegations of abuse and harassment made by former church members. He also wanted the inquiry to consider the ...

NSW Greens MLC Dr John Kaye has launched another attack on the Athena School in Newtown after he made a formal complaint about a leaflet from the school, which failed to fully reveal its links to Scientology. “The leaflet has been distributed to homes in Sydney’s Inner West. It fails to warn parents that this is a private school that uses teaching methods developed by the Scientology organisation,” Dr Kaye said. The Greens are asking the consumer watchdog to direct the ...