IT was a rare and at times dramatic public appearance by one of the most senior members of a global religious organisation that shrouds itself in secrecy. Surrounded by supporters, senior Scientologist Janice Meyer arrived at the Downing Centre Local Court yesterday, accused of pressuring an 11-year-old girl to lie about sex abuse within the church. Ms Meyer, who also goes by the name Jan Eastgate, left with relaxed bail restrictions that will allow her to travel to and from her ...

A senior member of the Church of Scientology accused of coaching a child to lie about sex abuse has had her bail relaxed so she can travel to California. Janice Meyer, 57, was surrounded by supporters on Thursday as she made her first court appearance in Sydney's Downing Centre Local court. She is charged with doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice in 1985 in Sydney. Advertisement: Story continues below The allegation involves threatening and intimidating an 11-year-old ...

[...] Unfair aspersions against Scientology It is disappointing that an article highlighting a charity's alleged breach of Fair Trading regulations should focus on non-existent links with the Scientology religion ("Refugee volunteers tell of Scientology influence", January 17). The article quotes the founder of the Australian League of Immigration Volunteers, Gary Taylor, as saying Scientology was one of a few religions he had spent some time with as a younger man. Beyond that, the only link to Scientology is based on ...

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 ...

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 ...

A LEAFLET advertising the Athena School in Newtown has been referred to the state's consumer watchdog for allegedly obscuring the school's link to Scientology. The NSW Greens yesterday lodged a complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, claiming the leaflet represented false advertising and a potential breach of the Trade Practices Act. The Applied Scholastics logo, the education arm of Scientology, appears in the bottom corner of the leaflet, which includes the words ''education services and materials based on the ...

You quote John Kaye's statement to Parliament about the former Scientology leader Marty Rathbun ("Intimidating and violent: defector", December 2). Mr Rathbun was removed from his position related to legal and public relations matters in the US in 1993, after having inexplicably deserted his post. He later returned and worked his way back into legal affairs. By 2002 his malfeasance became apparent and he was removed from any position of executive authority. The internal investigation leading to his removal also ...

A Newtown School which teaches Scientology beliefs has received $1.4 million in government funding for less than 50 students. Greens MP John Kaye blasted State and Federal governments for providing the Athena School with $751,519 in ongoing funding until 2012, $135,287 for a new library, $114,713 for classroom refits and $50,000 for other works. According to the school’s website it teaches from The Way to Happiness, written by Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Mr Kaye said responses to questions on notice ...

A former Scientology leader says bullying is widespread in the church, writes investigations reporter Nick O'Malley. Coerced abortion, violence, intimidation and demands for ever greater "donations" have become unofficial Church of Scientology policy, beginning at its Florida head office and leaching around the world, the church's most senior defector has said. Marty Rathbun, who until 2004 was the church's second-most powerful man, answering only to the present leader, David Miscavige, said the church leadership was obsessed with destroying dissent and increasing ...

FEWER than 100 children will benefit from more than $1.6 million in Federal Government subsidies over four years to two schools strongly linked to the Scientology movement. The Athena School in Newtown will receive $751,519 in recurrent funding from the Federal Government for the 2009 to 2012 funding period. It has also been allocated $135,287 for a new library, $114,713 for primary classroom refurbishments and $50,000 for other refurbishments under the Rudd Government's Building the Education Revolution program. The Athena School ...

A FEW months ago, Sydney Council approved a development application for the Church Of Scientology’s Castlereagh St headquarters with little incident. It was somewhat of an anticlimax after the bitter opposition by residents and anti-Scientology activists, who argued the group would increase recruitment drives which “harass, and badger people to join” if the proposal was approved. Residents said they feared the church would use “menacing activity” to target people on Castlereagh and Bathurst streets for recruitment. The $12-million expansion involved adding ...

COMING to a doctor's surgery near you: a sparky little DVD, saying "psychiatrists occupy the lowest rung of the medical profession", has been dispatched to GPs across Australia. The DVD says that psychiatrists are money-grubbing quacks who invent diseases so that they can become rich by prescribing drugs. Those evil dudes also kill 3000 people a month by prescribing psychotropic drugs, it says. While Tom Cruise's comely visage does not feature on the DVD, it is the product of that crazy ...

THE Church of Scientology has appealed for religious tolerance after its $12 million bid to redevelop its Sydney headquarters sparked fears from neighbours of an increase in "menacing" and "aggressive" recruitment tactics. The church has sought approval from the City of Sydney to add two floors to its five-storey building, Scientology House, on Castlereagh Street. The increased floor space would help turn the building into an "Ideal Org", the name Scientologists give to their most significant churches. But almost 150 people ...

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 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 ...

A WOMAN accused of stabbing to death her Scientologist father and teenage sister was suffering a psychotic episode and is likely to mount a mental illness defence, her doctor said. 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 stabbing at her south-western Sydney home on July 5. The woman, who has been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder, allegedly fatally stabbed her 53-year-old father ...

SCIENTOLOGISTS were condemned yesterday as "flat-earthers", following statements in court that an alleged murderer was denied psychiatric treatment because of her family's Scientologist beliefs. The vice-president of the Australian Church of Scientology, Cyrus Brooks, told ABC radio the Scientology link to the killings was "a bit of a red herring". "The woman was actually under the drugs; she was on drugs at the time of the incident. She was also under the care of a psychiatrist … since January," Mr Brooks ...

Scientologists were condemned today as "flat earthers", following revelations in court that an alleged murderer was denied psychiatric treatment due to her family's Scientologist beliefs. Speaking on ABC Radio, Australian Church of Scientology vice-president Cyrus Brooks said the Scientology link to the killings was "a bit of a red herring". "The woman was actually under the drugs, she was on drugs at the time of the incident. She was also under the care of a psychiatrist ... since January," he said. ...

THE young woman needed psychiatric care, and she knew it. She tried to get help twice, but her Scientologist parents had a religious objection to psychiatric intervention. They denied her the treatment she wanted, then dosed the 25-year-old with their own medicine, specially imported from the US. Finally, as her mental health worsened three weeks ago, they crumbled and let her take anti-psychotic drugs she had been prescribed. But it was too late. The unfolding tragedy came to its bloody head ...

The parents of a woman accused of murdering her father and sister apparently declined psychiatric treatment for her last year because of their Scientology beliefs, a report tendered in court states. And a police version of events tendered to the court outlined the nightmarish scenario faced by the family's neighbours following the alleged murders. The psychiatric report on the 25-year-old woman, who is also charged with committing grievous bodily harm on her mother at Revesby in Sydney's west last Thursday, was ...