Category Newspaper Article Title Report calls for Ban on ... · Title Report calls for Ban on Scientology Source “The Australian” Author Date October 6th, 1965 Contents: The banning

Category Newspaper Article

Title

Report calls for Ban on Scientology

Source “The Australian” Author

Date October 6th, 1965 Contents: The banning of scientology is recommended in the Board of Inquiry's Report into Scientology, tabled in the Victorian Legislative Assembly yesterday. The 202-page report is one of the most damning documents ever to come before the House. It condemns scientology in these words: “Scientology is evil, its techniques evil, its practice is a serious threat to the community mentally, morally and socially, and its adherents sadly deluded and often mentally ill.” The report says that the founder of scientology, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, is a fraud and scientology is a fraud. £37,500 COST The inquiry, conducted by Mr K. V. Anderson, QC, of Melbourne, lasted 160 days and cost the taxpayer £37,500. “The quality of filth and depravity recorded on the files of Melbourne's scientology centre almost defies description,” says the report, which will go on sale at 13/3 a copy. A WOMAN who was “processed into insanity” during a demonstration for the inquiry. DISCUSSIONS of abortions which took place among the staff at the Melbourne scientology centre during coffee breaks. THE POSSIBILITIES of extortion and blackmail using files compiled during “processing” of people who lost all inhibitions and revealed their most intimate secrets. FEES which brought in £273,000 during the six years up to June 30 last year. The founder of scientology, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, 55, is a former writer of books of science fiction and fantasy. The report contains incredible examples of people who believed Hubbard's weird theories, to become mentally, morally and physically ruined. “Hubbard is a fraud and scientology is a fraud,” says the report.

“Adherence to Scientology is sustained by a mixture of mental conditioning and fear. “The mental conditioning is effected by hypnotic techniques and procedures which have a brainwashing effect. “Scientology robs people of their initiative, their sense of responsibility, their critical faculties and sometimes their reason. It induces them mentally to debase and enslave themselves.” Mr Anderson recommends that all psychologists should be registered so that Scientology can be stamped out. Mr Rylah told the house that one section of the report, appendix 19, which dealt with moral laxity, was too obscene to be printed as part of the whole report for public circulation. This section could be made available to members of the Parliament for private perusal. Mr Anderson made some references to moral laxity in his report proper but added: “It should not be thought that the foregoing examples exhaust the case in which matters of sex or perversion were dealth with in an obscene and unhibited way, nor that they mark the limits of mental depravity reached.” He said that by way of example, part of the evidence of a Mrs Williams had been set out in appendix 19. Other states will consider action. Health authorities in other states are enxiously awaiting copies of the Scientology report. A senior official of the NSW Health Department said last night that it would examine the report to determine what line of action might be followed to stamp out Scientology there. Scientology has virtually gone “underground” in Sydney since the start of the Melbourne inquiry two years ago. However, in two of its new guises it still advertises in one and sometimes two Sydney newspapers. The most frequent ad, which appears in the "amusement" columns is for “Free IQ Tests.” These can be had at “the Australian Institute of Applied Psychology” in King Street. Another organisation, “The Sydney Test Centre,” operates out of Riley Street.

The “Hubbard Institute of Scientology” still operates in Bathurst.


Title

Scientologists burn Papers during Raid


Date December 22nd, 1965 Contents: Scientology staff burnt documents in the backyard yesterday as a police team raided their Melbourne headquarters to close the premises and confiscate the files. A policeman on his way down a lane to the rear of the premises saw the smoke and ran back to tell the Crown Law officials who accompanied the raiding party. The officials stopped the burning, and told a Mr Gogerley, of the scientology staff, that they were empowered to seize “any material relating to the practice of scientology on, by or with respect to any particular person.” Knee deep Then, while Mr Gogerley conducted the officials through Scientology's two double-storey buildings opposite the State Parliament, the police took off their coats and began carrying out stacks of manila folders. Many of the folders had names and addresses of people written on them, and contained pen-written notes on notebook pages. Some contained graphs and typewritten notes. The folders were stacked knee-deep on a tabletop truck to be taken “in safe custody.” They will be handed over to the Attorney-General, Mr Rylah. The raid came within two hours of the State Executive Council proclaiming two sections of the Government's bill to outlaw Scientology. Sections 31 and 32 of the Psychological Practices Bill make it illegal for Scientologists to operate and require the files to be surrendered to the Attorney-General. The State Health Minister, Mr Dickie, said yesterday the signs and placards in the window of the Scientology headquarters must be taken down immediately. The bill, passed by State Parliament, gives the Government the power to seize records by force if necessary. “Blackmail”

In his report on scientology, presented to Parliament three months ago, Mr K. V. Anderson, QC, said that files could be used for blackmail, extortion or to force people to return to Scientology. The files contained intimate secrets revealed by people while being “processed” by scientologists. Mr Anderson said duplicates of all files were held at the World Scientology Headquarters at East Grinstead, England. Other sections of the bill, which provides for a psychologists’ registration council, will be proclaimed early next year and the remainder will become law when the council has been set up. Heavy fines are provided for practising scientologists or any unregistered practising psychologist.


Title

Hunt for hidden Scientology Files


Date December 23rd, 1965 Contents: Police are hunting for scientology files which may have been taken elsewhere following Tuesday's seizure of all the files at Melbourne’s Scientology Centre. More than 400 files taken from the centre will be examind by officials of the Crown Law and Health Departments. Melbourne Scientology headquarters, a shabby two-storey building opposite Parliament House, seemed deserted yesterday. Signs advertising free introductory lectures about Scientology had been removed, but two large illuminated signs were still standing. The police swoop at 5 pm on Tuesday was planned secretly. Few people knew of it until the police arrived at the door. The Victorian Attorney-General, Mr Rylah, said Crown Law and Health Department officials would report to him after the files had been examined. He will then decide what to do with the files, many of which contain intimate personal secrets revealed by people being processed by Scientologists. One record was considered so obscene that it was not included in the report of Mr K. V. Anderson, QC, to Parliament.


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Cult threatens Critics


Date September 10th, 1968 Contents: Scientologists in Adelaide yesterday referred to the Australian Constitution and threatened to sue people they believed were defaming their religion. They were protesting against the State Government's intention to prohibit Scientology. “The Australian Constitution quite clearly gives all Australians the right to practise freely the religion of their choice,” said Mr R. A. Broadbent, a spokesman. He told a Press conference: “That right cannot and must not be taken away by politicians.” He said he wondered where the State Government was heading by even daring to think of banning a minority religion. “Politicians have no right to take the place of God,” he said. Individuals who defamed their religion would be sued. Mr Broadbent did not name any individuals but he was apparently referring to the Premier, Mr Hall, the Chief Secretary and Minister of Health, Mr DeGaris, and Mr Andrew Jones, the Federal member for Adelaide. All three have denounced scientology, although some of the criticism by Mr Hall and Mr DeGaris has been made in Parliament and is privileged. Yesterday’s Press conference was called by officers of the Scientology centre in Adelaide who presented statements. One said: “The ‘kangaroo court’ in Melbourne was like an example of the devil using his henchmen in every worst possible way imaginable.” This was a reference to the finding of a Victorian inquiry lasting almost two years which resulted in the banning of Scientology in that State.


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Sect pulls out of Inquiry into Scientology


Date November 30th, 1968 Contents: Scientologists yesterday withdrew their representative from the South Australian select committee inquiring into their sect. They object to the committee’s chairman, Mr Hill, the Minister for Transport, who they say is biased against them. A spokesman said: “Mr Hill has stated recently, as reported in Hansard, that he is unrepentant in his bias against scientology so there is little point in the church being represented before the committee.” He added that trustees of the Scientology board had instructed Mr Mark Harrison, their counsel, to withdraw from the select committee which is examining the Scientology prohibition bill. Submissions The Scientologists’ public relations officer, Mr T. Minchin, said the select committee had been notified of the withdrawal. “So far the only evidence we have given has been in the form of submissions by Mr Harrison,” he said. The withdrawal follows recent announcements by two groups of people that they would not give evidence while Mr Hill remained chairman. An allegation made against Mr Hill in a letter resulted in the author being called to the bar of the legislative Council. Mr Hill later denied in Parliament that he was biased and said he would perform the duties expected of him as chairman of the select committee.


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MPs back Ban on Scientology


Date December 4th, 1968 Contents: A South Australa Select Committee on Scientology has recommended to the Legislative Council that a bill banning Scientology now before Parliament be passed. The bill proposes heavy fines for practising scientology and would authorise the confiscation of literature related to it; but the committee recommends that scientology literature be allowed to circulate in the State.


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New York ignores Protest against “Hitler in Australia”

Source “The Australian” Author Fred Knight

Date July 30th, 1969 Contents: About 80 demonstrators picketed the Australian consulate office in New York today carrying signs reading: “Hitler lives in Australia,” and “Australia has crimes against God.” The demonstration, against the banning of Scientology in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia, was peaceful. New Yorkers paid scant attention to the placard-bearers, who marched in a circle outside the building for two hours. The banner signs were puzzling: “Repeal Australia's anti-religion laws,” “God? No,” and “Australia, The British Alcatraz.” But perhaps the most puzzling was: “Prime Minister Bolte, Australia's Fuhrer.” When the demonstration ended at 1 pm, the acting consul-general Mr Frank Murray, received a deputation of two - a man who introduced himself as the Reverend Whitman, and his wife. Petition They handed over a petition, signed with about 80 names, demanding that the Federal Government care for the rights of the people and stop the repression of religion in Australia. Mr Murray said the protest was belated as Victoria had banned the sect nearly four years ago after a royal commission inquiry. About a dozen policemen eyed the silent demonstrators as they thrusted pamphlets into the hands of passers-by. United Press reports that a similar demonstration was scheduled for later yesterday at the office of the Australian Trade Commission in Los Angeles, California.


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Harassed Scientologists cry “Fascist”


Date December 21st, 1971 Contents: Mr. Lafayette Ron Hubbard's Scientologists are very active lately. In an extra critical edition of their paper, Freedom, they’re accusing the Victorian Government of gerrymandering a new bill through Parliament to protect itself in scientology legal actions against Mr Kevin Anderson. These actions result from charges brought by the scientologists against the inquiry in Melbourne into Scientology in 1963-64. Mr Kevin Anderson presided as the one-man board of inquiry. From the Church of the New Faith, West Perth, comes a simultaneous annoncement from the Reverend Michael Graham, chief spokesman for the Church of Scientology in Australia, “that the Victorian Government is deliberately attempting to prevent justice in Victoria.” Accorsing to Mr Graham, so many legal actions were taking place between the Scientologists and the Government that it introduced the Evidence (Boards and Commissions) Bill by which it could become illegal for anyone to issue a writ against present and future boards. “The bill specifically states its retrospective nature, and this means Mr Anderson and his part in the Melbourne inquiry.” Mr Graham says that no one else in Victoria “save the Scientologists” has ever taken action on a past inquiry. “As a bill, this means that the executive in Victoria is protected by the judiciary but a layman has no right of appeal. And that, like it or lump it, is a fascist measure.” Meanwhile, from the depths of Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead, Sussex, the number one Scientologist writes encouragingly that Scientologists won’t be forming themselves into guerrilla bands to attack anti-Scientology Western governments. “In our own case, if we had less stability we would have joined forces with some revolutionary group, deriven there by harassment. We are, in policy and fact, refusing to become revolutionary.”

Instead, L. Ron Hubbard and his supporters will try to get society to revitalise “after decades in the minds of decayed animalism.” As he says, it’s a large order. “But if Scientology doesn’t succeed it’s the end of the free world.”


Title

Protest for Scientology


Date April 11th, 1972 Contents: Scientologists are to picket Parliament House in Melbourne indefinitely from tonight to draw attention to a seven-year-old restriction on Scientology in Victoria. A spokesman said picketing would continue on sitting nights until the law was repealed.


Title

Scientology makes a Comeback Labor Leaders pledge Action to give the Cult legal Recognition


Date August 25th, 1972 Contents: Two A.L.P. leaders yesterday came out in support of the Scientology Church of the New Faith. The party’s Senate Leader, Senator Lionel Murphy, committed a Labor Government would recognise the church and South Australia announced it would repeal its ban on the church. Senator Murphy said a Labor Government would recognise he church in exactly the same way as any other religion. Under the Constitution, all religions were entitled to equal treatment. The Australian vice-president of the church, the Reverend T. B. Minchin, had sought permission to conduct marriages and be recognised under the Marriage Act. The church is banned in several countries - including the U.S., Britain and South Africa - and in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. The South Australian Attorney-General, Mr King, said yesterday that the present State ban would be repealed, but in Victoria - where Scientology was banned in 1965 after a board of inquiry - the Government has no intention of recognising it. The Victorian board of inquiry said scientology was evil and a serious threat to the community medically, morally and socially. It said its adherents were sadly deluded and often mentally ill, and that one woman had “been processed into insanity in a demonstration during the inquiry.” It also cited cases of people paying up to $2000 for “mumbo jumbo” and alleged that over a six-year period Victorians were fleeced of $500,000. “Fleeced” Last night, several Labor MPs said they could not understand why Senator Murphy had agreed to recognise and institution which was widely regarded as harmful.

The Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives, Mr G. Duthie, said he was opposed to recognising Scientology as a religion. “A lot of my colleagues would also oppose it,” he said. “I agree that all churches are entitled to equal treatment, but Scientology is not a religion.” In South Australia, Mr King said the ban would be removed because the Government believed it “inconsistent with the principles of a free society to impose prohibitions on a particular sect.” He said the legislation would ensure that only registered and qualified psychologists would be able to offer their services for fee or reward, but declined to comment on the effects new legislation would have on the use of devices known to scientologists as E-meters. The Victorian Minister for Health, Mr J. H. Rossiter, said his Government had no intention of lifting its ban on Scientology. “I'm looking forward to a further split in the Labor Party on this important issue,” he said. The State Opposition Leader, Mr Holding, said the Victorian branch of the A.L.P. had not discussed the matter recently and it had not changed its attitude towards Scientology. The Victorian Labor Party first brought Scientology to public notice in Australia after the cult was blaimed for an increase in admissions to mental institutions in the State. Gadget Scientology was founded in the late 1940s by an American science-fiction writer, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, who is now a multi-millionaire and lives in a stately home in England. It is based on a best-selling book he wrote - Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health - which claimed a dramatic breakthrough in psychotherapeutic techniques. The techniques involve simple mental exercises and a gadget known as the Electro-Psychometer, or E-meter, consisting of a couple of wires, two handgrips or electrodes and a dial for measuring changes in the electrical circuit formed when a patient takes a grip in either hand. In 1968, the assistant executive secretary of Scientology, Mr Peter Gillham, visited Melbourne and said the movement was prepared to spend $2 million fighting the State Government's ban.


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Scientology comes back as a Religion


Date August 28th, 1972 Contents: Scientology was banned in Victoria after an exhaustive 160-day inquiry in 1963-64, which yielded four million words of evidence. It was later banned in South Australia and Western Australia, and appeared on the decline. But South Australia has now decided to repeal its ban, and the Federal Opposition leader in the Senate, Senator Lionel Murphy, QC, says a Federal Labor Government would recognise the Scientology Church of the New Faith. Members of the Church of the New Faith intend to fight for the right to practise Scientology. The temporary Deputy Guardian of the church in NSW, Mrs Audrey Devlin, said yesterday: “We are prepared to fight any ban no matter how long or how costly because we do intend to get scientology fully reinstated.” The church is registered in every State except Queensland. In Victoria it is registered as the Church of Scientology; in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia as the Church of the New Faith. The church, Mrs Devlin said, is not banned anywhere. The practice of Scientology is banned in only three places in the world - Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Betterment “Scientology,” she explained, “is a religious philosophy which can be applied.” It can be applied for the betterment of man or to rehabilitate his own natural abilities, she says. Mrs Devlin claimed that there are about 20,000 members of the church in Australia, 5000 of them in NSW. Church services in Sydney are held each Sunday night in Old South Head Road, Bondi Junction. “We practise the religion of Scientology. In application we deliver what is called processing or training. Processing is the action governed by the technical disciplines and codes of scientology to someone in order to free him from whatever is bothering him.

“We have an annual membership charge of $10.50 and we also make a charge of $15 an hour for processing. Processing lasts as long as it is needed.” Both the Australian president (Rev Michael Graham of Perth) and the vice-president (Rev T. B. Minchin of Adelaide) were ordained by the church itself whose mother institution is the Church of Scientology in California, founded by science-fiction writer, Mr Lafayette R. Hubbard, now reputed to be a multi-millionaire. Scientology was registered in Victoria in May this year as a foreign company called “The Church of the New Faith Incorporated.” This was a complete reversal of the stand they took during the Scientology Board of Inquiry when they declared they were a science and not a religion. Scientology in Victoria comes under the Ministry of Health following legislation passed in the Paychological Practices Act of 1965-66 which provides for the prosecution of anybody practising Scientology for the gain of fees or reward. A senior spokesman for the Health Department said the Act also prevented any advertising of the movement. But the Victorian president of “The Church of Scientology of California in Victoria,” Mr I. K. Tampion, a trained secondary teacher working as a company secretary, said yesterday there were 1000 Victorian members and the numbers were growing by two to 12 new members each week. The church holds services at Inkerman Road, Caulfield every Sunday. Every week night at least 20 people attended discussion and learning groups in the same building which, according to Mr Tampion, looks more like a house than a church. Mr Tampion said there were three church leaders in Victoria: Mr Gordon Bellamine, the public relations officer, himself and Mrs Elaine Allen, the mission director. The group calls itself a mission because it is a preliminary foundation body and still growing, he said. In Victoria the Caulfield group is the only formal centre of Scientology, though members hold meetings in Elsternwick, about five miles from Melbourne or at Geelong, 47 miles away. Mr Tampion said any religious body extracted money from its members. “We probably extract less than any other body,” he said. The Leader of the Opposition in Victoria, Mr Clyde Holding, said there was nothing in Victorian law to prevent Scientologists from practising. Processing

“Now they have decided they are a religion, they can practise, I don’t really care, as long as they don’t use their past methods of processing members, which were straight-out psychological techniques. “What they are not entitled to do is break the law, and this applies to any religion,” he said. In South Australia, members of the Church of the New Faith have been openly practising scientology despite a State ban introduced by the Scientology (Prohibition) Act passed in 1969. About 600 members attend the two Adelaide suburban churches at Fullarton and St Peters. The State leader and Australian vice-president of the movement, Rev. T. B. Minchin, said that there were at least another 1500 South Australians who were followers of Scientology, but they were not full-time members. “The Church of the New Faith has grown in South Australia since the ban from about 400 members to the present figure,” he said. “Despite the Prohibition Act our movement has grown unhindered because the Act proved totally unenforceable since its inception. “During the past three years I have made nearly 100 television appearances and each time the response has been terrific with more and more inquiries about our faith every day. Senator Murphy's decision that the A.L.P. would recognise the Church of the New Faith is a breakthrough for the Australian Constitution,” he said. “The Liberals completely betrayed the Constitution when they placed a ban on our movement.” Mr Minchin said the recognition of his church would allow marriages to be performed as in other churches. “At least five to to South Australian couples each year ask to be married in our church but because of present laws they have to go through two marriage ceremonies - one in our church and the other in a registry office. With recognition we will be able to carry out marriages like any other church,” he said. If Scientology is practised in Brisbane its adherents are keeping quiet about it. No complaints Police say there have been no complaints about the cult for at least three years. Police once kept a close watch on certain people practising it but enthusiasm for the cult seems to have petered out.

The Minister for Justice, Mr Knox, says scientology is not registered to collect money in Queensland. There is no evidence of an organised following in the A.C.T.


Title

Sect decides to fight


Date August 29th, 1972 Contents: A campaign to have the ban on scientology in three Australian States lifted was launched yesterday by the Church of the New Faith. It announced plans to present a British Medical Association report on psychotherapy practices used by Scientologists to the parliaments of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. The Church’s Australian vice-president, the Reverend T. B. Minchin, said the BMA report “completely undermined” the investigation into Scientology which led to the ban on its “psychological practices” in Victoria in 1965. The bans in WA and SA followed that in Victoria. In its report, the BMA said it was neither practicable or desirable to make the practice of psychotherapy by unregistered practitioners illegal, but it was important that people who practice psychotherapy should have “appropriate training and be required to conform to an ethical code.” Mr Minchin said the report would be presented to the Victorian Parliament first “because that is where it all started.”


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Murphy gives Church Power to marry


Date February 13th, 1973 Contents: The Scientology Church of the New Faith has been proclaimed a recognised denomination by the Federal Government under section 26 of the Commonwealth's Marriages Act, a spokesman for the church said yesterday. In Canberra last night, Government sources confirmed that the Attorney-General, Senator Murphy, had granted authority to the church to perform marriages, the criterion for its recognition as a religious denomination. But the sources said the Government had not announced the decision because Senator Murphy's decision had not yet been officially proclaimed by the Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck. “This puts us on the same footing as the Church of England and other major denominations," said the church’s guardian in South Australia, Mrs Robin Youngman. All States “The Victorian ban against Scientology is now null and void as it specifically exempts organisations so acknowledged under the Marriages Act.” With Federal recognition, the church and Scientologists are now virtually free to operate in all States. Mrs Youngman said a scientology ban in Western Australia was being repealed. A ban on scientology in SA had not been enforced since 1968 and a psychological practices bill, apparently with the same objective, was in abeyance because of the State elections, she said. The president of the Church of the New Faith (Inc.) in Victoria, Mr Ian Tampion, said last night that under the new Act, the practice of Scientology in the State will again become legal. A statement by Senator Murphy last year committing a Labor Government to recognising the church was criticised by his Labor colleagues, but he said the whole issue of freedom of religion was at stake.


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A happy Apostle of the New Faith Ian Moffit talks to Australia’s leading Scientologist


Date February 23rd, 1973 Contents: Australia’s Scientology leader is not a tall, mute figure in a black suit, some ice-cold evangelist of evil. “I am very mischievous,” he confesses. He has bounded downstairs, hand out, smiling, a slender young man with long fair hair and a long moustache, shattering one's glacial image of him. Shortish, genial. “Monty Python's on at 5 past 10 tonight,” he says. “I love Auntie Jack too. But Callan,” he shakes his head slowly in admiration, “Callan is tremendous. Absolutely fantastic.” The Reverend Michael Graham, president of the (Scientology) Church of the New Faith, is 31, married - and on a brief visit to Sydney from Perth. “I'm here to consolidate and expand,” he explains. He chats about TV programmes (Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner series really stunned him, and he loves Marty Feldman) to show that he is human too, just like everyone else. He even plays tricks on his executives. But he is just ending “a very long battle,” he adds, to gain approval for Scientology, which has been under severe attack for years around the globe. He thought of it, flying from Perth this week. “There was a guy in front of me reading a book called Where Eagles Dare,” he recalls. “Every now and again I sneaked a look at it over his shoulder: they had to battle nazi oppression and so on. “Well, we've had to weather police raids in Perth, but we've come out of this very, very well. We've had a series of wins and it's been a very exciting, and finally, rewarding, existence.” A reward for Scientology is a red-alert for its critics but its battle to strike root in Australia's flinty soil seems to be succeeding - for right or wrong. The Federal Government has proclaimed the church a recognised denomination under section 26 of the Commonwealth's Marriages Act.

This means, say the Scientologists, that a Victorian ban against Scientology is now null and void; Western Australia is about to repeal its ban and South Australia eventually will follow suit. Mr. Graham leafs lovingly through a copy of the Scientology marriage service: the work of L. Ron Hubbard, a former American science fiction writer who founded this “applied religious philosophy.” Mind blower “It blows my mind every time I do this service,” he confides. “It’s wonderfully aesthetic and a very nice occasion. I wear a black suit, clerical collar, and a cross of sterling silver around my neck. “I've performed five or six so far, always with a civil ceremony beforehand, but,” he laughs suddenly, “the next one will be the real thing.” Today he is wearing a black open-neck sports shirt: he could be a trendy record salesman. A bachelor of science, trained as a zoologist, he now heads “a conservative 20,000” Scientology followers in Australia. “I had this phone call from Lionel Murphy (the Attorney-General) in Canberra,” he explains. “Ring, ring, ring: he seems to be a man who likes getting things done, ringing up or sending telegrams instead of letters. “I was delighted when he gave me the news. He must have a very considerable sense of personal justice ...” Mr Graham is not an “ivory tower churchman.” In fact, he has been building “a great big garage” for two and a half months in his yard at Leederville, Perth. He is a vintage car enthusiast. He is working on a 1933 Ford roadster and a 1928 De Soto, goes spear and line fishing and keeps tropical fish. But Scientology is his main streamlined interest; its dynamo whirrs inexorably beneath his surface cheer. Hardly vintage class (Hubbard spread the word in the fifties), it seems, to the outsider, to be an amalgam of the moon and Madison Avenue, a graft of the Cross with the Cape Kennedy computer-banks. Its enemies brand it as dangerous. Space-age and business ethos reverberate from its terminology, though it claims Buddhism as a source. The Church's spiritual counsellors are “auditors,” who rate potential members at “grade zero release” when they pass the initial steps in a personal-communications course.

Clear top They then rise through different grades, overcoming personal blockages and confessing their sins on the way, till they reach the state of Clear (which too Mr Graham about five years). “It's quite a state, I tell you,” declares Mr Graham. “It's a state of being completely at peace with oneself and one's fellows. And,” he says, smiling again, “it's the ability to have one's emotions always under control.” “We have no image-facsimile of an old man in the sky and we don't have this big bit about sacrifices and supplication and pleas for pity and mercy.” What about the Church's controversial E-meter, an “electronic response indicator” used to determine responses in the journey through “pre-clear grades” and “relief release” and “overts and withholds?” Will it be all right now to use that? “I consider that the Government’s decision supports the U.S. ruling that it is a bona fide religious instrument,” Mr Graham says. “And it confirms that counselling is equal to confessions in the Roman Catholic Church.” He prefers to promote Scientology, not himself, he says, but he is very, very happy: he has a very good marriage and greatly enjoys life, though he is not happy merely to “dilettante around, doing nothing.” The Church has enough funds to do what it wants to do, he says, and he believes that it will go on from strength to strength.


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Murphy: Not our Function to decide on true Religion


Date March 14th, 1973 Contents: The Federal Attorney-General, Senator Murphy, said yesterday he thought requirements on the Government to recognise religious bodies should be dropped. He told the Senate he thought the system was “bad” and “unhealthy,” and the relevant clauses should be taken off the statute books. The former Attorney-General, Senator Ivor Greenwood (Lib, Vic) asked if Senator Murphy was aware of a report on the practice of Scientology, prepared by Mr K. Anderson, QC, now a judge of the Victorian Supreme Court. He said Mr Anderson described Scientology as an “evil,” and a danger to the mental health of the community. Senator Greenwood asked if Senator Murphy had any reason for not accepting the report's findings. He asked: “If he does, what steps has he taken or does he intend to take to protect the public in relation to the recognition of Scientology as a religion?” Senator Murphy said in the several years since the report was released scientologists in several States had organised themselves into a church called the Church of the New Faith. It was recognised as a religion in South Australia last year. In 1970 a magistrate in Western Australia ruled that a man applying for exemption from national service because he was a minister of the Church of the New Faith, was a minister of religion and not eligible for call-up. Senator Murphy said: “In these circumstances and taking into account section 116 of the Constitution - which guarantees there will not be discrimination between religions - it is not the function of the Commonwealth Government to decide which are true religions, which are false and start to discriminate between them.” He said he believed the system under which an Act of Parliament required the Government to recognise a body as a religion was a bad one.


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Scientologists plan Newspaper


Date March 15th, 1973 Contents: The Scientology movement is to publish the first issue of its own newspaper, Freedom, in Australia this month. The international editor of Freedom, Mr Peter Ginever, who is in Perth for the launching of the paper, said yesterday the decision to publish in Australia was made after the Federal Government's recent recognition of Scientology.


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Scientology Ban to end


Date September 15th, 1973 Contents: South Australia, the only State with bans on Scientology, now that the West Australian Government has lifted its companies office ban, has passed the first stage of measures to repeal Scientology bans in the State. The second reading is expected in State Parliament next week.


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Church has its first Wedding


Date January 15th, 1974 Contents: The first Scientology wedding in Australia was performed yesterday in Perth. The Reverend Michael Graham, the president of the Church of the New Faith (Scientology) in Australia, married Mr Gary Clark and Miss Ruth Roots, both of Exmouth, WA. Mr Clark has been a Scientologist for 14 years and Mrs Clark for three. The wedding follows the acceptance of the church as a “recognised denomination” by the Federal Government in February last year.


Title

The Survivor

Source “The Australian” Author Peter Argo

Date February 25th, 1974 Contents: “We have come to be accepted. People realised we don't have two heads and horns - we are living, breathing, good God-fearing people.” Scientology’s Reverend Michael Graham talks to Peter Argo. “We might even end up, dare I say it, the establishment,” says the Rev Michael Graham, Australian president of the Church of the New Faith (Scientology). He’s smiling broadly: 1973 will be remembered by Scientologists as the year they were cloaked in respectability and this year will see the movement spread to new fields. Already, the Rev Graham has performed the first Australian wedding in the Scientology Church. There are also plans to start a school, staffed by trained teachers who are scientologists, within a year. And he says he wants to do more for social reform in the fields of drugs, mental health and human rights. But the Australian followers of L. Ron Hubbard have had to fight hard to survive. Though banned in WA, Victoria and SA, Scientologists continued to practise, sometimes in semi-underground fashion. The black year was 1968. Soon after he became leader of the movement in WA in September of that year, Scientology was banned in the State after a lengthy debate in Parliament. Then came two raids by the CIB in which dozens of files were seized in the hope of getting evidence to prosecute. No prosecution resulted and Scientology stopped operating only while police were in the building. He fondly recalls how the media referred to him as the leader of an x-cult. All that's changed, much as a result of Federal Government recognition last February of scientology under the Matrimonial Causes Act. Scientology is banned only in SA (and this legislation will be repealed in two months, according to Mr Graham). Now even leaders of other denominations talk to him and his followers.

As a sort of final stamp of approval, the Perth City Council and the WA State Electricity Commission have given permission for signs carrying the worlds “Church Of Scientology” to be attached to lamp posts to direct people to the church in Cleaver Street, West Perth, the Australian headquarters of Scientology. Unchanged It doesn’t look much like a church. In fact, unless you keep your wits about you, it's easy to drive straight past and end up at the magnificent new Greek Orthodox church just around the corner. Nothing has been done to make the old house look like a church. A name sign has been painted on one wall, but that's about it. The old barbecue is still in the back yard, grapevines and a fig tree grow vigorously and, to add a homely touch, a pair of yellow and black tiger-stripe men’s briefs hang on a picket of the main street fence. Inside, it looks like any untidy office, with a receptionist and bust of Hubbard crammed into the entry passage. Mr Graham's office is in what was once a front bedroom. He shares it with a secretary. Walls, skirting boards and the door are badly in need of a coat of paint. Furniture is cheap and secondhand, so are the filing cabinets. The only extravagance is a telex machine. “We're frugal,” says the Rev Graham. “We spend our money wisely on important things like tape recorders for our students and recruitment advertising. And we place great importance on being able to communicate: reason for the telex.” There are files everywhere, including all the writings of L. Ron Hubbard. A backyard shed is bulging with files. Another shed has a small offset printing press. No sign of a Bible. Desks and chairs and books are back in the room used for the marriage ceremony. Counsellors and students are busy into books. Many of the students have noses buried in dictionaries - the dictionary is one of the most important books “because one of the problems is that people misunderstand words.” Dedicated The Rev Graham was educated at Wesley College in Perth and the University of Western Australia. He holds a science degree from the university (he majored in zoology) and wanted to be a marine biologist till he became interested in Scientology and is now dedicated to the cause. “There are about 20,000 Scientologists in Australia - 5000 each in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney,” he says. “They may not all go to our churches, but they use the scientology philosophy in their daily lives.

“In simplified terms, scientology is all about helping a person to be able to communicate better and put him in a better position to help him solve his own problems.” He defends the use of door-to-door approaches and offers of free IQ tests for recruitment. But what has IQ got to do with religion? “Spiritually, most people are three-quarters or eight-ninths asleep. When you are not aware of how things could be, you don't want to change. “The test shows people what they are like and very often it can make them realise they can improve their quality of life.” Mr Graham says scientology is not in competition with other religions, rather it complements other demoninations. He points out that there are some practising Jews and Catholics that are also Scientologists. “The biggest change during 1973 was that we came to be accepted,” he said. “People realised we don’t have two heads and horns. We are living, breathing, good god-fearing people.” For the future, he expects a drug rehabilitation scheme now operating in 21 American prisons to be introduced into Australia within six months. And more assistance, through subsidies, will be given to the Citizens Commission for Human Rights to fight for mental health reforms and to stop violation of basic human rights.


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Scientology wins Status of Church in High Court

Source “The Australian” Author Carol Simmonds

Date October 28th, 1983 Contents: The High Court yesterday decided to end God’s exclusive reign over the nation’s religious affairs, opening the way for many non-mainstream religions to claim the legal status of a church and all the financial and other privileges that go with that status. In a landmark decision handed down in Perth, the Full Court unanimously rejected a narrow definition of religion and moved towards the American judicial view under which Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture and Secular Humanism have been held to be religions. It was also a triumph for Scientology and the case of third time lucky for the Victorian Church of the New Faith which, on the facts, won exemption from payroll tax. But more generally, the decision raises the possibility of across-the-board tax exemptions in both State and federal spheres for Scientology and other religious organisations. “It is total affirmation of, and a win for, religious freedom in Australia,” said Mr David Griffiths, a spokesman for the Church of the New Faith. “It is also a blow to psychiatrists and the anti-religionists.” The Church of the New Faith has been engaged in a long-running battle in Victoria, and to a lesser extent throughout Australia, for recognition as a religion. A 1965 report by a Victorian Government board of inquiry condemned Scientology as a medical and moral danger to the community. Subsequently, the Psychological Practices Act outlawed many of Scientology’s activities. That law was repealed last year, but in 1973 Scientology was recognised as a religious denomination under the federal Marriage Act. In Victoria, the Commissioner for Payroll Tax rejected Scientology’s claim for exemption, as a church, from payroll tax for the period from July 1975 to June 1977. Although the amount at issue was only about $850, the church took the commissioner to court, “for the principle of the thing,” Mr Griffiths said.

It lost the first round, and lost again on appeal to the Full Court of the Supreme Court, but yesterday won over the Full Court of the High Court in an historic decision. The extent of exemptions granted to religious organisations was outlined in Justice Murphy’s judgment yesterday. He said: “Examples are stamp duty, payroll tax, sales tax, local government rates and the taxes on motor vehicle registrations, hire purchases, insurance premiums, the purchase and sale of marketable securities, and financial transactions. “Ministers of religion are exempted from military conscription. There are many other State and federal laws which directly or indirectly subsidise or support religion.” Mr Justice Murphy went on to say that the Church of the New Faith had “easily discharged the onus of showing that it is religious,” but he also sympathised with the Victorian Commissioner for Payroll Tax. He said: “The commissioner should not be criticised for attempting to minimise the number of tax-exempt bodies. The crushing burden of taxation is heavier because of exemptions in favor of religious institutions, many of which have enormous and increasing wealth.”


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High Court rules in Favour of Scientology The Question is ‘What is Religion?’

Source “The Australian” Author Crispin Hull

Date October 28th, 1983 Contents: Scientology is a religious institution and exempt from State payroll tax, the High Court ruled unanimously yesterday. It was the first time that the court came head on with the question “What is religion?”. All the judges rejected the view that belief in a supreme being was essential to religion. Justices Mason and Brennan, in a joint judgment, stressed the importance of the case in determining fundamental questions of religious freedom in Australia and the extent to which an individual is free to believe and act without legal restraint. Mr Justice Murphy stressed the need to treat all religions equally, but indicated his distaste for religious tax exemptions by saying, “The crushing burden of taxation is heavier because of exemptions in favour of religious institutions, many of which have enormous and increasing wealth.” Justices Wilson and Deane stressed the need to match the evidence of the beliefs in question with the five or six main characteristics of the world’s major religions. All the judges said it was immaterial that the adherents might be misguided, illogical or gullible or that the leaders of the claimed religion had ultieroir purposes of power or commerce. The case began when the Victorian Commissioner for Payroll Tax assessed the Church of the New Faith (the Scientologists) for $70 in payroll tax. The Scientologists objected saying they were exempt under a clause referring to “religious institutions”. Mr Justice Crockett in the Victorian Supreme Court and later three judges of the Full Supreme Court ruled against the Scientologists. As a result of yesterday’s ruling, those judgments were overturned and the commissioner was ordered to pay the costs of all three proceedings. Justices Mason and Brennan said, “Freedom of religion, the paradigm freedom of conscience, is of the essence of a free society. The chief function in the law of a definition of religion is to mark out an area within which a person subject to the law is free to believe and act in accordance with his belief without legal restraint.”

The definition affected the operation of the religious-freedom guarantee under the Constitution and many other laws granting religions special benefits. The question of religion had received little judicial attention in Australia; it was time to grapple with it. Religious freedom in Australia would be subverted if freedom of religion excluded minority religions which needed special protection. “Protection is accorded to preserve the dignity and freedom of each man so that he may adhere to any religion of his choosing or to none,” they said. “The freedom of religion being equally conferred on all, the variety of religious beliefs which are within the area of legal immunity is not restricted.” The judges stressed the importance of the actions of the adherents rather than the dogma itself. “The question whether Scientology is a religion cannot be answered,” they said. The question which could be answered was whether the beliefs, practices and observances as established by evidence as being accepted by Scientologists were properly described as a religion. The criteria of religion, for the purposes of the law were twofold: “first belief in a supernatural Being, Thing or Principle; and second the acceptance of canons of conduct in order to give effect to that belief, though canons which offend against the ordinary laws are outside the area of any immunity, privilege or right conferred on the grounds of religion,” such as the Mormon attitude to polygamy or the Jehovah’s Witnesses pacifist ideals in time of legal prohibition against subverting the war effort. They found parts of the writings of Scientology’s founder, Mr Ron Hubbard, “impenetrably obscure”, but Mr Hubbard’s position was not critical. What mattered was “that the general group of adherents practise ‘auditing’ and accept other practices and observances of Scientology because, in doing what Mr Hubbard bids or advises them to do, they perceive themselves to be giving effect to their supernatural beliefs.” They referred to the commercial aspect of Scientology and the fact adherents had to pay for training but said, “Whatever be intentions of Mr Hubbard and whatever be the motivation of the [Church] corporation, the state of the evidence in this case requires a finding that the general group of adherents have a religion.” Mr Justice Murphy said, “The truth or falsity of religions is not the business of officials or the courts. If each purported religion had to show that its doctrines were true, then all might fail.” Administrators and judges must not discount groups because their practices seemed absurd, fraudulent, evil or novel. “In the eyes of the law, religions are equal,” he said. “The policy of the law is ‘one in, all in’.”

There was no single acceptable criterion of what was a religion. It was better to isolate sufficient conditions rather than necessary conditions. He gave a very wide view as to what might be a religion. “Any body which claims to be religious, and offers a way to find meaning and purpose to life, is religious,” he said. “The list is not exhaustive; the categories of religion are not closed.” Justices Wilson and Deane isolated several characteristics: belief in supernatural, ideas on man’s nature and place in the universe, codes of conduct, adherents being an identifiable group and adherents seeing their group as a religion. Most of these were satisfied by most of the world’s main religions. The more of these that were satisfied, the more likely it was a religion. This was the case with Scientology. It was important to treat it as a question of arid characterisation without looking at the utility, worth or quality of the ideas.


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Mark and the Sea Orgs

Source “The Australian” Author Peter Menadue

Date November 24th, 1984 Contents: According to Mark Hanna, missionaries are sometimes sent to Australia from the American Church of Scientology to look over operations and advise on improvements. The advice seems to be effective. Hanna says the Church has about 30,000 Australian members and is in the midst of an “unprecedented boom”. During the day, the four floors of its Sydney headquarters at 201 Castlereagh St are occupied by about 60 Scientologists liaising with church offices in other states and training recruits. Off the foyer an office is left symbolically vacant on the remote possibility that L. Ron Hubbard might wing into Sydney. Four pens are spread on the blotter of his desk. On the third floor are the Sea Orgs or church administrators, controlled by a small woman known as the Captain and assisted by executive officers. There are about 30 Sea Orgs on this floor, all decked out in naval rig. Hanna, the national spokesman for Scientology, speaks with pride of the church’s progress. Seven years ago he was a third-year law student at Sydney University who was interviewed on the street by a man with a clipboard. He says: “Through Scientology I developed a greater confidence in myself. I was able to do what I wanted to do. I was actually able to be more myself.” Scientology has turned him into a rock of faith. Attacks on L. Ron Hubbard and the church in the United States only strengthen his beliefs. He also believes moves in the South Australian Parliament to probe Scientology represent minority community views. But, according to South Australian Liberal parliamentarian John Burdett, there is adequate evidence for an inquiry. Mr Burdett says that in the last month he has received numerous complaints about the church. A few people claim they have paid large amounts of money to the organisation for “auditing”. When I first telephoned Mark Hanna and told him I wanted to do a story, his response was guarded. He wanted to know what research I had done and who I had spoken to. He

knew about The Sunday Times article by John Barnes and referred to it disparagingly as “that Barnes thing”. Hanna: “No one who is critical of Scientology is happy. Barnes just interviewed criminals - that can be proved. “If you read that Barnes article you don’t get a very good view of LRH. But have a look at this. This shows what all of these mayors in the US have said about him. All of these people have written to Ron.” He produced a glossy magazine with a picture of Hubbard on the cover, and pages of citations inside. The former science-fiction writer cum prophet seems to have quite a following. Hubbard, apparently, spent 10 days in Melbourne in 1959. Audrey Devlin, the church director of official affairs, met him: “He came out to see how we were going, and to bring out some new technology he had been researching. He was a big, friendly fellow; very dynamic.” Devlin is one of the church’s longest-serving members in Australia. “In 1957 I was working in a doctor’s surgery and there was an ad in the local paper about how you could improve your ability. I just thought: ‘If I can improve my ability I can get another job.’ I found the ad was for a course of Scientology lectures.” Australian Scientology began in Victoria and was originally called the Hubbard Association of Scientologists (HASI). An inquiry by Kevin Anderson QC, in 1963, led to the banning of many of Scientology’s activities in that state (Hanna says “Holy Joe” Anderson began a vendetta after receiving just one complaint). Following the inquiry, the Victorian Government passed a Psychological Practices Act, but it was repealed in 1982. Similar legislation was enacted in South Australia but repealed in 1974. The church has had a number of notable victories since then, and last year won a High Court battle to be regarded as a religious institution. At the time of the Anderson inquiry, the church is alleged to have said: “HASI is non-religious - it does not demand belief or faith, nor is it in conflict with faith. People of all faiths use Scientology.” But Mark Hanna says: “That was the silly official who represented us (at the inquiry). What we actually said was we are religious - and scientific - and if you read the report you will find that.” Spiritual ‘lives’

What then do Scientologists believe? The metaphysics are fairly easy to grasp. Indeed, Hanna says one of the glories of Scientology is that it cuts out the complexities, and gets to the “simplicity of the matter”. The gist is, that in each human there is an immortal spirit known as a “thetan”. This spirit is capable of living through multiple lives, although the body and mind are not. Scientology aims to purify or “clear” this thetan by removing painful images called “engrams” which block it. The tool for this clarification is the E-meter. During my conversation with Hanna, an E-meter was brought in by a Scientologist called Kevin who set it up on the coffee table. It was hard to believe this device (two cans attached by wires to a galvometer) was banned in two states during the 1960s: certainly no electric shocks from this machine. The subject being “audited” holds the two cans in his hands, and is asked to think up some engrams. The galvometer helps to read the resistance created by these mental blocks. The problem with being “on the cans” is that sometimes no engrams appear. A little worried at this, I gave the cans a squeeze and the needle jumped. Mark Hanna said it took years of study to become an advanced Scientologist able to properly operate the E-meter. While touring the building he pointed out a corridor with about 10 confessional booths where the E-meter is used in private auditing. Hanna denies these confessionals give great power over its members: “There is no great threat in confessions - show me one case where this has been done wrongly.” According to Hanna, when Hubbard began he found he was immediately under attack by the American Medical Association and many psychiatrists. “Dianetics makes a person himself, right. The word that was coined is ‘clear’. When we got attacked we asked ourselves, what would attack something that attempts to free mankind? It would be those who seek to enslave someone.” Psychiatrists are their main antagonists. When Scientologists talk about them, the engrams are almost palpable. The battle is not just social or political, but theological. Psychiatrists, according to them, entrap the thetan through drugs and shock therapy. Scientologist Jan Eastgate said: “Ron went into seclusion (around 1981) not long after John Lennon was killed, and there was the attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan. Both attempts were made by psychiatric patients.” Does Scientology have a future? Hanna certainly believes so: “Ask the Christians in 100 AD what they were doing. They were out there preaching on the street corners. These days the smaller religions offer results. A lot of major religious leaders are seeing that.”


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Lessons for the Hubbard Faithful

Source “The Australian” Author James S. Murray

Date February 6th, 1986 Contents: The Pope’s visit to India sees a new dimension to faith, for he is confronted by a religious tradition older than Christianity by 2000 years. If the Pope has shown a greater sensitivity than some expected, it is only because they are unaware of his enthusiasm for dialogue with other faiths. On his recent African odyssey, his speech to thousands of young Muslims in Morocco was a moving witness to religious unity and respect for other forms of faith. Indians, questioning what is both a State visit and a religious pilgrimage, are watching from the prominence of Hindu insights for signs of a “holy man”; and with all the reservations one may have at times about the Pope’s style, his devotion to prayer and simplicity of personal life are not in question. The same cannot be said of Ron L. Hubbard, whose death was announced just over a week ago. As founder of the Church of Scientology, science fiction, which he wrote with acumen, was turned into faith. As for the life of the Scientology founder, he claims to have been a nuclear physicist and to have sustained serious injuries in World War II. In fighting back to health, he discovered his religion, and wrote his seminal work, Dianetics, The Modern Science of Mental Health, in 1950. It is true that he attempted a course in atomic physics, though he failed. Discharged from the US Navy, he gained a 40 per cent disability allowance for ailments such as arthritis, and sought psychiatric help for serious depression. But he was also arrested for petty theft over cheques, and might well have gone the way of the unfortunate and been entirely forgotten. But the American Bill of Rights facilitated his setting up in “religion”, about which he had said in the late 1940s that “writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion”. There was to be no shortage of words or money. More than 30 books issued from him, developing the extraordinary language of this pseudo-science; but it was his invention of the E-Meter which gave Scientology its attraction for many young people, who wanted to

improve themselves and saw in the “auditing” or counselling offered by Scientology a way to greater effectiveness as people. Holding two tin cans which look suspiciously like old jam tins, the initiate is told that the E-Meter will pass a “tiny current through a preclear’s body. This current is influenced by the mental masses, pictures, circuits and machinery. When the unclear PC - preclear - thinks of something, these mental items shift and this registers on the meter.” Hubbard called these mental images “engrams”, which derived from harmful or unnecessary accretions in the initiate’s present life or in the many lives already experienced by the subject. Reincarnation of a sort is part of Scientology’s creed; and to be released from these bad vibes, the essential spiritual self, the Thetan, has to be released. The audits of Scientology In Hubbard’s book, Dianetics and Scientology, A Technical Dictionary, the E-Meter itself is called “a religious artifact (sic) used as a spiritual guide in the church confessional”. While operating, the “auditor” asks searching personal questions which build up a dossier on each new member. The use of such information has often been the subject of court actions. I freely admit my own hostility to Scientology, due to a long pastoral experience of young people abandoning useful and secure work for the apparently improving courses offered by Scientology. Literally called in off the street - and sometimes attracted by a sign offering employment - the gullible soon pick up a language full of the abracadabras of credulity. All religions have them, but most, at least, offer the idealist service for the poor or disadvantaged. Scientology seems to have the knack of making most adherents poor and disadvantaged themselves. Many get into serious, long-term debt to pay for the courses advised for their ascent in Scientology. In a free society, of course, everyone must have the right to believe, or not to believe, as they please. But India’s 600 million Hindus, 80 million Muslims and Sikh minority have suspected the Pope of being on the conversion trail. By now they will have recognised that he is not one of Christ’s “false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”. But Ron. L. Hubbard may well deserve that judgment.

Documents

Category Newspaper Article Title Report calls for Ban on ... · Title Report calls for Ban on Scientology Source “The Australian” Author Date October 6th, 1965 Contents: The banning