Scientology has been hit by a fresh wave of allegations, likely to give added weight to calls for a Senate inquiry into the church. Several Australians have spoken out for the first time about their experiences with the church, accusing it of forced abortions, holding slave labour camps and exploiting child workers. Former rugby league player Joe Reaiche told ABC's Four Corners program on Monday of being coerced into spending $400,000 on spiritual books and being paid just $20 a week ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org. They signed a contract for a billion years — in keeping with the church’s belief that Scientologists are immortal. They worked seven days a week, often on little sleep, for sporadic paychecks of $50 a week, at most. But after ...

Last week, the Senate Privileges Committee permitted the Church of Scientology to respond in Hansard to issues raised by Senator Nick Xenophon in November last year. The Scientologists promptly issued a press release declaring they had responded to Xenophon “in Parliament”, as if they had some sort of elected status. In allowing the Scientologist response into Hansard, the Privileges Committee has allowed itself to be made party to an attack on individuals who were brave enough to raise their treatment at ...

Hollywood - The Church of Scientology is coming under fire from six former members. They claim they were mentally and physically abused and forced to work around the clock. Susan Hirasuna was live at the Scientology headquarters in Hollywood and has the latest in this video report.

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 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 ...

NSW police are investigating allegations of abuse and bullying in the Church of Scientology made in a series of letters from former members tabled in Federal Parliament by independent senator Nick Xenophon. The most senior executive to defect from the church, US-based Marty Rathbun, has said the allegations, including coercion to have abortions and donate money, were unwritten church policy, dictated from its head office, according to a speech by Greens MP John Kaye in the NSW upper house. "My office ...

For the three days leading up to soldier Edward McBride's suicide, his family say he was bombarded by telephone calls and texts from Church of Scientology members. The family believe the church played a major role in his death, but have spent the past two years without answers or recourse. Now they've urged the federal government to initiate an inquiry into the controversial religious group, under fire following recent allegations of blackmail, sanctioned beatings, forced abortions and financial fraud. Independent senator ...

Hollywood figures quit 'rip-off' church as Australian prime minister threatens parliamentary inquiry into its activities The security at the red-brick and glass-walled horseshoe of the John Joseph Moakley courthouse on Boston's waterfront was unusually tight. Anybody who was not a member of the city's bar association was swept with a search wand. Photo IDs were checked. Mobile phones were taken from guests, who included the Hollywood star Tom Cruise. The occasion was a memorial service for Scientology's top legal adviser for ...

Senator Nick Xenophon's stunning attack on the Church of Scientology this week has shone a light on a worldwide group many former members accuse of ruining their lives through fear and abuse. SCIENTOLOGISTS lured Dean Detheridge off the street using their tried and tested technique of offering a personality test. He wasn't much interested, but they were extremely skilled and persistent persuaders, and he found he couldn't say no. Seven days later he was on staff in what turned out to ...

EVEN for a religion started by a science fiction writer, the allegations levelled against the Church of Scientology in federal parliament this week sound stranger than fiction. Blackmail, cover-ups of child abuse, labour camps, embezzlement and coerced abortions are spelled out among the 53 pages of allegations by seven former Scientologists - some of whom had climbed high in the church hierarchy - tabled in the Senate. In what the church has decried as "an outrageous abuse of parliamentary privilege", independent ...

DANGEROUS dismissal of psychiatry and mental health problems must be part of a Senate inquiry into the Church of Scientology, a Melbourne cult counsellor said yesterday. Cult Counselling Australia director Raphael Aron said Scientologists put vulnerable people at risk by taking them off psychiatric drugs and treatment, instead treating them with vitamins and E-meter readings. Mr Aron supported Senator Nick Xenophon's call in Federal Parliament on Tuesday for a Senate inquiry into the Scientologists. The senator tabled letters citing forced abortions, ...

FORMER members of the Church of Scientology have made explosive allegations about forced abortions, child abuse and financial extortion, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry. Letters tabled by independent senator Nick Xenophon reveal claims of vulnerable people preyed on by a coercive and ruthless organisation that punished and shamed dissenters by physical incarceration, withholding food or intimidation. But the Church of Scientology hit back, arguing the claims came from seven ''disgruntled former members who use hate speech and distorted accounts of ...

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has concerns about Scientology but says the government will exercise caution in examining allegations of abuse levelled against the church. Mr Rudd says the government will consider the need for a formal inquiry into the church - and its tax-free status. South Australian senator Nick Xenophon used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to castigate the church, labelling it a criminal organisation hiding behind so-called religious beliefs. Advertisement: Story continues below Tabling letters from eight former followers, he said ...

The Church of Scientology has rejected claims by Senator Nick Xenophon that it's involved in widespread criminal behaviour and abuse. John & Sandy reveal recent accusations with spokesperson Cyrus Brooks. [Embedded audio.]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to investigate claims that Scientology is a criminal organisation that sanctioned beatings, imprisonments, forced abortions, sexual abuse and fraud. The sensational claims about the church, whose members include many high-profile celebrities, were made by a South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, who shares a surname with an ancient Greek warrior. But unlike the mercenary of history who fought armies in central Asia in about 400BC, Mr Xenophon has gone into battle with Scientologists after receiving letters ...

This is a speech Senator Nick Xenophon gave in the Senate on November 17, 2009 I rise to speak tonight on an issue of utmost seriousness that I believe deserves a great deal of scrutiny by law enforcement agencies and by this parliament. In the past few weeks, I have been contacted by former members of the Church of Scientology after I questioned the tax exemption status the organisation has under our tax laws during an interview on the Seven Network’s ...

THE Church of Scientology is a "criminal organisation" hiding behind religion, the Senate was told last night. Independent senator Nick Xenophon tabled explosive letters from former Scientology officials and staff alleging a litany of abuses, including coerced abortions, assault, imprisonment, covering up sexual abuse, embezzlement of church funds and blackmail. Senator Xenophon, who said he had referred the allegations to police, demanded a Senate inquiry into the church. And he questioned the tax-exempt status given to the church, which he said ...