Coercive behaviours outlined at cults inquiry

‘The cult that I was a part of acted like its own state,’ Ryan Carey told the Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee.

‘It had its own rules, it had its own enforcement, it had its own surveillance.

‘So from the minute I was born, I might have lived in the state of Victoria, but I answered to the cult and the cult leader. I was controlled by the cult and the cult leader.

‘Anything was to be reported to them, even if it was a criminal action in the cult, it would have to go to the leader and was not to go to police.’

Ryan and Catherine Carey were the first to present evidence to the Committee. They are former members of the Geelong Revival Centre and founders of Stop Religious Coercion Australia.

‘Everyone should be free to practise their own religion. But what these places do is they abuse people under the guise of religion and that is what is the main issue,’ Ms Carey said.

‘The coercive control that they perpetrate towards people has lasting damage for years and years and years.’

They outlined concerns about child protection in such groups, including instances when an elder was left alone with children and lack of systems around working with children checks.

‘They thought their authority was higher than the law of the land,’ Mr Carey said.

Investigative journalist Richard Baker, who has been looking into cults for several years and produced the podcast ‘Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder’, also presented on the first day of hearings.

He told the Committee that the issues the inquiry is looking at regarding high control groups are not unique to Victoria.

He also raised concerns about the messaging that children and young people are subjected to in such groups.

‘I mean, it sets them up to think of the world in a way that doesn't really reflect where Australian society's at in terms of attitudes to gender roles,’ Mr Baker said.

The Committee has been gathering evidence through submissions and an anonymous questionnaire.

‘On behalf of the Committee, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those who engaged with the inquiry thus far, particularly the individuals and families who've bravely shared their personal experiences with cults and organised fringe groups,’ Committee Chair Ella George said when opening the first hearings.

Further information on the inquiry is available on the Committee’s website.