Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (10:28): I rise to speak on the parliamentary inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups. We tabled the report on 29 July, and I was part of that inquiry. I must say it was quite an enlightening inquiry with the evidence that we heard from so many people that have been involved and families who have had lifelong involvement, people who have been recruited in and people who were born in who have left. When we started this inquiry I think most of us had really thought about cults as people being recruited in. It was fairly early on when we did a questionnaire – it was a little bit unusual to put out this anonymous questionnaire – that we realised that there were so many people who had been born into cults, and we had not really given a lot of thought to that. A lot of those people did not know any different for a long time. I am sure there are people that are still living in that sort of situation, but many realised things were not the same for them as they were for other people. At their schools they had been advised to keep to themselves and not be involved in a lot of things that kids are normally involved with such as after-school sports. Their activities were scheduled and highly controlled as to what they could do and who they could hang out with. It was pretty eye opening to hear some of the stories that people had told.

One of the things that I am particularly proud of that we did as part of the inquiry is we actually, in effect, have two parts to the tabled document. The first is called Crossing the Line, which is the substantive report that you would normally expect with a parliamentary inquiry. The second volume is called In their Words, and this was particularly good because what it did was everyone who provided evidence – not everybody – through submissions or through the hearings we were able to verbatim quote so that no-one could dispute what it was that they said. If somebody said, ‘This is what happened. This is how it felt. This is how I feel now,’ that is how it was reported, in their words. I think it was particularly powerful for members of the committee to look at that and to read again what had been presented to us, because it was pretty harrowing to see some of the sorts of things that had happened.

We had some parents that came along and talked about their children who were lost to cults and are still lost to cults, and they do not know where their children are. I think for many families that is something that is particularly scary. There are others that had been going about their normal business, young students at Melbourne Central and at universities, where they were preyed upon – all very nice and friendly, asking a simple question. They have noticed somebody maybe religious because they have a cross around a chain on their neck – little things like that – and they strike up conversation. They might ask about where you got your jacket – ‘Gee, that’s nice. Look at this. Let’s have a coffee,’ and then all of a sudden they ask, ‘Why don’t you come to my Bible class?’ Then they are finding out that they are roped into all sorts of activities at all sorts of odd hours – at midnight or 5 am – where there are expectations of what they should do. Hearing from young people that had been coerced into these high-control groups was pretty scary. People should be aware that these things can happen and talk to people about the fact that it could happen innocently.

The other thing that stood out was people who are preyed on when they are vulnerable, people who have been through a pretty tough situation. Maybe somebody died, a marriage broke up, a relationship broke up, something had happened and they are looking for a bit of comfort, and all of a sudden somebody comes up to them and is particularly friendly and says, ‘Hey, why don’t you come along to my group? I’m involved with this group of people.’ You go along, and it is kind of that love bombing ‍– a little bit like coercive control in the family violence sector. They are love bombed and made to feel so warm and so welcomed to the organisation, and they like it initially. It takes some time for them to actually wake up and think, if they can recognise it, that they are in a cult. I commend this report and the inquiry, and I hope other people will take the time to read it.