Australians hit out at 'shifty and deceptive' Church of Scientology for disguising an outreach centre as a ‘mental health and human rights exhibit’ with cameras inside A mental health and human rights display in central Sydney has sparked outrage It has been revealed the exhibition has links to the Church of Scientology CCHR, the group behind the exhibition, was co-founded by the church The stall will close after a 'significant number of complaints, City of Sydney says Quote: A free exhibition has been labelled as 'shifty and deceptive' after curious passerbys discovered links to the Church of Scientology. The 'Mental Health and Human Rights' exhibit in Sydney's Martin Place has sparked outrage online after connections to the controversial church were revealed. Following a 'significant number of complaints' about the exhibition, the City of Sydney has requested the stall close within the next 24 hours. A photo, along with a warning about the exhibit, was shared on Reddit this week. The reddit user who posted the image said the exhibit was 'mostly bullshit' and a 'front for the church'. 'When you go in this tent there's cameras on you at all times. They try and get you to sign petitions asking for your name and address, so it all feels pretty off.' One commentor called the set up 'creepy', while another labelled the exhibit 'shifty and deceptive'. 'I'd respect them more if they had the balls to slap a big Scientology banner on that tent with "come in and see why we're against psychology" underneath it,' a reddit user said. 'I mean, they're entitled to their opinion. Instead, they have a vague, wishy-washy name in a bid to weasel out of bad publicity, except we all know it's Scientology anyway. Call a spade a spade, fellas.' The exhibit is being run by Citizens Commission on Human Rights Australia. Continued at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...h-exhibit-Sydney-ties-Church-Scientology.html
Two years after Scientology rehabbed an Australian acoustics lab, the silence is deafening By Bryan Seymour, September 4, 2018 Quote: The silence is eerie at the National Acoustics Laboratory in Chatswood. At one time it was a bustling hub for engineers, scientists, and researchers working on Hearing Science, Audiology, Behavioural Science, Communication Science and Digital Processing. They made breakthroughs and exported their technology and products around the world. Then Scientology bought and renovated the property. In 2016 they held a gala event to open their Australasian HQ. Australia’s first Ideal “Advanced Org” was, promised leader David Miscavige, “destined to be a beacon of freedom for the Asia Pacific region.” The early indicators, however, were not great. Organisers could manage only a paltry crowd of less than 1,500. And in the absence of any prominent speakers, a cavalcade of randoms got up to speak. <snipped> The sprawling 145,000 square foot complex appears to be mostly empty. After paying more than $57 million to buy and renovate the property, Scientology planned to ferry 275 Scientologists in by bus every day. These were presumably existing attendees at the previous facility at Dundas. They also announced they would launch a recruitment drive to attract North Sydney residents battling drug addiction and depression. No such recruitment drive seems to have occurred. The fact that Scientology does not have a license to provide drug treatment and mental services at the complex may have dissuaded those in need from joining up. More at https://tonyortega.org/2018/09/04/t...alian-acoustics-lab-the-silence-is-deafening/
How to finance a Scientology church in a city without any Scientologists By Rod Keller, The Underground Bunker, December 2, 2017 Quote: Adelaide is Australia’s fifth largest city, and is known as the “city of churches.” This week Scientology raised the money needed to purchase a new building that will replace its old storefront with an Ideal Org. It marks the end of one phase and the start of a new round of fundraising to renovate the building. The wealthy Clearwater and Los Angeles Scientologists have been absent so far, but the money doesn’t come from the locals in Adelaide. They are primarily small business owners in Melbourne and Sydney. <snipped> Using this timeline of donations we estimate Scientology has raised 2.5 million Australian Dollars, or about US$ 1.9 million. The good news for Scientology is that the building they are buying appears to be in good condition and the renovations should be inexpensive. We have only one photo. More at https://tonyortega.org/2018/12/02/h...-church-in-a-city-without-any-scientologists/
Scientology school sinks to new low, but the federal dollars keep pouring in By Bryan Seymour, The Underground Bunker, December 10, 2018 Quote: Scientology has sunk to a new low in Australia. That’s difficult to do, given the long history of appalling abuse inflicted here by the cult. Now they are selling off part of a school to raise money — not to improve the lives of the children they are supposed to be teaching; but to enrich the cult they serve. You can read about it in the press here. Basically, the Yarralinda Primary School and Early Learning Center in Mooroolbark (a Melbourne suburb) has decided to become a property developer. They will sell a 1960-square-metre parcel of the school grounds, including the netball court, (the children don’t need that when they have L Ron Hubbard’s Applied Scholastics), in the hope they can get $1.15 million for it. That land will then be developed into residential dwellings. The reason for this cash grab is that the school, like the cult which runs it, is struggling to recruit human beings. It has just 23 students and four teaching staff. But it has to pretend it is flourishing. In 2011, I revealed that Yarralinda, one of two Scientology schools in Australia, had mortgaged its property for $1 million. That money was then gifted to Scientology to help finance its new Ideal Org in Melbourne. At the same time, the school relied on Government funding to survive. Despite spending far less per student on education, they determined that creating a large, empty building to glorify their diminutive leader was more important than the future of the children in their care. Yarralinda School received in 2011 from taxpayers $300,000 under a special stimulus program and $340,000 funding over four years from the Australian Government for a total of 26 students. During that period, Yarralinda mortgaged their property an donated $1 million to Scientology for the new Melbourne church. I checked today and the figures are now worse — in 2016 Yarralinda received $300,000 from state and federal governments in one year. This year they will receive $11,875 per student from the federal government, rising to $18,164 per student in 2027. Not bad for an educational institution which regurgitates the drivel of a proven liar and narcissist in L Ron Hubbard – who famously flunked out of college but claimed to have a PhD from Sequoia University, a notorious diploma mill. Scientology takes taxpayer money for school children which it then gives to itself to create a huge, empty building which provides no public service. It then pays no tax, ’employs’ staff, who toil for almost no compensation as a slave labour workforce, while investing in more real estate to guarantee future income for its autocratic, abusive leader, David Miscavige. There’s a lesson here – one I fear the children at Scientology’s schools will never learn. Watch more here: “Unsuitable” Scientology Schools targeted for Official Senate Enquiry Continued at https://tonyortega.org/2018/12/10/s...-low-but-the-federal-dollars-keep-pouring-in/
EXCLUSIVE: 'School holidays - the perfect time for the Bridge to Total Freedom': Church of Scientology under fire for promoting 'purification' program to Australian KIDS with free ice blocks Scientology program is being promoted to Melbourne kids with free ice blocks 'Holidays, the perfect time to get your kids on the Bridge to Total Freedom' Scientology claims the 'purification rundown' removes toxins from the body But critic fired back, alleging it was 'particularly dangerous' for children By Daniel Piotrowski for Daily Mail Australia Quote: A controversial Scientology detox program is being promoted to children with promises of free ice blocks, juice and games. Critics have lashed the anti-drugs and anti-psychiatry church for promoting the intense 'purification rundown' to Melbourne school kids. 'This school holiday is the perfect time to get your kids on the Bridge to Total Freedom,' an internal email sent to Scientologists said. 'If you secure the Purification Rundown for your child with Melbourne foundation, they will receive the Kids Purif Pack.' The 'Purification Rundown' is described by Scientologists as a 'tightly supervised regimen of exercise, sauna and nutrition' that involves a heavy doses of vitamins. Scientology, which was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, claims the 'rundown' removes drugs from the body, boosts IQ and leads to a higher spiritual plane. But doctors have said the program is unproven and critic Rod Keller said 'the Purif is particularly dangerous for children'. He said former members of the Church had claimed that they blamed the high vitamin doses for decreased liver function. Mr Keller said the pamphlet was being promoted to the children of active members of the Victorian arm of the Church. 'They will probably attend a Scientology school and may be recruited into the Sea Org at age 14 or 15,' he said. 'If you joined as an adult you have a basis for comparison with life outside Scientology, but these kids know only one life in the organisation. If they even think of leaving they risk disconnection and their parents might not ever speak to them again. Every part of Scientology is sad for me, but involving children makes that more intense.' Contacted for comment, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology said religious faiths routinely raise their children in the practices of their religion. She said that a landmark 1983 High Court decision protects the Church of Scientology's beliefs and practices as a bona fide religion. 'Would you object to Catholic children being baptized? Or Jewish children being given a bar mitzvah? Or Muslim children being taught the Quran? Why is it any different for Scientologists?' The Victorian promotion comes after a fatal stabbing at the grounds of the Church's Sydney headquarters. A 24-year-old Taiwanese Scientology follower was killed after a boy, 16, stormed the grounds of Scientology's Chatswood headquarters on January 3. Sources have claimed the boy begged his mother not go through with the Purification Rundown. Source, with seven photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...gy-fire-promoting-detox-program-children.html
Scientology: Australian recruits have dwindled to virtually zero By Ben Weir, The Sydney Morning Herald, January 13, 2019 Quote: Scientology describes itself as the world’s fastest-growing religion but the organisation's numbers in NSW are dwindling with the church reliant on overseas devotees, defectors claim. The organisation has properties worth millions across the CBD, Chatswood and Dundas and in 2017, doubled its national revenue to nearly $40 million, the latest published financial records show. But it is struggling to find new recruits in Sydney, defector Paul Schofield said. "Australian recruits have dwindled to virtually zero as media coverage and access to the Internet has ensured the truth about the cult is well-known here," Mr Schofield said. The church, which was founded by American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, also has a history of altering its membership figures, the defector who spent 30 years in the church rising to become an ordained minister of Scientology said. "They are totally obsessed with statistics, if your statistics are not going up you get punished, they are very creative people with numbers,” Mr Schofield said. <Cult claims snipped> Meanwhile, defectors claim the Church's solution to its dwindling standing in Australia is to bring in believers from Taiwan, where the religion has flourished in the last twenty years. "They come out here totally devoted to doing as much Scientology as they can, on as little amount of money, before going back to Taiwan," Mr Schofield said. "These people sign one billion year contracts and promise to come back [to the church] every time they die." The Taiwan connection was exposed recently when a teenager was charged after a 24-year-old Taiwanese national was fatally stabbed at the church’s Chatswood headquarters. Police allege that the teen was asked to leave the centre and while being escorted down the driveway allegedly produced a kitchen knife, fatally stabbing the church employee. It is believed the boy was trying to visit his mother who was undergoing a so-called purification ceremony at the organisation's Australasian headquarters in Chatswood. The victim was described as a “beloved” Scientology member. More at https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...ntology-struggles-in-nsw-20190112-p50qzy.html
Church of Scientology pays $3.2 million for former Messenger newspaper building in Adelaide | Commercial Real Estate Quote: The former home of the Messenger newspaper group in Port Adelaide is set to spread the word of L. Ron Hubbard following the site’s recent acquisition by the Church of Scientology. The church paid $3,238,000 for the 4700-square-metre property at 1 Baynes Place in an off-market deal, having received council consent to convert its use to a designated place of worship. The Church now plans on refurbishing the 3535-square-metre building. Tom Isaksson and Jack Dyson, of Colliers International, helped negotiate the deal after the church, which is currently based in the Adelaide CBD, approached them for assistance. Mr Isaksson said that the site was originally acquired from Messenger Newspapers, a subsidiary of News Corp, in 2013 by a private investor active in the Port Adelaide area and had sat vacant ever since. The investor had intended to hold the property as “a long term land bank,” but Mr Isaksson said that they were happy with the church’s plans for the site and agreed to a deal. Domain Group data shows the site sold in 2013 for $1.76 million. Continued at https://www.commercialrealestate.co...senger-newspaper-building-in-adelaide-859343/
Brisbane Times Searched for weapons?': Church of Scientology upsets neighbours with new security measures By Andrew Taylor December 7, 2019 — The Church of Scientology has been accused of blocking access to public parklands and intimidating residents with security guards and guard dogs. The church wants to install a vehicle security gate at the entrance of its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Chatswood, which would operate 24 hours a day, and distribute swipe cards to neighbouring residents. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/na...th-new-security-measures-20191122-p53d41.html
