Cult survivors on a mission for meaningful change

By Clare Heath-McIvor

Of all the difficult issues parliamentary inquiries have sought to gain insight into, the Victorian Parliament’s examination of recruitment methods and the damage caused by cults and fringe groups may go down in history as one of the most complex.

Cults and fringe groups not only frequently hide behind the opaque veil of ‘religious freedom’ but also are often nebulous organisations with no registrations, lines of accountability, policy, procedure or other means for victims to gain recourse.

Here, in this mire, abuses can thrive as external family and friends are isolated from vulnerable cult members through an “us versus them” persecution complex that beds down cult control.

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