Australian law currently only provides protection from Undue Influence within a contract, and new legislation coming into effect in 2024 to criminalise Coercive Control only apply within a domestic or 'intimate partner' situation. However,
the deceptive practices used by cult-like organisations have the same
characteristics and negative impacts on people's physical, emotional and
financial wellbeing.

In 2000, the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
completed an Inquiry into Freedom of Religion and Belief. Chapter 10 of that
report notes that cults are not necessarily religious in nature, that is difficult to define a cult, and again recommended "the Commonwealth Attorney-General give consideration to the convening of an inter-faith dialogue to formulate a set
of minimum standards for the practices of cults."

This issue has been re-examined many times over the past few decades, but has
never resulted in any changes to law that would create protection from coercive control.

This petition seeks to call the Government to legislate against the coercive control by any organisation, whether that organisation is a cult, a ‘mainstream' religion, or a non-religious organisation.

No group or individual should be allowed to use deceptive, manipulative or coercive methods that restricts a person’s ability to make informed decisions about their beliefs, access to information, thought processes and emotional state
to their own physical, emotional or financial detriment. These methods create dependency, loss of identity, a phobic-level fear of leaving, and a radicalisation to obey a leaders' instructions without concern for personal health, societal wellbeing.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus is a South Korean pseudo-Christian apocalyptic cult that is currently active in Australia. International students and migrants are recruited through "non-denominational bible studies" and new recruits are not
even told who the group is until six or more months have passed. Families of
members identify a typical pattern of behaviour that includes lying about the group and their involvement, physical exhaustion and sleep deprivation with less than 4 hours sleep a night due to the required activities and "assignments" issued by the group, emotional trauma due to personal information being shared among leaders, 'discipline' involving public verbal, emotional and at times physical abuse for failing to meet assigned targets, demands for financial contributions and often
leaving/reducing jobs or university studies to spend more time on group
activities.

Shincheonji has been exposed multiple times by the media and universities all over Australia in the last few years.

Australian law must be changed to make undue influence and coercive control methods illegal to recruit or retain members by any group in Australia.