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Anderson Report
The Anderson Report is the colloquial name of the report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology, an official inquiry into the Church of Scientology conducted for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was written by Kevin Victor Anderson QC and published in 1965. The report led to legislation attempting to ban Scientology in Victoria and similar legislation in several other States of Australia. No convictions were made under the legislation and Scientologists continued to practice their beliefs, although the headquarters was moved to South Australia. The legislation has been repealed in all States and subsequently Scientology was found to be a religion by the High Court of Australia.
In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard had set up the Church's headquarters at Saint Hill a few miles from East Grinstead in West Sussex, England. The Church of Scientology had spread from its origin in USA to a number of other English-speaking countries and soon attracted attention. Several official inquiries were made into Scientology in England, Australia, and elsewhere and a number of reports published by respective governments in the late sixties and early seventies. The Anderson Report was the first of these.
The Victorian Legislative Council appointed a Board of Inquiry on 27 November 1963 in response to a Private Member's Bill proposed by John Galbally to prohibit Scientology in the State. At this time the Church was represented in Melbourne by the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International (HASI), which had premises at 157-159 Spring Street.
A Board of Inquiry does not have the same legal status as a trial. It is not necessarily presided over by a judge or a magistrate and does not sit in a courtroom; witnesses are not subpoenaed but appear by invitation. It is not bound by the rules of evidence. The Board of Inquiry into Scientology consisted of Mr Anderson sitting alone, assisted by Mr. Gordon Just who was instructed by the Victorian Crown Solicitor. After an initial sitting on 6 December 1963, the Board sat in the theatrette of the National Herbarium of Victoria from 17 February 1964 to 21 April 1965.
The HASI was represented by counsel J.R. O'Shea and I.G. Abraham, who called as witnesses HASI staff members and many individuals who had received Scientology training and counselling. HASI files and publications were also tendered in evidence. Counsel withdrew from the hearings on 12 November 1964 on their clients' instructions.
Two former Scientologists, Phillip Wearne and Douglas Moon, appeared as the main witnesses for the Committee for Mental Health and National Security (an ad hoc unincorporated organisation opposed to Scientology). They were represented by counsel Warren Fagan. Wearne, a publisher from South Yarra, told the inquiry that 'Scientologists planned to take over Australia, after establishing a "Scientology Government"' and that 'he first heard of the plan to take over Australia in 1960'. The method to be used 'was to infiltrate Government departments, political parties and other institutions, with scientologists getting jobs in these organisations', then 'after the move to "clear Australia" was completed, the aim was to take over the world'. Wearne said 'he was in a key position to carry out the scientology organisation's work as he had extensive connections in the Labour Party and Trade Union movements'. He also recalled 'a hallucination' that had 'developed after a "scientology processing"' in which he was eaten by a giant spider.
Psychiatrist Dr. Ian Holland Martin, honorary federal secretary of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, gave evidence that the E-Meter 'used for Scientology' was a 'psycho-galvano-meter' and was 'dangerous in unqualified hands'. He said that if the E-meter 'was suggested to possess mysterious powers' to someone who did not understand that it had 'been thoroughly discredited as a lie detector' then 'that person would be suggestible to ideas foisted on him by the operator'. As a result, 'This kind of influence would heighten latent paranoic trends in persons who showed no significant emotional disturbance'. He also testified that the then 'world director' of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard 'showed paranoid delusions in his claim to have visited Venus and been in the Van Allen radiation belt around the earth'.
Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, Chairman of the Mental Health Authority of Victoria, and one of his staff, Dr. M.B. Macmillan, coordinated the evidence given by expert witnesses in medicine and psychiatry. Dax also conferred with Wearne before the latter gave evidence at the Inquiry.
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Anderson Report
The Anderson Report is the colloquial name of the report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology, an official inquiry into the Church of Scientology conducted for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was written by Kevin Victor Anderson QC and published in 1965. The report led to legislation attempting to ban Scientology in Victoria and similar legislation in several other States of Australia. No convictions were made under the legislation and Scientologists continued to practice their beliefs, although the headquarters was moved to South Australia. The legislation has been repealed in all States and subsequently Scientology was found to be a religion by the High Court of Australia.
In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard had set up the Church's headquarters at Saint Hill a few miles from East Grinstead in West Sussex, England. The Church of Scientology had spread from its origin in USA to a number of other English-speaking countries and soon attracted attention. Several official inquiries were made into Scientology in England, Australia, and elsewhere and a number of reports published by respective governments in the late sixties and early seventies. The Anderson Report was the first of these.
The Victorian Legislative Council appointed a Board of Inquiry on 27 November 1963 in response to a Private Member's Bill proposed by John Galbally to prohibit Scientology in the State. At this time the Church was represented in Melbourne by the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International (HASI), which had premises at 157-159 Spring Street.
A Board of Inquiry does not have the same legal status as a trial. It is not necessarily presided over by a judge or a magistrate and does not sit in a courtroom; witnesses are not subpoenaed but appear by invitation. It is not bound by the rules of evidence. The Board of Inquiry into Scientology consisted of Mr Anderson sitting alone, assisted by Mr. Gordon Just who was instructed by the Victorian Crown Solicitor. After an initial sitting on 6 December 1963, the Board sat in the theatrette of the National Herbarium of Victoria from 17 February 1964 to 21 April 1965.
The HASI was represented by counsel J.R. O'Shea and I.G. Abraham, who called as witnesses HASI staff members and many individuals who had received Scientology training and counselling. HASI files and publications were also tendered in evidence. Counsel withdrew from the hearings on 12 November 1964 on their clients' instructions.
Two former Scientologists, Phillip Wearne and Douglas Moon, appeared as the main witnesses for the Committee for Mental Health and National Security (an ad hoc unincorporated organisation opposed to Scientology). They were represented by counsel Warren Fagan. Wearne, a publisher from South Yarra, told the inquiry that 'Scientologists planned to take over Australia, after establishing a "Scientology Government"' and that 'he first heard of the plan to take over Australia in 1960'. The method to be used 'was to infiltrate Government departments, political parties and other institutions, with scientologists getting jobs in these organisations', then 'after the move to "clear Australia" was completed, the aim was to take over the world'. Wearne said 'he was in a key position to carry out the scientology organisation's work as he had extensive connections in the Labour Party and Trade Union movements'. He also recalled 'a hallucination' that had 'developed after a "scientology processing"' in which he was eaten by a giant spider.
Psychiatrist Dr. Ian Holland Martin, honorary federal secretary of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, gave evidence that the E-Meter 'used for Scientology' was a 'psycho-galvano-meter' and was 'dangerous in unqualified hands'. He said that if the E-meter 'was suggested to possess mysterious powers' to someone who did not understand that it had 'been thoroughly discredited as a lie detector' then 'that person would be suggestible to ideas foisted on him by the operator'. As a result, 'This kind of influence would heighten latent paranoic trends in persons who showed no significant emotional disturbance'. He also testified that the then 'world director' of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard 'showed paranoid delusions in his claim to have visited Venus and been in the Van Allen radiation belt around the earth'.
Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, Chairman of the Mental Health Authority of Victoria, and one of his staff, Dr. M.B. Macmillan, coordinated the evidence given by expert witnesses in medicine and psychiatry. Dax also conferred with Wearne before the latter gave evidence at the Inquiry.