International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019 53
Failure to Launch Rather Than Clear Sailing: The Media-Focused Trials,
Triumphs, and Tribulations of the Church of Scientology in Australia
Stephen B. Mutch
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Abstract1
This paper examines the short history of the
Church of Scientology in Australia and the high
profile efforts of the Church to achieve legal
recognition and social acceptance, against
considerable resistance. While the organization
succeeded in obtaining legal recognition before
the courts, the persistent failure to translate this
recognition into membership growth is noted.
Possible reasons for this failure are canvassed,
including initial governmental suppression,
alleged discrimination, community resistance to
a new, transplanted religion, and allegedly
unfair media reporting. In addition, the paper
examines complaints of persistent anti-social
and harmful behaviour associated with the
organization, and speculates on consumer
resistance to the core spiritual beliefs and the
reputation of the founder. It is noted that
partially quantitative assessments of unfair or
even biased media treatment should be treated
with caution. It is concluded that probable cause
for any media focus on the organization is due
to the persistence of complaints from former
members and critics, and the publicity seeking
behaviour of the Church.
Keywords: Church of Scientology, Australia,
legal recognition, the media
Introduction: Failure to Launch
The story of Scientology’s early years in
Australia reveals a group popularly described as
a cult, yet determined to overcome community
1 This paper is reprinted with permission of the journal
Społeczeństwo i Rodzina, Vol. 50, Issue 1, 2017, pp. 7–40. Link
to paper: https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/
832276%20 link to journal: https://www.kul.pl/quarterly-society-
and-family-quot,art_62215.html As a reprint, some formatting and
other style details in this document vary from content originally
edited for IJCS.
resistance, and achieve social acceptance, along
with organizational success. A major component
of its strategic plan was a campaign to gain the
legal status of a religion in order to access the
financial and other benefits this status might
entail,2 and to counter political opposition. In
most of its endeavours, including its failures,
Scientology attracted the sometimes harsh light
of media scrutiny. But like a moth to the flame,
the organization continued to seek publicity,
despite the controversy this sometimes aroused,
and the possibly detrimental impact upon its
growth.
In its goal to achieve political and legal
legitimacy the organization achieved some
notable victories. In 1973, Scientology secured a
ministerial fiat authorizing the Church3 to
conduct official marriage celebrations.4 Wins in
court included an earlier decision in 1970
recognizing the exempt status of a Church
minister from national service,5 a 1979
defamation decision in the Supreme Court of
Western Australia, where Scientology was
deemed, on the evidence of clergymen,6 to have
a “‘religious’ reputation,”7 and an appellate
2 “Government officials regularly must determine whether a
particular group is religious and therefore qualifies for some
privilege accorded only to religious organizations. This privilege
may be a special zoning variance, exemption from taxes, the
authorization to perform marriage, or in some localities just the
simple right to provide spiritual healing to the ill or distressed”
(Church of Scientology International, Scientology: Theology &
Practice of a Contemporary Religion, Los Angeles, 1998, p. 9).
3 Scientology was operating under the name the “Church of the
New Faith Incorporated.”
4 The Ministerial proclamation attracted political controversy but
was not reversed.
5 Acting under federal jurisdiction, a Perth Petty Sessions
magistrate granted Scientologist Minister Jonathan Gellie
exemption from conscription under section 29 of the National
Service Act 1951 see “‘New faith’ minister granted exemption,”
Daily News, 10 December 1970, p. 2.
6 “2 clerics back Scientology,” The West Australian, 21 December,
1978, p. 2. The clerics, Roman Catholic and Anglican priests, were
also tutors in philosophy at the University of Western Australia.
7 Church of Scientology Inc. v. Anderson, WAR 71, Perth, 1980.

54 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019
decision of the High Court in 1983, allowing the
Church religious institutional exemption from
payroll tax in the state of Victoria.8 Scientology
was able to leverage its early victories into later
successes. These successes included the repeal
(between 1973 and 1982) of legislation passed
earlier in three Australian states (between 1965
and 1968) aimed at suppressing the group,9 and
access to other privileges generally available to
the religious sector, including charitable status
for the advancement of religion.10
However, Scientology’s inability to sustain
significant numbers of adherents, reflected in
official government figures, seems a realistic
indication of its failure to translate these hard-
won successes into genuine organizational
flourishing. Nearly twenty years after finally
prevailing, in 1982, over attempted state
government suppression,11 and Scientology’s
1983 victory in the High Court, membership
figures had stalled in Australia. In response to
the optional census question on religious
affiliation in the 2001 census, a mere 2,032
Scientologists indicated their religious
allegiance. This figure increased marginally to
2,513 in the 2006 census. But in the Australian
8 Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner of Pay-Roll Tax
(Victoria), CLR 120, Caberrra, 27 October 1983. J. T. Richardson
sees the decision as “quite thorough and impressive,” noting “it is
cited in case law in other countries” (idem, Scientology in court: a
look at some major cases from various nations, in J.R. Lewis [ed.],
Scientology, Oxford, 2009, p. 285). However, the decision should
be treated with caution. For a critical appraisal, see S. Mutch,
From “Cult” to “Religion”: Claims for Religious Freedom
Enabled the “Cult” of Scientology to Overcome Government
suppression, Win :egal recognition and Gain Tax Exempt Status As
a Religious Institution in Australia, Graduate Diploma in Arts,
Sydney, 2000 idem, Cults, Religion and Public Policy: A
Comparison of Official Responses to Scientology in Australia and
the United Kingdom, PhD thesis, Sydney, 2004.
9 These legislative repeals were also facilitated by changes in
government, and some acknowledgement that the laws were not
particularly effective.
10 The Australian Business Register reveals that Scientology
(through various entities) is registered as a religious charity,
enjoying GST concessions and income tax exempt concessions,
with Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for its church
building fund (Australian Government, Australian Business
Register, https://abr.business.gov.au/
SearchByName.aspx?SearchText=Scientology+ [19 June 2015])
see also Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission,
ACNC register, http://www.acnc.gov.au/ACNC/FindCharity/
QuickSearch/ACNC/OnlineProcessors/Online_register/Search_the
_Register.aspx?noleft=1 (19 June 2015).
11 With the repeal of the anti-Scientology sections of the Victorian
state government’s Psychological Practices Act 1965.
census held in 2011, the figure had dropped back
to 2,163—statistically a still birth and well
below what might once have been anticipated.12
The latest figures for the 2016 Australian Census
reveals a further decline to 1,685.13
In an organization where growth is important,
some possible explanations for poor census
figures have been offered. Scientology has
suggested that the official census figures are not
reflective of its true membership base, and some
disparity between the membership claims of the
organization and official government numbers
can be noted. In 2007, in an article on building
extensions to Scientology headquarters in
Sydney, it was reported that: “Mr [James]
Packer, Australia’s richest man, was introduced
to the church by [celebrity Tom] Cruise and will
soon be married in a Scientology service in
France. Scientology publicists say he is just one
of many people joining the church founded by
science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. The
church claims to have 250,000 followers in
Australia, even though in the 2001 census only
2,000 gave their religion as Scientology. ‘Many
people come in and do Scientology courses and
still think of themselves as Christians’, Mrs
Dunstan [president of Scientology Australia]
said. ‘We are expanding rapidly and want to
bring the building up to the standard it needs to
be to present Scientology in its proper light.’”14
12 In 1988, I. Gillman noted that “the active membership across
Australia probably stands at about 2,000, with some thousands of
others involved to varying degrees” (I. Gillman, Many Faiths, One
Nation: A Guide to the Major Faiths and Denominations in
Australia, Sydney, 1988, p. 368) the Australian Bureau of
Statistics Census for 2001 revealed that 2,032 Australians claimed
the Church of Scientology as their religion in the optional question
(S. Mutch, Cults, Religion and Public Policy, p. 27) by the 2006
Census, it had marginally improved to 2,513 (idem, “Scientologists
in Australia,” in J. Jupp [ed.], The Encyclopedia of Religion in
Australia, Cambridge. 2009, p. 561) and B. Doherty reports its
“small demographic profile and a membership decline of 13.5
percent from 2006–2011” to 2,163 members (idem, “Sensational
Scientology! The Church of Scientology and Australian tabloid
television,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and
Emergent Religions, February 2014, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 44).
Australian censuses are taken every five years.
13 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016 Census of Population and
Housing, https://guest.censusdata.abs.gov.au/webapi/jsf/
login.xhtml (12 August 2017).
14 F. Walker, “Scientologists want to raise the roof,” The Sydney
Morning Herald, 6 May 2007, http://www.smh.com.au/
news/national/scientology-on-the-up/2007/05/05/
1177788468873.html A more conservative assessment, over 30