The investigation, which is currently taking public submissions, may have a focus on activities in Victoria, but Klevjer said many of the groups that are likely to be analysed operate in much the same way across the country.

Ella George, the chair of the Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee overseeing the inquiry, said it was “not about judging or questioning anyone’s beliefs, religious or otherwise”.

Cult Information and Family Support Australia president Tore Klevjer wants those impacted by the practices of cults in Australia to have recourse for the treatment they are subjected to. Source: Supplied

The inquiry’s guidance notes state its focus will be “those groups that use techniques that can harm individuals emotionally, psychologically, financially, or even physically”.

The harm caused by cults

“There are legitimate concerns about the techniques being used by certain groups to attract and retain members, and whether they amount to coercion that should be criminalised,” George said.

“It disrupts their families as well, because they’re taught to lie to their parents and to their family. “It’s very disruptive, and it breaks down a lot of trust.”

Status of such groups

He said if the groups themselves were not registered charities: “A lot of cults will have a front organisation as charitable status, and that’s where it gets a little bit tricky, too, because a lot of these groups do have different names in different front organisations.”

Recruitment and control

Other possible tactics that could be considered include ‘love bombing’, where new recruits are overwhelmed with affection, praise, and attention to create emotional bonds as well as isolating recruits from outside influences and overwhelming them with group activities or doctrine and framing dissenters as toxic or unenlightened.

These include the use of controlling leadership that demands obedience, loss of personal autonomy as members are encouraged to focus fully on a group’s mission, secrecy, deception and emotional and psychological manipulation.

Addressing the issues around cults

“If an organisation is found to have withheld or misrepresented its beliefs in a way that leads to harm, individuals should have legal recourse, similar to protections against deceptive conduct under consumer protection laws,” Klevjer said.

It’s understood some groups that are considered cults use the pretext of bible study as a way to bring in new members but fail to fully explain who the group is and what being part of the group will involve. Source: Getty / fstop123

He said often when cults were accused of certain behaviour such as coercion, misrepresentation, or what he referred to as “personal abuses” the “the cult can just turn around, as they often do, and Just say, well, it wasn’t our teaching, that was just the leadership you were under at the time, and then just hang someone else out to dry”.

“Clearly, religious cults pose a great danger to the fundamental rights and freedoms of many Australians.”