Abuse reported to cult leader before police: Inquiry hearing
Ex-members of Geelong Revival Centre gave evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into cults and fringe groups. Picture: Supplied
The Melbourne Anglican/July 25, 2025
By Hannah Felsbourg
Reporting structures in cults can enable child abuse and undermine child safety systems, a Victorian parliamentary inquiry has heard.
Ex-members Ryan and Catherine Carey told the inquiry on July 24 that parents at Geelong Revival Centre reported abuse to cult leaders first, allowing a two-and-a-half-day delay before police were contacted.
The Inquiry into recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups is examining whether coercive control tactics should face criminal sanctions, with a final report due in September 2026.
Ryan Carey said the GRC operated like a state within a state where cult rules took precedence over the law.
Within GRC even criminal actions had to be reported to the leader rather than police, he said.
A convicted child sex offender had taught Sunday school for most of his life before being found guilty of molesting nine children, Mr Carey said.
He said the reporting delay allowed the offender to destroy 12 gigabytes of child exploitation material.
Read more: Churches must equip young people against cults: Expert
Mr Carey said he was contacted daily by people across Victoria and Australia in churches that operated in similar ways.
Catherine Carey said basic supervision policies like ensuring two adults were present with children were not followed at GRC.
She said the case highlighted how groups could control people under the guise of religion.
Mrs Carey said no group should be able to control people even though everyone should be free to practice whatever religion they wanted.
Anglican Diocese of Melbourne safe ministry and inclusion lead consultant Anne Fairweather said ensuring ministries were safe was a way of showing people Jesus loved them.
Mrs Fairweather said the church needed to be consistent with state and federal law but also have a voice in improving legislation and community understanding of child safety.
She said churches were working with regulators in understanding church settings as they were different from other child-focused organisations.
Clearances for those working with children within the diocese included police checks and a safe ministry questionnaire in addition to WWCC.
Read more: Action plan set to help churches with evolving child safety laws
The diocese has developed a risk assessment tool as part of the diocesan action plan for meeting the Victorian child safe standards.
The tool covers worship services, small groups, overnight camps and children’s ministries, she said.
The diocese’s risk management assessment tool recommends physical modifications to improve visibility in areas that could otherwise provide cover for abuse.
These include installing windows in solid doors and moving children’s activities to visible spaces.
It also stipulates that at least two adults be present during children’s activities and that children go to toilets in pairs.
Mrs Fairweather said adults had individual responsibility for reporting child safety concerns and could not wait for organisational responses.
She said people must contact authorities directly if there was imminent danger or if professional standards services were unavailable such as on a weekend.
The reporting pathways included police, Child Protection services and Kooyoora professional standards.
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