维多利亚州议会委员会经过15个月的调查，完成了一份关于高控制组织的报告。[1]该委员会收到了600多份提交意见，[1]定义了这类组织的特征，并建议对其领导人实施新的刑事犯罪指控。[1]
委员会主席、劳工党议员埃拉·乔治表示相关证据"令人心碎和毁灭性"。[1]报告指出，高控制组织通过监视成员、压制独立思考、威胁驱逐或羞辱以及要求意识形态纯正等手段来压制成员的身份和独立性。[1]在这类组织中长大的儿童受害尤深，"在拥有质疑能力之前，其整个自我感、关系和世界观就已由该组织构建"。[1]
为应对这一问题，委员会建议创建新的刑事犯罪"基于群体的强制控制"，类似于家庭暴力强制控制罪的设立模式。[1]此外，委员会还建议澳大利亚慈善监管机构ACNC废除"基本宗教慈善"豁免类别。[1]值得注意的是，1996年联邦委员会曾提出类似建议，但当时未被采纳。[1]
A Victorian parliamentary committee has completed a 15-month investigation into high-control organizations, identifying the mechanisms through which these groups suppress individual identity and autonomy among their members.[1] The committee received more than 600 submissions during its inquiry and recommends introducing new criminal charges targeting the leaders of such organizations.[1]
The investigation found that high-control groups employ surveillance of members, suppress independent thinking, threaten expulsion or public humiliation, and demand ideological conformity to maintain control.[1] Children raised within such environments face particular harm, as their sense of self, relationships, and worldview become shaped by the organization before they develop the capacity to question it.[1] Committee chair Ella George, a Labor member of parliament, described the evidence gathered as "heartbreaking and devastating."[1]
The committee proposes creating a new criminal offense specifically targeting "group-based coercive control," modeled on domestic violence coercive control legislation.[1] Additionally, the report recommends that the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission eliminate the "basic religious charity" exemption category from its regulatory framework.[1] A similar set of recommendations was previously put forward by a federal inquiry in 1996 but was not adopted.[1]