A Current Affair and ABC Lateline on Fair Work

[Infinite]

Over the years, I've done a bunch of volunteer work for environmental groups, political activism, and social services. Here's a little of what I've learned:

1. I tell the organisers when I'm going to turn up and leave - they are always grateful

2. So long as I am "presentable" (depending on what I'm doing) there's no dress code

3. So long as "the message" is delivered, there's no particular patter required, just full honesty about who I am representing and what we are trying to achieve

4. While interested in what has been achieved, there is little regard to any sort of "quota", just a request for "best effort"

5. So, I give it my best efforts but if there's little, if any, tangible results, no worries, "better luck next time" is the general mood

6. More than a couple of times myself and others have been told to take a break or go home and see loved ones - the "cause" is not as important as the personal lives of those involved or, rather, its better to have volunteers in for the long haul rather than letting them burn out over the short term

. . . and so on. Does that sound like being a staff member at an org?

[Free to shine]

Lateline on ABC was great, wait till you see this video.

[Panda Termint]

Lateline on ABC was great, wait till you see this video.

I agree, that was pretty AWESOME!

[Zhent]

AWESOME Lateline, Steve has done a great job. Final report is gonna kick some ass.

[Emma]

AWESOME Lateline, Steve has done a great job. Final report is gonna kick some ass.

Wow you are fast! (Thanks again Zhent)

Great report. It worries me that they said that the final report is likely to differ greatly from the draft report. I hope to hell they haven't backed down.

[Zhent]

Regarding the 'new company registration' mentioned, I had a poke on ASIC and found the document/company mentioned (though not by name).

It is 'CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY AUSTRALIA' . The difference is apparently they have dropped 'limited' from the name.

ACN: 151 052 274

Date Number Pages Description
23/05/2011 027562187 43 218 Constitution of Company
23/05/2011 027562186 41 252 Evidence of Eligibility
19/05/2011 027562184 2 432A Application to Approve Name Without The Word 'Limited' - New
19/05/2011 027562185 11 202 Application For Registration

http://www2.search.asic.gov.au/cgi-b...=ACN&srchsrc=1

Not sure if thats a permalink, if not go to http://asic.gov.au and search 'Church of Scientology Australia' in the box on the right.


Edit: A sneak peak at the report:

[GoNuclear]

ACA just had a program on air about the upcoming findings from the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Yay Dean!

There's no video on their website, but perhaps they will upload one soon.

http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/video/

The Cof$ really has it coming to them on this issue of how it treats its people. This is for two reasons though:

1) They treat their staff like shit, especially the Sea Org. They live in really shitty conditions, they work rediculous hours, they are only volunteers in the sense that that, with the exception of Int and other Sea Org installations, they can simply walk away. In fact, there are all manner of psychological holds on them ... there is the guilt trip instilled on those who are "selfish" enough to walk and disconnection from family and friends. Then there is the matter of housemates. When I was in San Fran I got to visit with a house of Cof$ staff ... actually an apartment with lots of staffers living there, and moonlighting on the side at shitty little jobs just so they could afford their daily rations of stinkerettes, stale coffee, and nuclear noodles (you know, the dried ones that you nuke in water in the microwave.) Scientology staffers generally live in these situations, and, in the event of deciding to leave staff, there is the matter of finding new quarters and quickly. Then, with the Sea Org ... a great deal of the work that the sea ogres do has nothing to do with doing anything religious ... that would include paper shuffling, cleaning, waiting tables, duplicating tapes, cd's and dvd's, getting staged events on camera, etc. As a policy decision, the Australian govt. or any other national govt. could easily decide that there is no legitimate exemption from the minimum wage laws for these sorts of activity. Being an EO, recruiting others, redging, auditing, and perhaps a few other activities are legitimately exempted. They owe a lot of back pay to a lot of people. They might just fold up their tent and seek their fortunes elsewhere rather than comply and pay back wages. Most certainly, they have it coming on that count.

2) There is another count on which the "Cof$" has it coming ... they are corporate, having traded the rights of a religious assembly in exchange for the privilege of being a 501(c)(3) not for profit religious corporation. Furthermore, they behave like a corporate entity would, constantly fighting in court rather than just settling fairly when they know they are in the wrong, constantly litigating to fight the stench of bad PR, which, of late, is giving them worse PR everytime they try to stifle what is just free speech. As a corporate entity, they were given an "exemption" from the IRS such that there is no corporate income tax. HOWEVER ... part of the agreement with the IRS, google it, is that they require Social Security Numbers from their people. That is, Scientology "employs" in the legal sense of the word, making it an "employer." That means that they actually hold out taxes from the meagre earnings of their people. Their people are below the level of paying any federal, state, or local income tax, but FICA is held out, so is medicare. But since they are legally "employed", to NOT pay their people minimum "wage" (wage is a legal term as well, that applies to "employment" ... i.e., covered by Social Security)is, in the tax codes, EXPRESLY STATED AS A PRIVILEGE ... that is, there is a SPECIFIC EXEMPTION for RELIGIOUS workers. As per 1) above, the Cof$ abused that privilege and it deserves to have that privilege revoked. As far as having it coming to them ... this is a bit of poetic and ironic justice BECAUSE ... Scientology is a Godless religion. In a sense the philosophy exhaults man to godhood and seeks to overthrow the throne of the Creator of the Universe as far as His place in your life. Let's face it, we are not God nor are we even gods. People are flawed, and, when you have a religious organization that man as God or gods you start getting that stench of mankind ... where absent allegience to the Creator of the Universe that stench only grows, and the most cunning, corrupt, and ruthless ascend to power, because they are of their spiritual father, and guess who that is.

Anyways, a bit long winded, but here it is ... Scientology, which as both the Cof$ as well as the applied religious philosophy, having put man on the throne, could only POSSIBLY bow down to a God of man made POWER, which is government, a creation of corrupt mankind. They made government their master, and are now beginning to reap the consequences of this.

Now I am not sure as to specifics, but, and correct me if I am wrong ... painting with the broad brush, the codes governing this both here in the US as well as Australia are pretty similar and do pretty much the same things. Law is increasingly internationalised and "harmonized" and this is deliberate, done thru the Uniform Commercial Code, published by Unidroit corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vatican. Increasingly the people within the legal community examine the court cases and prescidents set in other countries. So if Australia succeeds in this attack, the US and the UK may also follow suit.

Here is the warning:

Legitimate Christian churches need to take heed, because here is government intervening in the affairs of a church whereas in the past there was more of a hands off policy when it came to religion. Now, the average Christian pastor would probably comment that with his church, there is nothing to fear because they don't engage in abusive behavior like that. But that isn't the point ... the point is if a church is incorporated, it has specific legal vulnerabilities because it exchanged right for privilege. In doing so, it has become servant to Caesar. The Lord tells us that you can't serve two masters. It would be one thing if govt. was rigidly adhering to the rule of law based upon Biblical principals, but those days are long since gone, and, increasingly, there is a conflict of interest in attempting to serve God while you have made, in a legal sense, Caesar your master. If Caesar is master (over a church) and Caesar refuses to be bound the rule of law based upon Biblical principals, Caesar will continue to abuse power until at some point every sermon will have to be approved by some govt. agent, and, as long as a church continues to "employ" people rather than just hire without legally "employing" then at some point it would be impossible to bring on a new "employee" unless said prospective person pass a DHS background check. It will come to that if nobody says no to it. Already, Christian pastors have been recruited by FEMA to preach on Romans 13 if they round people and put them on busses for a natural disaster, which means that there is a possibility they may be used in a situation of rounding up dissidents.

Back in the days of the early Church, the time of the book of Acts. Christians were routinely persecuted. Why? From some teaching I have heard on the subject, the Romans were very tolerant of ANY religion as long as they put Caesar above their god. The early Church of those days couldn't do that and wouldn't do that, they knew that Caesar could not be placed above the throne of God and were willing to die for that principal. But today, here in America and I am guessing Australia as well, the Church has pretty much fallen asleep on watch and will go along with whatever the govt. requires. The Christian Church should take heed of what is happening to the Cof$ in Australia ... not because the Cof$ had it coming, which they did, but because the exercise of power of the govt. over the Cof$ will have done nothing but whet the appetite of the beast, and, as a corporate entity that has made Caesar its master, may find itself on the dinner plate of that same beast.

Pete

[ClamSource]

Hmmm... substantial changes between draft and final version. Wonder if this means a watered down version.

[Cherished]

Pete,

The Australian government has never been loathe to require religious organisations, incorporated or not, to comply with various laws, including labour and tax laws. This country is quite different from the USA in that respect. Yes, they do grant concessions re taxation, but that's due to the expectation that religious organisations meet public needs of various kinds, including (for most of them) social inclusion.

Still, it is mighty nice to see our government stepping up. I certainly hope that the final report meets my expectations!

[degraded being]

Slavery.