Senator Nick Xenophon has attacked the Church of Scientology. Senator Xenophon said their correspondence implicated the organisation in a range of crimes, including forced imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation and blackmail. "I am deeply concerned about this organisation and the devastating impact it can have on its followers," he said. Senator Xenophon said the Church of Scientology had been convicted of fraud in France and was facing similar charges in Belgium. A number of the organisation's former high ranking executives in the US had also recently spoken out against its leader, David Miscavige, saying they had seen him assaulting staff and urging others to do the same, he said.

"What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality," Senator Xenophon said. "On the body of evidence, this is not happening by accident, it is happening by design. "Scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs." Eight letters from former members of the organisation were tabled in Parliament. Paul David Schofield said his first daughter Lauren had died after she was allowed to wander one of the Church of Scientology's Sydney buildings and fell down some stairs.

"My wife and I were actively discouraged from seeking compensation from the church," he wrote. "I was also encouraged by church executives to request no coronial inquiry into her death, something I stupidly agreed with at that time." Mr Schofield's second daughter Kirsty also died, in this case after ingesting potassium chloride at the family home - a substance he said was used widely in the organisation's "purification" programs. "I did not tell the truth either to the police or the court (to my shame) but omitted details which would have 'embarrassed' the church," he wrote. In another letter, Aaron Saxton said that as a member of the organisation, he participated in the "forced confinement and torture" of others.

He wrote that Scientologists considered to be "underperforming" were placed on diets of beans and rice for up to two weeks at a time, and they were also not allowed to access medications or undergo procedures such as pap smears. In her letter to Senator Xenophon, Carmel Underwood said she knew of one instance where a Church of Scientology trainee counsellor's molestation of his step-daughter was covered up. While in another episode, Ms Underwood said the organisation interrogated her over three days in Sydney about her alleged "misdeeds". Senator Xenophon said many names had been erased from the letters he had tabled in Parliament. "But those names haven't been removed from copies I am providing to the police," he told the Senate.

Loading "This organisation must be investigated."

