The Inquiry: Where Things Stand

In July 2025, Victoria became the first Australian state to formally investigate how cults and organised fringe groups recruit and control their members. Our co-founders, Ryan and Catherine Carey, were the first witnesses called to give evidence.

On 29 July 2026, the Legislative Assembly's Legal and Social Issues Committee tabled its final report, Coercion and harm in high-control groups, drawing on 291 written submissions, 317 questionnaire responses and eight days of public and private hearings.

98Findings

39Recommendations

317Submissions received

The report is published in two volumes: Volume 1, Crossing the Line, examines how coercive high-control groups operate and the harm they cause, and Volume 2, In Their Words, presents the testimony of people directly affected. Among the recommendations is a world-first push to criminalise group-based coercive control in Victoria, alongside stronger child-protection safeguards, specialised training for frontline professionals, and better support for people leaving high-control groups. The Victorian Government now has six months to formally respond.

"This legislation will save lives, I have no doubt about that." We were told for years that no government would take us seriously because there's religion involved. Ryan Carey, co-founder, Stop Religious Coercion Australia, speaking to ABC News after the report's release

Read the inquiry's terms of reference, hearings and full report on the Parliament of Victoria website.