The Victorian parliament has launched a long-overdue inquiry into abuse and coercive control within cults and religious fringe groups.

It is a welcome acknowledgement of the damage that can flourish under the guise of faith, and the unquestioning obedience to authoritarian leaders in religious groups.

The inquiry will hear victim-survivors can suffer a diverse range of harms, including sexual, financial and labour exploitation, spiritual manipulation, and institutional betrayal.

The inquiry is the first of its kind in Australia.

Prompted by recent events, including reports of coercive behaviour at the Geelong Revival Centre, the inquiry will examine “the methods used to recruit and control their members, and the impacts of coercive control”.

According to the committee’s guidance note, the focus will be on techniques that can damage individuals emotionally, psychologically, financially and even physically.

Importantly, the inquiry will interrogate “abusive practices”, not the beliefs behind them:

There is a distinction between genuine religious practice and harmful behaviour. “Freedom of religion” is not freedom, for example, to defraud, nor is it freedom to cause significant psychological harm to any person.

Consideration will be given to whether the law adequately protects people when cults and fringe groups........

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