Over the last few days, the results of Australia’s latest census have been rolling out, and naturally our readers have been very curious about one number in that mass of data: How many Scientologists are left in what was once one of the church’s mainstays around the world?
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard knew that his movement was most likely going to appeal to people in English-speaking countries, at least at first, and so he made Australia an early target. He had spent time in the country in the Second World War (with disastrous results) and he made visits in the 1950s to help cement Scientology’s early toehold there.
But in recent years, interest in Scientology has been waning. The number of Scientologists has dropped steadily in each recent census. In 2006, 2,507 Australians identified themselves as Scientologists, in 2011 it fell to 2,163, and then to an anemic 1,681 in 2016.
Meanwhile, the overall population of the continent is steadily growing. In the new census, Australia’s overall population grew from 23,401,892 in 2016 to 25,422,788 in 2021.
That’s a growth of 2,020,896 people.
But how many of the 25 million people in Australia were Scientologists?
We noticed that our readers were struggling with the online data releases put out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. We made an attempt to download the data and sift through it, but it was just too unwieldy.
So we wrote the ABS and asked them.
Last night, they helpfully sent us the answer.
Between 2016 and 2021, they told us, the number of Scientologists in Australia went from 1,681 to 1,655.
Over five years, the country gained 2 million in population, but lost 26 Scientologists.
The percentage of Australians who are Scientologists is 0.0065 percent.
And going down.
This is especially embarrassing because Scientology has been making major investments in Australia, including a new “Advanced Org” that was opened on September 4, 2016 in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood. They had paid $37 million for a former national acoustics lab that they then renovated for another $20 million. Journalist Ben Schneiders showed that tens of millions were being sent from the US church to Australia, and that the Australian organizations were somehow showing a net profit of about $65.4 million between 2013 and 2019.
But none of it has resulted in any growth at all.
Scientology is continuing to die a slow death in Australia, despite the gleaming new cathedrals and profligate spending.
Report: Valerie Haney meets deadline for ‘arbitration’ request
The new judge in Valerie Haney’s lawsuit against Scientology, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer, gave Valerie one week — until today — to follow Scientology’s contractual language and submit a letter asking Scientology to begin an arbitration proceeding.
Valerie sued the church in 2019, but Judge Killefer’s predecessor granted a motion by Scientology that derailed the case. Scientology argued that contract Valerie had signed while she was leaving the Sea Org obligated her to take her grievances to its own internal brand of “religious arbitration.” Since then, Valerie has filed numerous motions for reconsideration and petitions to appellate courts (including the US Supreme Court), but the arbitration order remains in place.
More than two years has passed since the motion was granted, and according to the contract she signed Valerie would need to personally send a letter to Scientology’s “International Justice Chief,” Mike Ellis. Her attorneys had tried to get Scientology to communicate about the arbitration, but Scientology insisted that Valerie had to ask for the arbitration herself.
Judge Killefer agreed, and gave Valerie one more week to submit a letter to the IJC or risk the lawsuit being dismissed altogether.
We’ve received a report that Valerie did submit a letter to the IJC. We assume that it’s going to be added to the court record at some point, but as of last night it was not yet in the public court file.
If you remember, when Luis and Rocio Garcia went through a similar process for their 2013 fraud lawsuit, sending a letter to the IJC was just the beginning of a protracted period in preparation for the arbitration, with more than a year spent on selecting a panel of three arbitrators (who must be members of the church in good standing, according to Scientology rules).
So Valerie’s actual arbitration proceeding may be a long way off yet. For now, however, we hear that she has decided to reach out to the IJC.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology
Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain
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Did a dingo eat your clams? I am only slightly surprised that OZ lost a few $cientologist. Loosing only 26 'members' could just be the old ones dying off and not being replaced. I am more surprised that the 'advanced mOrg' staff didn't make up the loses. Statistically, these numbers are too small to work with. How long can Taiwan keep that AO working? Just working, not a profit center or anything that actually 'flows' money 'uplines'.
Valerie has proven once again that arbitration laws need reworking in the case of $cieno 'arbitration'. Until a higher court boils the clam, that excremental 'sacrament' will continue. If you want to leave the Clampire, just slip out the back Jack and don't come back to 'route out' officially or sign anything besides a letter quitting the Clampire. 'Arbitration' hell is no place to be.
If Scientology builds it, they won't come.