An acclaimed private school facing forced labour and abuse claims is run by gangsters who hide behind religion, a witness has told a parliamentary inquiry.
Claims of financial misconduct, abuse and acts of public humiliation, including a girl being pulled on a dog collar and lead, were brought forward by witnesses at a NSW parliamentary inquiry into Redeemer Baptist School.
The school operates under the same leadership as the Redeemer Baptist Church, a community of about 200 members who live, study and work on the Parramatta North school grounds.
Alleged instances of sexual, physical, verbal, psychological, spiritual and financial abuse by the school were detailed to the education committee inquiry on Monday.
On Friday, accountant Graeme Glossop claimed the school received routine federal and state government funding for staffing costs, despite operating on a volunteer model.
“They are a criminal gang and they use religion as a camouflage,” Mr Glossop told the inquiry.
Redeemer, which has allegedly amassed a $140 million property portfolio, is the only school in the state that does not employ staff and relies entirely on volunteers for core teaching duties, the inquiry was told.
Volunteer teachers, also members of the church community, are paid stipends as little as $23,000 a year, a witness told the committee.
They have no employment entitlements such as leave, do not receive superannuation and have no personal assets.
Two trustees within the church control all the community’s organisational and personal finances, Mr Glossop said.
That included completing tax returns and claiming Centrelink benefits on behalf of community members and their children who lived off low-paying stipends.
“This structure they've got in place is nowhere near what any other religious school, any other private school has got,” Mr Glossop said.
Former church member Barney Jones, who left the community in 2000, urged a thorough financial investigation, alleging the church’s charitable, not-for-profit and religious statuses were leveraged to avoid paying several taxes.
The school did not pay land tax, fringe benefits tax, income and payroll tax and avoided GST, capital gains tax, stamp duty, state and council land rates, Mr Jones said.
A former teacher at the school, Mr Jones reported alleged employment breaches to the NSW education regulator in 2005, but said they fell on deaf ears.
The NSW Education Standards Authority is investigating the school, the inquiry was told on Monday.
Founding student of the school Helen Johnstone recalled haircuts were banned, clothing was monitored and access to pop culture was restricted after her family joined the community in 1976.
She said community members were subjected to shame and public humiliation, including her older sister being pulled around on a dog lead and held underwater at a youth swimming event.
“Whatever shame you were being put through at home was brought into the school environment and vice versa,” Ms Johnstone said.
The inquiry committee was told more than 40 per cent of the community’s 200 members were related, and only 35 were not born into the church.
"Informed consent does not exist for younger generations who have known no other way of life," Mr Jones said
Redeemer Baptist School headmaster Russell Bailey declined an invitation for the school to give evidence at the hearing on Friday.
"We are concerned the inquiry will not provide procedural fairness and, consequently, we have been strongly advised not to appear," Mr Bailey wrote in an email to the committee.
In a submission to the inquiry on behalf of the school in July, Mr Bailey asserted "the governance and operation of the school adheres to all applicable Australian regulations and laws".
"As noted, in 45 years, we have not had a single regulatory or compliance breach," he wrote.
The inquiry into the school was established following allegations raised in a 60 Minutes and Nine newspapers media investigation.
