Right-wing extremist fringe groups and fundamentalist cults are a threat to all workers. Victorian unions' submission to the Legislative Assembly's Inquiry emphasises the importance of confronting the root causes of these extremist groups.
In 2025, the Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee called an inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups. The Inquiry sought to understand whether current laws are strong enough to address the tactics used by cults and organised fringe groups to manipulate people.
Unionism depends on workers constructively engaging with each other and with social institutions to advance their common interests. When workers are manipulated and coerced by cults and fringe groups, they become isolated from society and successful trade unionism is impossible.
VTHC’s submission emphasised the rise of the extreme-right in Victoria and how right-wing extremist groups use cult-like tactics to indoctrinate workers and threaten social cohesion. Far-right extremists are the largest, most active and most dangerous cult-like group active in Victoria today.
Cults and fringe groups prey on isolated and unsupported individuals. These organisations exploit the very real challenges faced by Victorian workers so as to encourage their disengagement from mainstream politics and society.
Confronting the rise of cults and fringe groups requires addressing the social problems that help these toxic groups thrive.
Victorian unions make the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1: The Victorian Government must ensure that in their response to cults, extreme-Right OFGs are included
Recommendation 2: The Victorian Government should work with unions to investigate a full employment strategy aimed at restoring a right to decent and stable work
Recommendation 3: Increase funding to ensure all workers can access quality, and where necessary, intensive mental health services
Recommendation 4: The Victorian Government should liaise with unions to encourage the uptake of flexible work in all industries and across all workers, and investigate the four-day workweek and expansion of parental leave entitlements
Recommendation 5: The Victorian Government should strengthen the social safety net to reduce inequality
Recommendation 6: The Victorian Government should work with unions to reverse the ‘WorkCover Modernisation Scheme’ which restricts compensation for mental health claims
Recommendation 7: The Victorian Government should find new ways to enhance the participation of workers in politics
Recommendation 8: Introduce a Crisis Support Payment to victims of cults or OFGs
Recommendation 9: Establish a whistleblowing service for victims of cults and/or OFGs and their families, friends and communities
Recommendation 10: Establish a public register of cultic-extremist groups
Recommendation 11: Establish a Cultic Response Organisation
Recommendation 12: The Victorian Government must protect the right to organise and encourage unionisation