The secret Scientology plot to snare Lachlan Murdoch
When James Packer joined the Church of Scientology, it was a major coup for the controversial religion that had already drawn in some highprofile followers. Yet a new book says its leaders were using the media heir to lure an even greater prize. Ingrid Py
In the early hours of November 24, 2002, as copies of Sydney’s The Sun-Herald rolled off the presses in Chullora, western Sydney, it seemed there were scoops and coups all round. Journalist Annette Sharp had her story: James Packer, heir to Australia’s biggest fortune, had been recruited into Scientology. And the controversial religious movement had its man. Or had it?
According to a new book, the Church of Scientology was plotting to use the media heir to lure an even bigger prize – Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert, the billionaire media baron and Scientology’s Enemy Number 1.
In an astonishing admission,
Marty Rathbun, a former high-ranking executive in the Church who oversaw the recruitment of James, says the in-depth operation was merely the first step in a grander plan to woo James’ close friend Lachlan.
“The idea was … to win Jamie over and, ultimately, get our claws into News Corp,” Marty tells Steve Cannane, the Walkley Award-winning journalist and author of Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story Of Scientology In Australia. “It would be the greatest coup of all time.”
It would also, Marty concedes, be the ultimate revenge on Scientology’s arch-nemesis, Rupert Murdoch. Not only had Rupert’s papers crusaded relentlessly against Scientology – which they had dubbed “Bunkumology” – but the media baron had been partly responsible for triggering a ban on Scientology in Victoria in the 1960s, the first of its kind in the world.
“Rupert Murdoch was right up there with the heads of banking and the heads of the pharmaceutical industries as the sort of James-Bondian Mr X villains,” explains Marty in the book.
It is drilled into Scientology’s followers and, in particular, its leadership, that its critics should never be forgiven, nor forgotten. As the Church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, wrote in 1959 in his Manual of Justice: “People attack Scientology, I never forget it, always even the score ... I never forget until the slate is clear.”
So when Tom Cruise, who befriended, then recruited James to Scientology, mentioned his target’s close ties to Lachlan, the Church’s leadership privately salivated, according to Marty.
As he recalls, “You can understand what it was like when Tom goes, ‘Hey, Jamie Packer is best friends with Lachlan Murdoch.’ It was like, man! We were actively talking about this, that this would be the coup of all coups to get the son of Rupert Murdoch! We thought he was potentially the guy who was going to help take over the evil genius Murdoch’s empire.”
The plan to seduce Lachlan into Scientology’s ranks also squared with another of Hubbard’s strategies, according to Steve’s book. In 1969, he issued a confidential policy, entitled Targets, Defense, designed to insulate Scientology from attacks. It stated that Scientologists should single out targets who would help them to take “over the control or allegiance of the heads or proprietors of all news media”.
When he was living in Sydney in the late 1990s with his then wife, Nicole Kidman, Tom seems to have gone to some lengths to achieve this goal. He hung out with Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, James and his then wife Jodhi Meares, and film director Baz Luhrmann and his wife Catherine Martin. According to reports at the time, he travelled on private jets with both Lachlan and James, evangelising about Scientology. James was said to be intrigued, Lachlan sceptical.
A Packer insider told The Weekly the claims that Scientology used him to get to Lachlan “in no way reflect reality and are false”. The Church also refuted the allegation.
Declining to be interviewed for Fair Game, Lachlan has denied ever being seduced by the Church. “I have never considered becoming a Scientologist in any way or at any time,” he said in a statement in 2012.
Yet Rupert’s continued crusade against Scientology has fuelled speculation that he is angry over the Church’s courtship of his eldest son.
When Tom and third wife, Katie Holmes, split in 2012, Rupert entered the fray. “Scientology back in news,” he tweeted. “Very weird cult, but big, big money involved with Tom Cruise either number two or three in hierarchy.”
They have money in the bank, but no numbers.
And then this tweet, “Watch Katie Holmes and Scientology story develop. Something creepy, maybe even evil, about these people.”
“I come close to sharing my father’s views about the religion,” Lachlan has said. “But I resist tweeting them.”
Lavish new Sydney HQ
Steve Cannane, now a correspondent in Europe for the ABC, spent four years researching Scientology and its links to Australia for his book, which ranges from Nicole Kidman’s experience inside Scientology to the times when the Church hired private investigators to spy on both Rupert Murdoch and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The timing of the book’s release is auspicious, coming as the controversial religious movement pours millions of dollars into Australia. In early September, the Church opened a new $57 million Australasian headquarters in Chatswood, Sydney, its biggest spiritual centre outside of the US. The 13,500 square metre training fortress can hold up to 500 Scientologists and includes living quarters for celebrity members such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.
Yet Steve claims the grand opening of the opulent headquarters, attended by Kate Ceberano and the Church’s global leader David Miscavige, is merely a PR exercise designed to mask the Church’s dwindling numbers.
“Because their numbers are going backwards, they need to look like they are expanding,” he tells The Weekly by phone from London, pointing out that the 2011 Census found that just over 2100 Australian called themselves Scientologists. “They do up these buildings all around the world and ship people in to these openings, to make it look like they are successful. They have money in the bank, but no numbers. From the outside, it looks like they are successful, but, if you get inside, you realise the place is empty.”
Fortunately for Steve, the well of stories surrounding Scientology’s long history in Australia is far from empty. The journalist says that during his research for the book – which involved more than 200 interviews and the study of countless documents, files and transcripts – he was struck by the many extraordinary tales in which Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard were entwined with Australia. For example, Hubbard had served in Brisbane during World War II; two Scientologists exposed one of the worst cases of medical malpractice in Australian history at Sydney’s Chelmsford Hospital; and Australia was the first country to hold a public inquiry into Scientology, which triggered some of Hubbard’s more punitive policies towards its critics.
A Scientology spokeswoman told The Weekly that Steve Cannane had a “bias” against Scientology. “He has deliberately sought out the same handful of embittered anti-Scientologists with axes to grind who have been shopping the same myths to the media for years,” said Sei Kato by email. “Mr Cannane’s bias against the Church permeated his coverage while at the ABC and, based on the questions you sent, it appears that his book will be filled with the same tabloid trash that he has regurgitated for years.”
Yet Steve says one of the most intriguing insights into Scientology and its modus operandi come from stories surrounding its recruitment of James Packer – and the Church’s furious reaction to his departure in 2006.
Lucy James, a former senior Scientology staffer, tells Steve there was a huge “flap” when James severed ties with Scientology and she was under immense pressure to find a scapegoat. “It was considered scandalous that I did not discipline [Sydney-based] executives, such was the pressure on the Celebrity Centre network staff to keep Packer in the fold,” she says. “Dave Petit,
[Commanding Officer] of Celebrity Centre International, had come to the management building to … complain about the huge flap that was [caused by] James Packer. In fact, Packer was considered so important to Scientology, Petit wanted the three top executives in Sydney hauled before the Sea Org, equivalent of a court martial.”
According to Lucy, the Church also organised for three of James’ staff members to spy on him, reporting on his movements and actions. She alleges the intelligence gathered by these staffers was passed onto senior executives in the US.
It is little wonder that Scientology was so desperate to woo back James, after pushing out the boat to recruit the billionaire media heir. According to the book, the Church’s leadership had Marty Rathbun, then their second-incommand, play his auditor and key contact. They had their number one celebrity, Tom Cruise, hang out with him at the Celebrity Centre. And back in Australia, they even had more lowly members scrub the car park at their “Advanced Organisation” in Sydney’s Glebe, in preparation for his arrival.
While Marty believes Tom Cruise ultimately used James to try to recruit Lachlan, he does acknowledge that the actor also wanted to help the media heir, who was suffering a breakdown following a disastrous investment in telecom company One.Tel in 2001 and the collapse of his marriage to Jodhi Meares in 2002. “It was both,” Marty tells Steve. “And I’m not going to start assigning evil motives at every turn. It was both, so he did want to help him and I do truly believe we did help.”
Which is why Steve finds the witch-hunt after James’ defection puzzling. “Everyone I spoke to said James benefitted from Scientology,” he says. “For balance, it’s important to say he got something out of it.
“But here you have an organisation that claims to dedicate itself to improving people’s lives. You would think they would be happy James Packer got himself out of his depression and moved on to become successful. But you can see from the book they were furious that he had gone and something had to be done and someone had to be punished. I find that fascinating. You would think they would be happy that they helped someone, but that wasn’t good enough for them. They wanted him back.”
There are rumours that the controversial religion may still be intent on resigning James to its ranks.
Earlier this year, James’ private investment vehicle, Consolidated Press Holdings, hired Scientology’s former spokesman Tommy Davis as its General Manager, North America.
The business has investments in the famed Japanese eatery chain Nobu, as well as in RatPac Entertainment, the film financing company formed by James and his close friend, film producer Brett Ratner.
New York-based journalist Tony Ortega, a world-leading expert and critic of Scientology, believes Tommy, the son of actress Anne Archer, may be being used by the Church to attempt to retrieve James. “If …
Tommy is under pressure to convince his boss to get back on course in Scientology, it would be a major coup if he succeeded,” Tony wrote on his blog The Underground Bunker, earlier this year. “Packer, who Forbes rates as the 453rd richest person on the planet with US$3.8 billion in assets, would become Scientology’s richest member, flying past the current record holder, Bob Duggan, who is #638 and worth US$3.1 billion.”
The conspiracy theory has been dismissed by those close to James, who point out he approached Tommy to work for him, not the other way around. “Tommy Davis is an excellent addition to our global business,” a Packer insider told The Weekly.
“His religion is totally irrelevant and is a private matter for him.”
Despite reports that he had renounced the religion, Tommy is still a practising Scientologist, even though he stopped working directly for the Church five years ago.
Yet Marc Headley, who worked at Scientology’s secretive International Base near Hemet, California, for 15 years, told Tony Ortega that he believes Tommy would be under pressure to convince James to return to Scientology. “He’s the perfect guy to go in there on Packer.”
If that were true, it would make a fitting epilogue to Steve Cannane’s fascinating page-turner. AWW
He’s the perfect guy to go in there on Packer.