In reply to questions raised in the thread I started on 10/3/11, Victoria, Australia: WTBTS and GB of JWs have shown themselves to be "GUILTY" respecting previous noncompliance with “Working With Children” Laws, I said I would talk to contacts in Australia and get some answers. Here is the link to the 10/3/11 thread:
After a few days of researching the questions, the following answers have been provided by an XJW contact. If more clarity is needed, as the Unthank case progresses, I’m sure the information will be available.
To help avoid confusion, the questions are in black and answers in blue.
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Question: "All charges are in relation to allegations of unlawful activities carried out within the Tarragon Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the entire Body of Tarragon Congregation Elders. In addition, there are approximately between 100-150 other sets of charges pending in relation to every single congregation in the State of Victoria."
My Q is, what does one single congregation, Tarragon, and it's body of elders, have to do with this? Since this is a state wide issue in all of Victoria, why are all the charges related to that KH/Congregation/BOE? Were there other "unlawful activities" besides failing to comply with the WWCA2005 law that involved only that congregation?
Answer: This is a state wide issue that concerns all elders, bodies of elders, members of the congregations, and every single congregation itself. However, it is just not practical to charge and prosecute every single offence.
In the Traralgon Congregation it was calculated that the Body of Elders (seven in total over the past three years) had allegedly committed over 20,000 individual offences against the Working with Children laws between themselves. This is calculated by factoring in every single elder against every single child, at every single meeting over the past three entire years. State wide, this has amounted to over three million individual offences in relation to elders only.
If you include ministerial servants, volunteers who assist children at the district convention, pioneers and publishers, who take other people's children out preaching, the total amount of actual alleged criminal breaches of the Working with Children laws amounts to almost eight million offences. That is one per every single JW publisher worldwide.
It is not possible for Steven, or anyone else for that matter, to deal with the potential massive scale of offences. The Working with Children laws allow the actual entities that appointed or engaged these elders (and others) to work with children to be charged. So this is what Steven has done. He charged the legally recognized corporations and unincorporated bodies.
However, before Steven could file the charges against each of them, he first had to prove to the Department of Justice that they actually existed and that they actually formed part of the "committee of management" of Jehovah's Witnesses in the State of Victoria.
The evidence, documenting major parts of the entire history of the WTBTS and Jehovah's Witnesses from the very beginning (late 1800's), was thoroughly reviewed by the Department of Justice and by the Victorian Chief Magistrate before giving Steven the authority to charge each of the "accused," including the "faithful and discreet slave."
Evidence was also presented to substantiate the claim that each body or entity did indeed operate within the State of Victoria and that they did indeed have ecclesiastical or corporate authority over the congregational arrangement and the appointment of elders.
Steven Unthank financed it all by himself and never asked anyone for a single cent. He also investigated everything by himself, gathered the evidence by himself, interviewed people by himself, created the "official" criminal charges wording description himself (as there were none in the Department of Justice files), designed the Charges and Summons sheets by himself, appeared before the "Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry" by himself, filed the criminal charges himself (a group of children paid the filing fees), served the summons' by himself, appeared in court by himself, and has written all the very wordy press releases himself. And the result is that the WTBTS and the JWs, after being charged, finally decided that they will comply with the child protection laws.
As a side note, last week, Steven received his very first monetary donation...$100 sent to him by one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. For the past three years or more he financed everything. He even planted a vegetable garden to cut down on overhead.
Oh, and his casual part-time job, a member of the WTBTS legal team rang up Steven’s JW employer earlier this year and told him to get rid of Steven because of what he was doing.
This is a one-man-show. That is why only one set of charges were filed in relation to one congregation only, the nearest congregation to where Steven lives and about 10 minutes from the court house.
Question: It would be interesting to see the BOE letter that was sent to the elders. Where is the information coming from that this was the case?Answer: The information is coming from a Victorian elder.
Question: Would the letter to the BOE be available during the discovery process of the court case? It seems to me that if the publishers were to see this "top secret" direction from the branch that it would case quite a few to wonder about why the organization refused to comply for years and then suddenly reversed course in secret.
Answer: All letters and information relating to the WTBTS can be subpoenaed for the case as is possible for any criminal trial. The discovery of this information came from the public (an active JW) so therefore it can be shared. Also, the revealing and sharing of this information can also help Steven so that he knows what documents need to be subpoenaed for the case.
Question: The Watch Tower Society , the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses , the Faithful and Discreet Slave, and the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses , last week issued a "special" letter to ALL Bodies of Elders in the State of Victoria instructing them to immediately apply for their Working with Children licenses and to comply with child protection laws. The letter includes instructions that the contents are not to be made public or shared with members of the congregation.
Barbara, can you confirm this: that all of the above issued the letter? If indeed the "Faithful and Discreet slave" were signatories or writers of a letter it would be very interesting would it not? This would also indicate that the slave was a prosecutable body rather than an unknown faceless uncounted and un-consulted group.
Answer: When a letter is sent by "the Society" to bodies of elders (BOE) or to all congregations of JWs in Australia it often contains one of two signatures identifying the issuer of the letter:
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of Australia (WTBTSA)
or
Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses (CCJW)
Letters may also be sent by the "Jehovah's Witnesses Congregations," which is a registered public company, (company number: ACN 001 825 618). This entity is used by the WTBTS to hold assets and real estate titles and can be likened in structure to when a businessman puts his assets in his wife's name so that if he is ever sued he has no assets to seize.
Within Australia there are also other numerous unincorporated bodies and associations used by the WTBTS that may issue letters. These legal entities, which always contain in their names a reference to "Jehovah's Witnesses," are operated in the names of various local congregation elders who make up the committees. Some of these are:
The Jehovah's Witnesses In Victoria Regional Building Team; The Jehovah's Witnesses Melbourne District Convention Committee
In Australia, the WTBTS has structured and set up these entities in such a way that the Society can never be held accountable or financially liable for errors or omissions (including criminal offences) as the individual local elders are named as 100% accountable for all activities.
Australia has uniform laws governing the operation of charities, religious organizations, and corporations. The elders have almost no say in the operation of these legal entities. If they do question the activities of these entities the elders can be removed.
From time-to-time, the WTS in Australia may send a letter to all bodies of elders or to all congregations signed by "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses." The CCJW is not registered in Australia as a corporation like it is in the USA. It is used in Australia as a legally identifiable descriptive name. The name "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" is not to be confused with "Jehovah's Witnesses" or the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. These are separate operating entities.
Since the year 2000, the Society has been using a number of different names within their publications, including The Watchtower magazine, which on the surface give the appearance of meaning the same, but in reality are completely different. Without going into detail, the easiest way to understand this is as follows: Christian Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses; Jehovah's Witnesses
These names, as used by the Society, do not necessarily legally or scripturally mean the same, nor do they necessarily refer to the same entity when used in The Watchtower magazine. The name "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" is the name that is being used to refer to the "faithful and discreet slave." The name "Jehovah's Witnesses" is the name used to generally describe the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, comprising men, women, and children.
That is why, when a disfellowshipping announcement is made, it is announced: "[Name of person] is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses." It is not announced that: "[Name of person] is no longer a member of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses."
Over the past 10 years, almost all instructions and decisions, doctrinal changes, "new light," etc., has been attributed to the "faithful and discreet slave" via their trading name "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses." This has been done to remove liability away from the WTBTS and allows representatives of the WTBTS, such as lawyers and spokesmen, to state in court or to make a statement to the media, that "we don't practice shunning" or "we take no disciplinary measures taken against those who take a blood transfusion," and so on. The same tactic is used in the elder’s handbook by stating that the book is "congregation property" which legally means that it is the property of the "faithful and discreet slave." This allows WTBTS lawyers to deny that the WTBTS and even the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses issue the instructions the book contains.
The practice of shunning, and the teaching of shunning, is attributed by the WTBTS to the "faithful and discreet slave." It is a refinement of the Theocratic Warfare Strategy, which has now been turned against the members of the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. Carefully, since 2000, the WTBTS has removed itself from the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and identified itself as a "religious corporation" singularly used by the "faithful and discreet slave" and as such, are no longer liable by attributing decisions to the "faithful and discreet slave."
For a comparison, consider the following:
The 1983 book "Organized To Accomplish Our Ministry" is signed by "The Publishers" on page 5. The publishers are the WTBTS and the IBSA. The book contains no chapter and no subheading discussing the "faithful and discreet slave." The 2005 (update) "Organized To Do Jehovah's Will" is signed by the "Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses" on page 4. The book contains a chapter entitled "Trusting ‘The Faithful And Discreet Slave’" which runs for 7 pages and contains 4 sub-headings. This appears to be a legal maneuver on the part of the WTBTS by attributing all decisions, and any potential mistakes, to the "faithful and discreet slave." Therefore, when letters are issued in Australia signed "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" the letter is issued on behalf of the "faithful and discreet slave" and not by the WTBTS.
The "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" in Australia is not a legal entity as it is in the USA, but is the name used to sign and issue letters on behalf of the "faithful and discreet slave."This allows the WTBTS deniability in the issuing of letters or instructions. Australian WTBTS lawyer, Vincent Toole, is authorized to issue letters signed by the "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" which letters are issued on behalf of the "faithful and discreet slave."
The initial decision to refuse to comply with the Victorian Working with Children laws when they were first introduced in 2008 was made by the Watch Tower Society with instructions issued by through their lawyer, Vincent Toole. By law, this thereby makes the Watch Tower Society 100% liable.
The instructions to now comply with the Victorian Working with Children laws were also made by the Watch Tower Society, but this time the instructions were legally issued through the "faithful and discreet slave" via the trading name of "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" thereby putting on public record that it was the "faithful and discreet slave" and their "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" that got the laws wrong.
The lawyers at the Watch Tower Society have been, over the past decade, attributing more and more information and procedures within the congregational arrangement to the "faithful and discreet slave" for what appears to be the purpose of legal deniability. This allows the Watch Tower Society to say:
"It wasn't us that didn't comply with the Working with Children laws. It was you!"