***Distressing content warning***

Michael Ferriss, Victor Boyd, and Bruce Gibson gave evidence on behalf of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). CCHR is a private organisation and was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr Thomas Szasz (a professor of psychiatry). It describes itself as “a non-political, non-religious, non-profit organisation dedicated solely to eradicating mental health abuse and enacting patient and consumer protections.” In the 1970s, CCHR was involved with complaints about the treatment of children at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit. Mr Ferriss, Mr Boyd, and Mr Gibson gave evidence about their experiences of the complaints process regarding the Child and Adolescent Unit in the 1970s and their involvement with investigations of the unit in the decades since including supporting a complaint to the United Nations Convention Against Torture.