‘Sect victim’ mum Camille Kwan fights religious discrimination probe, after complaint by sect member

Camille Kwan has battled to extract her son from what she claims is a ‘cult-like’ Buddhist sect; now she faces a religious discrimination claim made by a sect member.

Hong Kong-based mother Camille Kwan protesting in Salamanca Place, Hobart, to raise awareness about her son and the Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia.

A mother’s attempts to expose a sect that she claims is “cult-like” and has “brainwashed” her son have resulted in her being in­vestigated for alleged religious ­discrimination.

Camille Kwan alleges the Hobart-based Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia has turned her 23-year-old son against her and at times restricted her access to him; claims it denies.

Ms Kwan, based in Hong-Kong where she first became involved in the sect, has held public protests in Hobart about the sect, which practices “holy tantra esoteric Buddhism” or “Chinese esoteric Buddhism”. It is led by Xin De Wang, an enigmatic “monk” who also founded a group with alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party and, by his own account, was once jailed in China for alleged fraud.

While in Hobart in August 2023 to try to see her son and protest against the sect, Ms Kwan interacted with sect member Jessica Chu, with both women accusing the other of intimidation.

Ms Chu in March 2024 complained to Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, using Facebook posts by Ms Kwan and associates about the interactions as evidence of alleged “religious discrimination”.

In May, Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt accepted Ms Chu’s complaint for investigation. Ms Bolt concluded the posts – which refer to the sect as “cult-like” and Ms Chu as a “plainclothes nun” sent by the sect to ­“intimidate her” – amounted to “possible breaches” of anti-­discrimination law.

“It is possible the conduct may have the capacity to incite others to hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of Ms Chu on the basis of religious belief or affiliation and religious activity,” Ms Bolt ruled in May.

“Ms Chu alleges that others from her sect have been attacked and injured as a result of Ms Kwan’s allegations.”

Jessica Chu after taking a video of Camille Kwan in Hobart

In her complaint, Ms Chu accuses Ms Kwan of “inciting religious hatred through cyber-bullying me to the attack the religious group”.

Ms Kwan is outraged at the decision to accept the complaint for investigation, alleging she is the victim of the sect; not the other way around. She has accused Ms Bolt’s office of failing to adequately seek and consider her response before accepting the complaint and of ignoring evidence presented since.

“This is a major injustice to me – it’s based only on Jessica’s narrative,” Ms Kwan told The Weekend Australian.

“They told me to attend conciliation, which is just weird and unreasonable, as I’m in Hong Kong.

“Accepting conciliation would mean I accept the allegations, which are false and fabricated.

“I urged them to look at the background of the case. I told them the full story. They don’t take any notice. They are victimising me, a mum who has already been traumatised.”

Ms Bolt said she did not comment on individual cases. She said the Supreme Court had found that not seeking a response before deciding to conduct an investigation was not a denial of procedural fairness.

Ms Kwan believes the sect is behind Ms Chu’s complaint, in an ­attempt to silence her campaign.

She said her son started living with the sect in 2020 to attend ­education and for help with his mental health, but had been turned against her after she raised concerns.

The sect denies Ms Kwan’s ­allegations, saying her son made his own choices.

In November 2023, Tasmania Police said, after inquiries into Ms Kwan’s accusations, it had “no ­immediate concerns for the wellbeing of her son”, while “no criminal offences were identified”.

Ms Kwan’s son in June took out a temporary restraining order against her. She said she believed the sect talked him into seeking the order, to which she assented without admissions.

Ms Bolt’s office has told Ms Kwan the discrimination complaint will on November 13 be referred to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for inquiry, if it is not yet resolved.

Camille Kwan with her son.

The sect, Mr Wang, Ms Chu and Ms Kwan’s son did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Wang – who is also known as Zhi-Ji and is aged in his late 70s – was the founding president of the Tasmanian branch of the ­Australian Council for the Pro­motion of Peaceful Reunification of China.

This group, previously headed nationally by controversial billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo, denies persistent claims by China experts of links to the CCP.

Concerns were raised about a 2018 radio broadcast by Mr Wang in which he urged Australian Chinese to follow Beijing “in everything we do”. In 2019, he denied calling in a WeChat post for Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters to be executed, saying an ancient Chinese character had been misunderstood.

Sect leader Xin De Wang

Some of his followers are said to believe he can levitate and astral travel. While wearing Buddhist robes, sect members are not regarded as “legitimate” monks and nuns by the Australian Sangha Association, a peak body for Buddhist monks and nuns.

Mr Wang left China in 1989 after, by his own account, spending a stint in jail on “trumped-up” charges including spying and fraud, the latter related to his claim to be a spiritual healer.