CANBERRA - The Church of Scientology is under renewed attack in Australia following allegations that it is a "criminal organisation" involved in such activities as blackmail, embezzlement, violence and false imprisonment.

The allegations were made under parliamentary privilege during an impassioned call by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon for police and Senate inquiries into the organisation.

Xenophon also questioned the tax exemption granted Scientology in 1983 High Court Hearing in which the Full Bench confirmed the church's status as a religion.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday that many Australians, himself included, held real concerns about Scientology but was cautious about further action.

"Let us proceed carefully and look carefully at the material he has provided before we make a decision on further parliamentary action," he said.

The church has denied the allegations and described Xenophon's statement to the Senate as an "outrageous abuse" of parliamentary privilege that violated freedom of speech and the right to religious beliefs.

It also said Xenophon had declined to discuss his concerns and had not responded to letters from the Church, and none of the former members named in the allegations had raised their claims with it.

Scientology, founded in 1953 by the late science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, has been controversial in Australia for decades.

The church was banned in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia until 1973, when it was recognised as a religion by Gough Whitlam's Labor Government.

Xenophon's allegations were based on letters from, and meetings with, former members, and his own research that included a fraud conviction in France, further charges in Belgium, and allegations by former church executives in the United States of assault, blackmail, assault and obstruction of justice.

"What we are seeing is a worldwide pattern of abuse and criminality," he said.

"Scientology is not a religious organisation - it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs."

He said letters from former members, some of whom claimed to have been coerced into crime, alleged "truly shocking" allegations of false imprisonment, coerced abortions, embezzlement of church funds, physical violence, intimidation and the widespread and deliberate abuse of information obtained by the church.

A former member born into the church, Aaron Saxton, claimed the church exercised frightening levels of control over its followers.

Saxton said he had been subjected at least 10 times to punishment diets of beans and rice for up to two weeks at a time, and because of the Church's ban on medications and medical attention had been forced to extract his own teeth without painkillers.