<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The sovereign citizen movement has once again been thrust into the mainstream spotlight following the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-officer-shooting-at-rural-property/fdd5dcce-fb0f-4c32-9d6a-2910db764fe7" rel="" target="" title="deadly shooting of two police officers in Victoria's alpine region"><span>deadly shooting of two police officers in Victoria's alpine region</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's an uncentralised belief system but is generally characterised by an anti-authority idea that they are not under the jurisdiction of the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/government" rel="" target="" title="government"><span>government</span></a><span> and the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/law" rel="" target="" title="law"><span>law</span></a><span> does not apply to them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's why, for many years, it was typically associated with </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/woman-granted-bail-sovereign-citizen-failing-to-cooperate-with-police-coffs-harbour-new-south-wales/cb4be0c6-2f6d-4ea7-8dd8-e240effb39c2" rel="" target="" title="videos of someone getting pulled over for a traffic stop and refusing to provide their details to police"><span>videos of someone getting pulled over for a traffic stop and refusing to provide their details to police</span></a><span>, claiming law enforcement has no authority over them – only to be arrested shortly after.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/eu-entry-exit-system-2025-how-australians-are-impacted-by-new-travel-laws/efb9f58a-b744-4b0a-a75b-4d71f9b606c1"><strong><span>Major changes coming to how Aussies visit Europe</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While some may find videos of their arrests entertaining, the beliefs can be far more dangerous than they might seem.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Extremists within the movement have carried out violent crimes both in </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/australia" rel="" target="" title="Australia"><span>Australia</span></a><span> and overseas – most recently, it is believed, in Victoria but also previously in Queensland.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The movement has received a significant influx of followers following the COVID-19 pandemic as people retaliated against lockdowns, mask mandates and vaccination requirements.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/what-is-a-sovereign-citizen-movement-beliefs-explainer/968ac369-a7bd-4a6d-9465-7bc2a1d13bdf" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>So what exactly is a sovereign citizen? Here's what you need to know.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-officer-shooting-at-rural-property/fdd5dcce-fb0f-4c32-9d6a-2910db764fe7"><strong><span>What we know about the fatal police shooting in Porepunkah</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>What do sovereign citizens believe?</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sovereign citizens – or "SovCits" – is a term for people who hold extreme anti-government views, essentially believing laws and regulations don't apply to them.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The idea is that, in the same way a country is a sovereign nation unconstrained by other nations' laws, a person is themselves a sovereign unconstrained by the laws of a government.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's a spectrum," David Heilpern, dean of law at Southern Cross University, told </span><em><span>Today Extra</span></em><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/what-you-can-cant-flush-in-the-toilet-explained/0dacf504-5d41-4773-85d7-ce4b8dcd5563"><strong><span>The costly hidden issue lurking under the toilets in homes around Australia</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"On the one hand, there are those who want to challenge the law by raising old doctrine common law doctrines and concepts of sovereignty. That's probably a positive thing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"At the other end, there are those who simply refuse to comply with laws that apply to you and I. They see themselves as separate and different. They say they don't consent to the jurisdiction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And by their own declaration, they're not bound by laws."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/rewards-points-australia-the-future-of-point-spending/3a157734-b350-4c8b-b732-a7b3b73bed71" rel="" target="" title="The future of rewards points in Australia"><strong><span>The future of rewards points in Australia</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The exact reasoning behind this varies within the movement – no surprise given its uncentralised nature – but the idea of false governments is a common one for sovereign citizens around the globe.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One prevalent thought is Redemption Theory, which asserts the US (which is where the movement began) went bankrupt in 1933 when it abandoned the gold standard. It claims the government then began using its citizens as collateral in agreements with other nations.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Redemption Theorists go on to claim each person, therefore, has a monetary value – up to millions of dollars – stored in a secret US Treasury Department account listed under someone else's name. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some followers will also avoid entering into "contracts" with the government.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's why many of them are pulled over for driving without a licence or vehicle registration – or for just failing to produce such documents or provide their name and address when pulled over – and why you'll hear phrases like "I do not consent" during exchanges between sovereign citizens and police officers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/ndis-changes-children-with-mild-autism-what-does-this-mean-for-them-explainer/74639ec2-a4f5-4b6d-b92a-7d2e055a39d9" rel="" target="" title="Inside the government's $2 billion plan to divert children with mild autism off the NDIS"><strong><span>Inside the government's $2 billion plan to divert children with mild autism off the NDIS</span></strong></a><span> </span><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>So are they actually exempt from taxation and able to drive without a licence?</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>No. Just like anyone else, sovereign citizens must abide by the laws of the country they live in, including Australia.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I was a magistrate for 22 years I saw a lot of these sovereign citizen arguments," Heilpern said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They hold no weight whatsoever. It's legal gobbledygook."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That means they need to have a driver's licence, pay their taxes, register their vehicle, and otherwise obey the law.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a 2021 case in Queensland, a sovereign citizen charged with two drug offences tried to argue that the charges didn't apply to him. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/Z8tJCf" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Sign up here</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.</span></em></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Glen Cash gave his arguments – and that of the entire movement – a scathing appraisal.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Merely setting out the argument is sufficient to show it is nonsense," he wrote in his </span><a href="https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2021/QDC21-216.pdf" rel="" target="_blank" title="decision"><span>decision</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It is apparent that the applicant is one of a group of people who for some years have attempted, universally without success, to avoid the operation of laws with which they do not wish to comply...</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Recognising that the arguments presented by [such] litigants are largely incoherent, if not incomprehensible, courts have been increasingly willing to dismiss their claims summarily."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>So no, sovereign citizens are certainly not exempt from the law.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Where did the movement start and why can it be dangerous? </span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The sovereign citizen movement arose in the 1970s in America following the founding of anti-government group Posse Comitatus by William Porter Gale – a group which had "racist and antisemitic" origins, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a social justice organisation in the US.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The movement rose in prominence and spread to different countries, including Australia, in the following decades, and has since received a notable boost during the pandemic.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It's fair to say that one of the recalls of COVID was a disillusionment by a significant proportion of the public with government and with health, with law, with their connection with society," Heilpern said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They've gone looking elsewhere for justification for their views of 'these laws don't apply to me'."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While it's not necessarily inherently violent, extremists within the movement have committed violent crimes. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mike Burgess, the ASIO director-general, brought the risk of sovereign extremists to the attention of Australia in his </span><a href="https://www.asio.gov.au/resources/speeches-and-statements/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment-2022" rel="" target="_blank" title="2022 threat assessment speech"><span>2022 threat assessment speech</span></a><span>. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/queensland-police-massacre-wieambilla-daughter-madelyn-train-interview-part-three/3d78009b-df53-4670-831c-3782f8b3b2a3"><strong><span>The fractured relationship daughter had with the Queensland cop killers</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Some of the alleged violent acts at the recent Old Parliament House protest are a case in point. The individuals involved were driven by a diverse range of grievances, including anti-vaccination agendas, conspiracy theories and anti-government sovereign citizen beliefs."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Burgess isn't the only top intelligence official to warn of the dangers of such beliefs.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Back in 2011, the FBI's Counterterrorism Analysis Section stated it "considers sovereign-citizen extremists as comprising a domestic terrorist movement", and it remains a serious issue today.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We know there's been many cases of violence from sovereign citizens in the US including shootings of police," political sociologist and Associate Professor from Deakin University Dr Josh Roose said in 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"About 15 per cent of domestic terrorism load, according to the FBI, in the US over the last five years was sovereign citizens."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's also reached Australia with deadly consequences.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Most recently, police believe the </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/porepunkah-victoria-police-shooting-live-updates-latest-news-headlines/7dcdf6e1-5c00-4554-8d22-cc74f2e1f007" rel="" target="" title="active shooter in Porepunkah, Victoria"><span>active shooter in Porepunkah, Victoria</span></a><span>, who has killed two officers and injured one more, is a sovereign citizen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Previously, the Wieambilla shooting in December 2022 – the ambush killing of Queensland police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and neighbour Alan Dare, by Gareth, Stacey and Nathaniel Train – was linked to sovereign citizens.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/wieambilla-queensland-police-shooting-religiously-motivated-terrorist-attack/95effce7-eedd-419b-83f6-09272f2aae81" rel="" target="" title='Queensland Police later labelled it a "religiously motivated terrorist attack"'><span>Queensland Police later labelled it a "religiously motivated terrorist attack"</span></a><span> driven by an extremist set of evangelical Christian beliefs known as premillennialism, although deputy commissioner Tracy Linford said the trio's behaviour was similar to sovereign citizens.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Gareth's internet behaviour unearthed after the shootings showed him promoting anti-government and anti-law enforcement ideologies.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"At that more extreme end, (the beliefs) can end up being pretty dangerous as we see in ... the connections between those involved with the sovereign citizen or pseudo law movement and horrible incidents like we saw in Queensland involving police late last year," Heilpern said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Notable extremist sovereign citizens from the US include Terry Nichols, who helped plan the Oklahoma City bombing, and Jerry R. Kane Jr and 16-year-old Joseph T. Kane, a father-son pair who killed two police officers in a traffic stop in Arkansas in 2010.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/labor-5-per-cent-home-deposit-scheme-how-does-it-work-everything-to-know-explained/58bf83ab-e324-4a4b-bae1-220b1cc83933"><strong><span>How Labor's fast-tracked 5 per cent deposit scheme will actually work</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>For the most part, though, the movement has a legal focus, with followers using certain phrases in an attempt to demonstrate laws don't apply to them, and even conducting what's known as "paper terrorism" – filing bogus, frivolous and often excessive legal paperwork to harass and intimidate someone.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They bombard big firms with pseudo-legal paperwork, file bogus legal claims, they talk about arresting the police or the governor general or storming parliament and taking over," Roose said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"So there's different dimensions. It is a significant concern, as we've seen... up in Queensland."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><strong><span>Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the</span></strong></em><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple App Store</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>.</span></em></strong></div></div>