🟠 News Club - Australia's sovcit problem

Over the last week, Australia’s sovereign citizen movement has been thrown back into the spotlight, in part due to the tragedy in Porepunkah and the subsequent manhunt, which is still going. So we thought we’d take a look at how it’s gathered steam in recent years, and why people continue to be attracted to its ideas…

Australia’s sovcit problem

The sovereign citizen movement has been present in Australia since the late 1960s, but the pandemic created ideal conditions for it to flourish - isolation, online engagement, and widespread institutional distrust. 

To put some numbers to that: while NSW Police estimated 300 people in the state held sovereign citizen beliefs in 2015, the evidence now suggests thousands of Australians are engaged, with a hardcore willing to take violent action against institutions and officials.

Last week's tragedy in Porepunkah shows the dangerous side of the movement. Dezi Freeman, accused of killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart, represents the movement's older guard. He’s someone who held these beliefs well before the pandemic, but whose views became more extreme during Victoria’s lockdowns.

If, like me, this has been on your news periphery, this week’s Club Picks are the resources that helped me get a handle on the sovereign citizen (or sovcits, as the shorthand) problem.

1. Josh Roose from Deakin University explains in The Conversation how the movement in Australia traces back to the late 1960s, with examples like ‘Prince Leonard’ of Hutt River Province. But things changed during COVID, and he says violence is now inherent to the movement because they often feel deeply humiliated, which "becomes explosive anger, hatred and frustration towards all arms of government."

2. An ABC investigation takes us into the world of "pseudolaw" - legal-sounding but false rules that adherents believe trump actual law. Through the story of Jane, fighting foreclosure with sovereign citizen theories, we see how these ideas spread on Zoom calls, Facebook groups and in-person seminars. The belief systems are complex, "often requiring a 'guide'” - creating opportunities for self-styled experts to sell courses promising to escape traffic fines, taxes, and even building restrictions.

3. And 2 recent 7am podcast episodes feature Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson, authors of a new book Conspiracy Nation. Part 1 examines how the conspiracy pipeline works and who benefits, while part 2 explores how conspiracies leap from fringe to mainstream, even into Parliament. Short and interesting listening from just a couple of weeks ago…

One takeaway for me is that what's driving people to these beliefs is that economic desperation plays a big role - regional inequality, young people fleeing small towns, housing unaffordability. The sovereign citizen ideology does something government often can't: it makes desperate people feel seen and heard. 

But as Porepunkah shows, the cost can be measured in lives lost.

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