'Sovereign citizens' threaten safety, stability of society, WA Chief Justice Peter Quinlan says
- Replies 0
Western Australia's top judge says everyone should be concerned about the rise of 'sovereign citizens' who do not believe in the law, warning of the risks to "the safety and stability" of society.
A Four Corners investigation yesterday highlighted the growing trend of so-called sovereign citizens, who believe the government is illegitimate.
"I've seen it personally, every judge of this court and every other court in the state will have encountered it as well," WA Chief Justice Peter Quinlan told the ABC in a rare interview.
While not one unified group, sovereign citizens use pseudo-law — a collection of legal-sounding concepts that have no basis in actual law — to target government institutions which they see as oppressive.
In June, a WA judge sentenced two sovereign citizens to a month in jail for breaching court orders, believed to be the first sentence of its kind.
Justice Quinlan said the group — which he characterised as a spectrum ranging from those who do not recognise the authority of the legal system, through to those getting conflicting messages on social media — was "one of the emerging challenges that the courts face".
"As with any other institution of government, the courts depend for their function on trust and public confidence," he said.
"People who you can broadly describe as sovereign citizens are people who, by definition, do not have that trust or confidence because they deny the legitimacy of the courts.
"Judges are able to deal with people of all kinds, but it can't help but have an impact, particularly if there are actual threats, which there are from time-to-time," he said.
"The impact on court staff can be very pronounced because they're at the coalface, they're on the registries, on the other end of the phones, they're in the court buildings with people.
"It can have a very significant adverse impact on court staff having to deal with people who … can become very agitated by the fact that their view of what the law is does not accord with what the law actually is."
But Justice Quinlan said many pseudo-law adherents were also harming themselves by maintaining their beliefs, despite having genuine legal claims or defences.
"It's very difficult then for the courts to be able to identify where they do have legitimate claims or complaints or defences and to be able to deal with those claims on the merits," he said.
"We do our best to get behind it, to find out what the real issues are, but it can be very difficult if a person is resistant to any kind of interaction or exchange with our current system."
Premier Roger Cook also expressed his concerns about the growing group.
"I think they represent a significant threat to both social cohesion in Western Australia and also the rule of law," he said.
"The police do everything that they can to monitor those who think that they're above the law, that they have their own law to implement separate from the rest of the community.
"We intervene when we see laws broken. We make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that they don't represent a risk to the community."
"It's important that the institutions themselves respect one another, that the governments respect the courts, courts respect governments, and the different roles of different institutions within our society are properly understood," he said.
"Because that level of trust and confidence which, if you like, the sovereign citizen does not have, really comes from the top down, that all of us are responsible for understanding and for supporting our institutions of government, be they the executive government, the parliaments or the courts."
Justice Quinlan said while that was more under threat in other parts in the world, Australia was not immune.
"In a world with a lot of social media content where ideas like this can disseminate very rapidly and very broadly, it's important for us to be vigilant about ensuring that our systems of government are understood and that we do have confidence in them," he said.
"I still like to think that in Western Australia and in Australia more broadly there is good community understanding and acceptance of both the courts and the other arms of government.
"But we can never be complacent about that, because we see in other parts of the world when respect for the rule of law breaks down, very quickly everything else breaks down as well.
"So, remain confident but vigilant that these are challenges that our community faces."
Western Australia's most senior judge also urged people to look at non-lawyers trying to offer legal advice with a critical eye.
"If you are involved in legal proceedings or you're caught up in legal proceedings, go to a community legal centre, seek out some legal assistance," he said.
"If something on the internet or on social media about dealing with the courts looks too good to be true, it probably is and it's probably not going to do you any help to be going down that route."
Read more: Retired couple reopen Beltana's Royal Victoria Hotel pub in SA after decades
Written by: Keane Bourke, ABC News.
A Four Corners investigation yesterday highlighted the growing trend of so-called sovereign citizens, who believe the government is illegitimate.
"I've seen it personally, every judge of this court and every other court in the state will have encountered it as well," WA Chief Justice Peter Quinlan told the ABC in a rare interview.
Chief Justice Peter Quinlan says sovereign citizens are a threat to the "safety and stability" of society. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
While not one unified group, sovereign citizens use pseudo-law — a collection of legal-sounding concepts that have no basis in actual law — to target government institutions which they see as oppressive.
In June, a WA judge sentenced two sovereign citizens to a month in jail for breaching court orders, believed to be the first sentence of its kind.
Justice Quinlan said the group — which he characterised as a spectrum ranging from those who do not recognise the authority of the legal system, through to those getting conflicting messages on social media — was "one of the emerging challenges that the courts face".
"As with any other institution of government, the courts depend for their function on trust and public confidence," he said.
"People who you can broadly describe as sovereign citizens are people who, by definition, do not have that trust or confidence because they deny the legitimacy of the courts.
'Significant adverse impact'
More directly though, Justice Quinlan said those who did not believe in the authority of the courts often became "agitated or disruptive"."Judges are able to deal with people of all kinds, but it can't help but have an impact, particularly if there are actual threats, which there are from time-to-time," he said.
"The impact on court staff can be very pronounced because they're at the coalface, they're on the registries, on the other end of the phones, they're in the court buildings with people.
WA Chief Justice Quinlan says the impact of sovereign citizens can be severe. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
"It can have a very significant adverse impact on court staff having to deal with people who … can become very agitated by the fact that their view of what the law is does not accord with what the law actually is."
But Justice Quinlan said many pseudo-law adherents were also harming themselves by maintaining their beliefs, despite having genuine legal claims or defences.
"It's very difficult then for the courts to be able to identify where they do have legitimate claims or complaints or defences and to be able to deal with those claims on the merits," he said.
"We do our best to get behind it, to find out what the real issues are, but it can be very difficult if a person is resistant to any kind of interaction or exchange with our current system."
Premier Roger Cook also expressed his concerns about the growing group.
Roger Cook says sovereign citizens put social cohesion at risk. (ABC News: Courtney Withers)
"I think they represent a significant threat to both social cohesion in Western Australia and also the rule of law," he said.
"The police do everything that they can to monitor those who think that they're above the law, that they have their own law to implement separate from the rest of the community.
"We intervene when we see laws broken. We make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that they don't represent a risk to the community."
Social media threat
Above policing and trying to support individual cases through the legal system, Justice Quinlan said institutions which sovereign citizens did not trust had a role to play too."It's important that the institutions themselves respect one another, that the governments respect the courts, courts respect governments, and the different roles of different institutions within our society are properly understood," he said.
"Because that level of trust and confidence which, if you like, the sovereign citizen does not have, really comes from the top down, that all of us are responsible for understanding and for supporting our institutions of government, be they the executive government, the parliaments or the courts."
Justice Quinlan said while that was more under threat in other parts in the world, Australia was not immune.
"In a world with a lot of social media content where ideas like this can disseminate very rapidly and very broadly, it's important for us to be vigilant about ensuring that our systems of government are understood and that we do have confidence in them," he said.
"I still like to think that in Western Australia and in Australia more broadly there is good community understanding and acceptance of both the courts and the other arms of government.
"But we can never be complacent about that, because we see in other parts of the world when respect for the rule of law breaks down, very quickly everything else breaks down as well.
"So, remain confident but vigilant that these are challenges that our community faces."
Western Australia's most senior judge also urged people to look at non-lawyers trying to offer legal advice with a critical eye.
Chief Justice Quinlan says institutions need to work together to combat the threat of sovereign citizens. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
"If you are involved in legal proceedings or you're caught up in legal proceedings, go to a community legal centre, seek out some legal assistance," he said.
"If something on the internet or on social media about dealing with the courts looks too good to be true, it probably is and it's probably not going to do you any help to be going down that route."
Read more: Retired couple reopen Beltana's Royal Victoria Hotel pub in SA after decades
Written by: Keane Bourke, ABC News.
