‘Violence, fixation and harassment’: internal AFP briefing reveals sovereign citizen concern

Internal documents from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) reveal the agency sounded the alarm about sovereign citizens’ “violence, fixation and harassment” in the months leading up to last year’s shooting in Wieambilla, Queensland.

In February last year, the AFP’s acting assistant commissioner, counter-terrorism & special investigations Stephen Dametto briefed a private online roundtable about sovereign citizens, a very loose group of extremists whose anti-government ideology is based on incorrect, pseudo-legal interpretations that delegitimise the Australian legal system and its institutions.

Via a freedom of information request, Crikey obtained notes and the presentation from the AFP briefing, giving new insight into the force’s views on the sovereign citizens movement, its behaviours, and the likelihood of its adherents being involved in violence. The AFP declined to comment on the documents. 

Crikey Australian Federal Police sovereign citizen briefing by Cam Wilson on Scribd

Dametto’s briefing highlighted sovereign citizens’ “underlying capacity to inspire violence”, but noted that the movement is often said to be non-violent.

“Unlike some other extremist groups who inherently advocate violence as part of their beliefs, SovCits see violence as a last resort or only necessary in the form of ‘self-defence’ against a tyrannical government. This, however, does not mean that these groups can’t be dangerous,” the brief’s speaking notes read.

One roundtable attendee, who Crikey has granted anonymity as they agreed to Chatham House rules when they agreed to participate in the session, felt that the briefing downplayed the normalisation of violent rhetoric and the resultant risk of violence in sovereign citizen online groups. However, Crikey understands that the briefing was intended to promote the discussion of issues in the space rather than a detailed threat assessment. 

The briefing also lays out what the AFP has identified as characteristics of a sovereign citizen movement in Australia. They include:

• “Idiosyncratic” interpretations of common law, human rights laws and historical legal documents such as the Magna Carta, which are used as grounds for typical rhetoric like “I do not consent”. 
• A “confidence” about their legal and moral justification for their beliefs.
• The use of social media and messaging apps. The briefing notes that these groups typically organise on public, mainstream platforms like Facebook and YouTube, but have migrated to platforms like Telegram after being deplatformed.
• An overlap with other extremist groups such as anti-vaccine, conspiracy and far-right groups.
• “Information sharing, encouragement and support, including financial support” with international sovereign citizen groups. 

The briefing also states that Australia’s sovereign citizen movement has seen a resurgence that has been “significantly shaped by the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic”. 

The roundtable, which was first reported by Guardian Australia, came months before the Queensland shooting which saw Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train kill two police and a neighbour.

While the attack was classified by Queensland Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) as “religiously motivated” by Christian extremism, the perpetrators’ online history shows that they were at least influenced by sovereign citizen ideas. In the years leading up to the attack, accounts under Gareth Train’s name interacted with prominent Australian sovereign citizen figures and websites. 

Lowy Institute research fellow on transnational challenges and extremism Lydia Khalil said that it’s clear the Trains were influenced by other anti-government beliefs and ideas in addition to premillennial Christian views.

“It’s complicated, so I think categorisations are not particularly accurate because people can be motivated by multiple things,” she told Crikey.

ASIO chief Mike Burgess briefed the national cabinet on the sovereign citizen movement in February this year and later warned during his annual threat assessment that his agency was monitoring “angry and isolated Australians” radicalised during the pandemic.