‘Politically motivated violence’: Warning as sovereign citizen movement grows into security threat

Australia has been warned that without government intervention the “sovereign citizen” movement could become a dangerous threat after two police officers were fatally shot in Victoria’s High Country last year.

What started as a fringe conspiracy group in the United States has grown into a global community of people who believe they are immune from the country’s laws and government.

One of the most recognizable faces of the movement is alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman, who has been on the run since August 2025 after allegedly shooting and killing two police officers and seriously wounding a third in Porepunkah.

New Lowy Institute and Australian Federal Police (AFP) research suggests more robust policies are needed to combat the growing popularity of sovereign citizens in the country.

What is a sovereign citizen?

Generally speaking, sovereign citizens exclude themselves from the rest of society in almost every respect.

Their ideology rejects the democratic rule of law and the legitimacy of government, instead promoting alternative structures of authority and promoting narratives aimed at legitimizing Australian democracy.

Essentially, sovereign citizens do not believe that they should follow the same rules and laws that other Australians follow, such as registering a car or paying taxes.

Macquarie University criminologist and former police officer Vincent Hurley said the movement shared a common thread: “They do not believe the government has legitimate authority over them and they reject the democratic legal system.

“Sovereign citizens feel that laws that apply to everyone do not apply to them.

“They developed an elaborate conspiracy theory mixed with bogus legal arguments to support this belief.”

‘Border problem’

Sovereign citizens are nothing new; police have been monitoring the movement for decades. While sovereign citizens generally keep to themselves and move quietly, the think tank argued that the movement has begun to reshape in recent years.

This ideology first formed in the United States in the 70s as part of a fringe conspiracy theory group called Posse Comitatus (Power of the Nation).

“This group not only rejected government authority, but was also associated with anti-Semitism, white supremacy and extreme Christian nationalism,” Dr Hurley said.

“Eventually the Posse Comitatus dissolved, but its ideas did not.

“Instead they joined with other anti-government extremist groups and U.S. militias and eventually became what we call the sovereign citizen movement.”

The movement has since spread around the world, thanks in part to social media.

“What started as a minor inconvenience has turned into a real national security issue in countries around the world,” Dr Hurley said.

“Sovereign citizens are undermining confidence in democracy, establishing their own systems of false authority, committing politically motivated violence, inciting civil unrest, engaging in violent confrontations with police, and threatening elected leaders and government officials.” He explained that the internet and social media helped further promote the movement globally, providing “a global platform for its influencers”.

But the Covid pandemic has really accelerated the movement.

“When governments impose lockdowns and restrictions, people resent those rules.

“We’ve been drawn into a movement that says you can completely reject government authority,” Dr Hurley said.

“Like other times when the sovereign citizen movement has grown, this current wave is occurring at a time when economic inequality is rising and democracy is weakening around the world.”

increased anxiety

The Lowy Institute has warned of the increasing number of sovereign citizen “micronizations” emerging across the country.

“Authorities tended to tolerate Australian variants as outlandish expressions of Australian larkism or creative attempts to protest or resist bureaucracy,” the institute said.

He said that while most do not pose a security threat, “delegitimizing government authority” could lead to the creation of “fictitious entities” such as “fake” government agencies and law enforcement agencies.

“Representatives of these organizations often attempt to arrest and prosecute legitimate government officials and police in court,” the institute said.

This occurred in 2021, when a group of Australians linked to the movement claimed to be AFP commissioners in an attempt to obtain arrest warrants for government officials.

Another example was during the pandemic when “large numbers of people motivated by dominant citizen beliefs and other conspiracies were arrested for attempting to kidnap or kill elected officials and high-ranking office holders around the world.”

What can be done?

The think tank said “meaningful action” was needed to eliminate further threats, such as creating a task force dedicated to the sovereign citizen movement.

From there, authorities can develop a better understanding of the “transnational element of their networks, influencers and tactics,” which can be added to a central global database.

Police can then monitor publicly available information and reduce the “global spread of harmful online content.”

“This coordinated stream of international intelligence could create a regularly updated central global database on sovereign citizen events, accessible to law enforcement agencies of partner countries, to help inform procedures and policies,” the Lowy Institute wrote.

The think tank said the flow of information on social media is another element that needs to be addressed.

“Most sovereign citizens are first exposed to sovereign citizen ideology through the internet,” he said.

“Sovereign citizen ideas, arguments, narratives, and tactics are disseminated globally across social media platforms, websites, online forums, and encrypted messaging channels.”

The institute has recommended that the federal government work with tech giants like Meta and Microsoft to reimagine sovereign citizen networks as online terrorist entities through the Global Internet Forum to Combat Terrorism.

This will allow platforms to improve moderation of creators’ content and remove accounts.

“As sovereign citizens increasingly use alternative online platforms with little or no content moderation, this will reduce their presence and influence on mainstream platforms,” the institute said.