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'Sovereign citizens' explained
By Daniel Miles
It's understood the Porepunkah shooter identifies as a "sovereign citizen", a movement steeped in the belief that the government and institutions such as courts are illegitimate.
Harry Hobbs is an Associate Professor at UNSW's Faculty of Law and Justice and an expert in sovereign citizenship.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne it's an idiosyncratic movement where believers "pick and choose" what laws to follow.
"The language of sovereign citizens comes from the United States; it's essentially a person who believes that laws don't apply to them unless they've consented to them," Dr Hobbs said.
"So, the laws passed by parliaments or decisions handed down by judges, they don't apply unless you individually decided to consent for it to apply to you."
Dr Hobbs said some sovereign citizen groups were trying to make "their own parallel institutions of government" where they exert their own authority.
"Essentially, sovereign citizens … believe they have a true and uncorrupted understanding of what the law is, and the rest of us are living in some sort of corrupted legal system."
Dr Hobbs said it's not clear how many people in Australia align with sovereign citizen ideologies.
Local communities have been asked to stay indoors and follow police advice as the search for the gunman continues into the night.
www.abc.net.au
