Authorities have confirmed the suspect, who remains at large, is known to police as a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen.<\/a><\/p>\n In general terms, sovereign citizens believe government is illegitimate and that individuals are not subject to federal, state, or local laws<\/a>. They often espouse anti-government views and refuse to pay taxes, parking fines and rates.<\/p>\n While the history of the movement in Australia dates back to the 1970s, researchers and law enforcement agencies say there has been a sharp rise since the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n Dezi Bird Freeman has long been known as a so-called “sovereign citizen”. (Supplied)<\/p>\n Associate professor Josh Roose, a leading expert on religious and violent extremism at Deakin University, says he has seen an emerging pattern of sovereign citizenship groups and other fringe movements spreading across rural and regional Australia.<\/p>\n “You’ve got this rapidly increasing inequality in the regions,” Dr Roose said.<\/p>\n “People often can’t even buy a house in the town they grew up in because they’ve been locked out by investors \u2014 industries have packed up and moved, farms have shut down, other forms of the economy have taken over in regional Australia.<\/p>\n “All their problems can be blamed on this current state of affairs, and just by declaring themselves sovereign and free, all of a sudden life gets a lot easier.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Not all of those who identify as sovereign citizens express their views violently, but Dr Roose says the alleged shooting in Porepunkah appears consistent with some of the more extreme movements that have flourished.<\/p>\n “What we’ve seen here [in Porepunkah] is an individual who’s moved off grid, who has a long history of engagement in sovereign citizen circles \u2026 who’s armed himself to the teeth and has a deep hatred of police that’s both established in the media, but also by his actions,” Dr Roose said.<\/p>\n Police are searching for the gunman in dense bushland near Porepunkah. (ABC News: Patrick Rocca)<\/p>\n Dr Roose pointed to other high-profile cases with links to regional communities, including the Christchurch attacker Brenton Tarrant, who grew up in the NSW town of Grafton, and the police shooting at a remote property in Wieambilla, in southern Queensland.<\/p>\n Tarrant had spent years cultivating a presence in online extremist networks, while the couple accused of orchestrating the shooting in Wieambilla had connections with the global sovereign citizenship movement.<\/p>\n “We’re seeing new forms of extremist ideology emerge out of regional Australia,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dr Roose said.Why are sovereign citizens popping up in regional Australia?<\/p>\n From Dr Roose’s perspective, the lack of investment in regional communities, inequitable access to education and wealth are key ingredients that allow these ideologies to flourish.<\/p>\n “But the other layer to this is there’s an independent spirit in Australian history, in the regions in particular, and these intersect,” \u00a0he said.<\/p>\n “So you have \u2026 if not distrust, then at least a level of suspicion that the government is not doing much for the regions.”<\/p>\n Josh Roose says a lack of investment in regional communities is causing a surge in extremist ideologies. (AAP: Jono Searle)<\/p>\n According to Sam Tierney, a principal solicitor based in the coastal NSW town of Tathra, geographic isolation is also fuelling the rise of so-called “Sov Cits”.<\/p>\n “Recent psychological studies have shown that isolation can lead to a removal of genuine human connection,” he said.<\/p>\n “If you think about it, it’s no different to people sitting in the hills of Afghanistan and being exposed to radical ideologies, including on social media. Anyone who’s more isolated is going to be more susceptible.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This online radicalisation was a key factor in the case of the Wieambilla shooters, Gareth and Stacey Train, according to evidence given by Dr Roose during the coronial inquest last year.<\/p>\n Wieambilla shooters believed they were in ‘final battle’ with police<\/a><\/p>\n Three “radicalised” conspiracy theorists who gunned down two police officers and their neighbour believed they were in a “final battle” as “the end” arrived, a Queensland court has heard.<\/p>\n The Trains subscribed to a Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism, believing there would be a final battle before “the golden age”.<\/p>\n Dr Roose said their trajectory to radicalisation had escalated from online activity, allowing them to connect with a global conspiracy movement from their isolated property in rural Queensland.<\/p>\n Figureheads of the sovereign citizen movement who have been involved in high-profile legal cases have also contributed to the spread of the movement.<\/p>\n Wayne Glew has built a significant online following since his court appearances. (ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt: Kenith Png)<\/p>\n In 2018, former West Australian police officer Wayne Glew had his farm seized<\/a> after he refused to pay the Geraldton council $300,000 in rates and legal costs because he did not believe in local government.<\/p>\n Since then, Mr Glew’s court appearances have attracted significant media attention<\/a>, and he has developed a strong online following.<\/p>\n Rise in extreme ideological groups post-pandemic<\/p>\n While the Australian Federal Police acknowledges some Australians have identified as sovereign citizens for decades, the movement has grown since the COVID pandemic, even though many dismiss the label.<\/p>\n Opposition to vaccine mandates and lockdowns during that time helped fuel tensions with authorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2022, <\/strong>thousands of demonstrators <\/a>took to Canberra’s streets protesting against what they saw was government overreach.<\/p>\n The risks of Australia’s sovereign citizen movement<\/a><\/p>\n The risk posed by the sovereign citizen movement in Australia has concerned experts and authorities for years. Now it may have become a reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another fringe group that grew out of the pandemic was Billboard Battalion, which describes itself as a “grassroots community movement aimed at public education about what is truly happening regarding COVID, food supply issues, etc.”<\/p>\n It was founded by third-generation Victorian farmer Wade Northausen, who was once involved in agripolitics<\/a> and railed against government policies such as the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.<\/p>\n In an interview with the ABC, Mr Northausen said that Billboard Battalion was born in 2022 from a deep distrust of governments and the mainstream media “for its role in conveying the fraud of the COVID-19 narrative and a lethal vaccine.”<\/p>\n “It began with taking vehicles with billboards and convoys into communities and having public hall meetings to tell people the truth about what was going on \u2026 people are hungry for the truth,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Northausen said he now spent most of his time travelling around the country in a branded bus, “educating” people about things like “all the legislation sending farmers broke,” and posting video content online.<\/p>\n Billboard Battlion claims to be a “grassroots community movement” led by Victorian farmer Wade Northausen. (Supplied: Billboard Battlion Instagram)<\/p>\n A post on the group’s website, attributed to Mr Northausen, reads: “Going to war is what we do. TAKING ON ALL ENEMIES. Fighting for the safety and survival of the Australian people is our mission.”<\/p>\n In social media posts, he has described politicians as being “corrupt” and “criminal”.<\/p>\n But he has dismissed any suggestion the group, which has amassed 15,000 followers on Facebook, is made up of “sovereign citizens.”<\/p>\n “Our system of government can work \u2026 we just need to make sure the people in it are not corrupt criminals,” Mr Northausen said.<\/p>\n “Police should not be controlled by politicians that are pushing policies that are attacking the Australian people.<\/p>\n “People can’t afford to pay rent. They can’t pay bills or afford to feed their kids.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Challenge for regional communities<\/p>\n The growth of sovereign citizen and other extreme groups in regional communities poses unique challenges for local authorities, who often operate over large geographical areas with limited resources.<\/p>\n In the wake of the Wieambilla shooting in 2022, Queensland Police updated their procedures on dealing with conspiracy theorists and sovereign citizens<\/a>, noting that these interactions “may heighten the personal safety risk to police and other members of the community”.<\/p>\n Queensland coroner Terry Ryan is yet to hand down his inquest findings, but families of the police officers killed flagged “serious operational failings”<\/a> that needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n In the case of Porepunkah, 10 local officers were deployed to execute a search warrant at Freeman’s semi-rural property on Tuesday evening, where he allegedly shot and killed two officers and injured another before absconding into the bush alone.<\/p>\n Emergency services swarmed the small town in Victoria’s north-east at about lunchtime on Tuesday. (ABC News: Annie Brown)<\/p>\n With Mr Freeman still at large, local police ranks have been bolstered, with critical response teams and SES working together to comb a wide area, traversing alpine terrain in poor weather conditions.<\/p>\n But police have acknowledged they are searching for an experienced bushman<\/a> who knows the area well.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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