Old Parliament House reviews public booking system after ‘grand jury indictment event’ held at building’s courtyard. Old Parliament House will review its public booking system after a group of sovereign citizens seeking to “indict” politicians were able to hold a formal event condemning the Australian government’s “occupation” within the building. On Saturday, the group of at least 50 gathered at the former Parliament House, now known as the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, to “indict” 266 unspecified officials of the Australian government, members of parliament, judiciary and public officials for “treason, fraud, democide and other crimes against humanity”.
A man, who the group referred to as the “people’s prosecutor”, then read out 40 minutes of alleged evidence to support the group’s claims before voting to proceed to a “people’s grand jury”, video from the event shows. “The indictment has been created. History has been made. History is in the making. This is a message to the Australian government, the Australian people, the people of Terra Australis, are awake,” one of the organisers said over the cheers and whoops.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. Sovereign citizens are a broad ideology that believe governments aren’t legitimate and individuals retain “sovereign” rights to disobey any law. Old Parliament House is no stranger to the sovereign citizens’ movement. In late 2021, a group of protesters linked to the sovereign citizen ideology set fire to the building’s facade after days of anti-vaccine and anti-authority demonstrations.
A spokesperson for Old Parliament House said of the most recent incident that the group were able to book the building’s internal courtyard under an acronym through the museum’s third party event contractor. Guardian Australia understands the event was booked as “GJI event”, or grand jury indictment event. The group were equipped with seating, a PA system and catering. After staff had identified the event’s motives, the spokesperson said they “immediately increased security arrangements to ensure the event ended peacefully and without incident”.
A public stream showed the event lasted for at least one-and-a-half hours with the organisers inviting attenders to stay for afternoon tea in the venue before convening for a barbecue on the parliamentary lawns. “As a result, Old Parliament House will be reviewing event booking processes with a view to adding an extra layer of oversight,” the spokesperson said. “The event does not align with the role of Old Parliament House. Our role is to strengthen understanding of Australia’s democratic system.”.
The group claims it will meet next month at an undisclosed location to carry out its grand jury. Sign up to Afternoon Update. Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters. after newsletter promotion. Harry Hobbs, a legal expert in Indigenous rights and sovereign citizens, likened the pseudo-legal ideology to a “salad bar” of ideas where people use “little bits” and apply to their own unique circumstances.
“It looks a bit like law. It uses legal sources, but … it creates this alternative legal universe,” he said. Keiran Hardy, a criminology expert, said groups like these posed less of a threat after considerable decline since Covid lockdowns, where broad coalitions of political far-right, anti-vax and anti-government groups formed. “There’s obviously no legal basis to this. They can’t bring their own legal action,” he said.
“I actually think trying to shut down these meetings will just play into that conspiracy that the government is controlling them. “I do it think would be better just to sort of let these things play out and blow over, rather than making too much of it as a threat.”. In January, the Australian Electoral Commission warned the upcoming federal election faced domestic threats, including mis- and disinformation from “sovereign citizens, conspiracy theorists and keyboard warriors”.
