There was routine media coverage this week of an unremarkable protest against a Melbourne local council’s plans to build a childcare centre on part of a reserve.
But a Herald Sun article contained a clue that the backlash is part of a bigger story about the campaigning efforts of a fringe movement inspired by an anti-government ideology.
The caption on a picture of the “furious” residents with the campaign’s ringleaders posing at the front identified an organiser, Darren Bergwerf, as “mayor of the people’s council”.
The title — subsequently removed by the Herald Sun — is a reference to Bergwerf’s “shadow council”, the Frankston People’s Council. The group is based on sovereign citizen beliefs, an anti-government ideology that incorrectly claims government bodies such as local councils are illegitimate and that citizens are exempt from their laws and powers. It’s an ideology that’s cross-pollinated among many conspiracy communities and, in some cases, has been a belief of people who’ve committed acts of violence.
The Long Street reserve protest was organised out of a Facebook group called My Place Frankston. It’s one of dozens of similarly named “My Place” groups for different suburbs around Australia founded by Bergwerf.
At first glance, the group appears to be a typical local neighbourhood online space with nearly 5000 members, the description of the group contains dog-whistles to the founder’s conspiratorial beliefs.
Prospective members are told that it’s a group for “like-minded people” to “support one another” for “pro-choice” organising — once a slogan for bodily autonomy that has been appropriated to by the anti-vaccine community. A poll about the group’s concerns created by one of its administrators lists two common subjects of conspiracy theories, 5G mobile towers and Safe Cities, alongside the Long Street reserve as options.
The ultimate objective of these My Place groups, according to members, is to create parallel institutions so that members may exist outside the confines of Australian mainstream society.
Bergwerf has a public history of espousing fringe and conspiratorial beliefs. In addition to the Frankston People’s Council, he also runs another sovereign citizen group called People’s Trust Victoria. The former promises to provide “the constitutionally correct system of local government” for Frankston while the latter offers guidelines which falsely claim can help people avoid paying land tax, rates and fines.
He baselessly claimed there was election fraud in the federal 2022 election and declared himself the winner of the seat of Dunkley before the poll. His independent candidacy was endorsed by the far-right unregistered party AustraliaOne, whose leader, Riccardo Bosi, is an anti-vaccine, COVID-19 denialist who has threatened to hang journalists.
Bergwerf has woven his sovereign citizen ideology into the efforts to influence council decisions by organising group members to attend the real council’s meetings and protest. He has wrongly claimed that Frankston City Council is “fraudulently” acting as a government body when it is instead a corporation — a common anti-government sovereign citizen belief. The group’s organisers openly discuss using the protest to recruit for the Frankston People’s Council in the Facebook group.
Bergwerf and the group have even found support from within the council. Deputy mayor Liam Hughes, whose election last year aged 20 made him Frankston’s youngest deputy mayor, appeared at the protest. Hughes told Crikey he was aware and wasn’t concerned about Bergwerf’s views and the Frankston People’s Council — despite the group fundamentally believing that his position is illegitimate.
“Darren’s ideologies have nothing to with this current matter at hand,” he said. “The issue is about an environmental haven potentially being concreted over. Everyone who attended the event wants that reserve to be protected.”
A key part of the group’s strategy has been to gain media attention to promote their organisation. Bergwerf wrote on Facebook about joining the Long Street reserve meeting: “There will be a mainstream media there and this would be a golden opportunity to show the strength of our community together.”
After the Herald Sun article was published, the group’s members bragged about scoring interviews on 3AW, ABC Radio Melbourne and speaking to a Nine reporter under the auspices of protesting the Long Street reserve development.
One member responded with glee: “Wow, that’s awesome!.. I hope people will start waking up to see what’s going on…”
Neither Bergwerf nor My Place Frankston responded to questions from Crikey.
If only Herald Sun had real journalists on staff ! Other Media outlets just follow the rubbish in that rag without any critical analysis. ABC such a disappointment, News Radio just take the printed copy as fact and quote it , hour after hour , on their rolling news.
I really think that the AFP, ASIO and the taxation revenue collecting services needs to pay this group more attention.
Anyone threatening to hang someone needs closer surveillance in order for them to be prevented from acting upon their threats..
Surely this sovereign citizen rubbish will come to an abrupt halt when its proponents find themselves up against the implacable force of the law?
Only at an individual level, then they’ll grit their teeth and pay their fine then Dunning Kruger takes over. What happened to Rod Culleton is a case study – he’s still out there grifting with that nonsense.
Not so far.
Far too optimistic. A few might decide it’s too much bother and chuck in the towel, but there are plenty of others who are not only prepared to argue, they welcome the chance to make their stand, cheered on by their comrades. Wexford in this thread has already mentioned Rod Culleton, who has already been repeating this nonsense in courts he refuses to recognise several times, all the while falsely insisting he is a senator too, but there are plenty more. Some want to do more than argue; they can and do use lethal violence in their cause. That is more common in the USA than here for obvious reasons. They picture themselves as oppressed but heroic martyrs for ‘freedom’.
Up to a point they resemble unfunny variations on the bolshie peasant Dennis in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They keep up the nonsense until the legal authorities have to respond, and then they complain bitterly about the violence inherent in the system.
“Doing a Karen, anyone?”
I really feel for the police. I read a newspaper article about a cop who pulled a SovCit over for speeding. The guy started doing all the We the people stuff and talking about his identity and how the law didn’t apply to him. The cop had never heard of SovCits and thought the guy was gay and somehow thought he was being harassed by a homophobic cop. The SovCit and the flummoxed cop ended up back at the station to sort things out.
I agree, and of course it’s not only cops who are baffled when they first encounter this crap. Magistrates, tax office personnel and many more can join the list. Anyway, let’s note that the cop in the incident you mention had a far better outcome than the ones in the article Wikipedia describes under the heading 2010 West Memphis police shootings.
Hello Cam,
I appreciate your reporting of these issues. I also understand that many people, including much of the Crikey readership, consider the views expressed by Sovereign Citizen types, among others, to be a tad repugnant. I also do.
However, I think that stating that Bergwerf has ‘found support’ from within council is a stretch, just based on the facts you’ve presented here. Hughes quite clearly stated that their opposition to the proposal was separate to their other beliefs. Unless we, as a a society, consider that adherence to sovereign citizenry ideology delegitimises every other principle they hold? Hughes clearly doesn’t, and I’m inclined to feel the same. If we do, we just risk further alienation and radicalisation. I understand that they want to promote their own ideology while there, but so what? Let it stand or fall on its merits. It’ll fall. And maybe a patch of public land will be preserved.