April 18, 2009
Issue
On April 17 a judge issued an order for seizure of property against Sean Pickard, an activist involved in campaigns for Indigenous rights. This follows his failure to pay fines that were imposed as a result of convictions on five counts of "failing to produce a ticket" on Melbourne's privatised public transport system.
During the hearing, Pickard told the court he rejected the Crown's jurisdiction over Australia. He said the "authorised officers" who check tickets on public transport had no valid authority since they were appointees of a government that had no valid authority.
This was because it was a product of the invasion of Australia by the British Crown and because there had been no treaty with the Indigenous peoples.