‘Objectively nonsense’: Sovereign citizen ‘pseudo-law’ arguments clogging up Australia’s courts

Suncorp Bank was seeking to repossess a home in Thornlie in Perth’s southeast, after its owner defaulted on the $400,000 mortgage in 2022 — before passing away the following year, delaying proceedings.

In documents filed with the court prior to his death, Stevan Gordon Fish expressed what Supreme Court of WA Justice Michael Lundberg described as a “nonsensical view of the essential framework of our legal system, sometimes conveniently referred to as the ‘sovereign citizen’ movement”.

“Much of the affidavit material and the accompanying submissions are, objectively, nonsense,” Justice Lundberg said.

Styling himself as “Stevan Gordon of the family Fish, a living man, loyal subject of the crown, (Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith)”, Mr Fish and later his partner, Ainslie Kounis, appeared to “share a similar view as to the applicability to them of the laws of this country, and the applicability of those laws to the financial and property arrangements between Mr Fish and the plaintiff lender”.

“In her most recent affidavit dated November 20 2024, which consists of 42 pages of closely typed mate...
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