An errant driver who ran the “sovereign citizen argument” to challenge her charge and fine – and whose firearms licence was subsequently revoked – has been forced to make an embarrassing about-face in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).
Burdekin agronomist Amelia Pivotto referred to pseudo law when she challenged her September 2023 speeding fine with Queensland Police Service (QPS), which, as a result, determined her not a fit and proper person to hold a firearms licence.
“I expect that most people reading this will immediately ask – what does a speeding fine have to do with a firearms licence? The answer to this lies in the manner in which Ms Pivotto chose to challenge that fine,” explained QCAT Member Taylor in his 15-page decision delivered in Brisbane earlier this month.
Member Taylor said the driver asserted to police that they had no authority to fine her for travelling 113km/h in a 100km/h zone, and that she was not the named person on the infringement notice but rather her “strawman” name appeared on it.
In its subsequent revocation letter, QPS told Ms Pivotto it deemed there was “a real risk to public safety as you have advised you do not intend on complying with the laws of this state, and those which are enforced by police”, and accordingly determined “that it is in the public interest for your (firearms) licence to be revoked”.
Member Taylor said by the time of the hearing to review the QPS decision to cancel her firearms licence, Ms Pivotto had “seen the error of her way”.
“She had accepted that what she had learned through her own research was not only entirely misguided it was simply wrong,” he said.
“As I listened to her, and observed her, during the hearing she had accepted that when choosing to challenge the fine in the manner she did, presenting her case as it was put in that letter, she was not only naive, but her actions were also stupid.”
Member Taylor set aside the revocation decision, but said he understood why QPS revoked the licence on the strength of the letter and the sovereign citizen ideologies it expressed.
In her application for a review of the decision, Ms Pivotto said she had relied on information from pseudo-law website Know Your Rights, claiming:
“I am a law abiding citizen and personally believe that the law must be upheld. I have every intention of complying with the law, and do so daily. I never intended to come across as a Sovereign Citizen or to hold Sovereign Citizenship beliefs. I thought I was quoting the Constitution, (sic) however, I obviously received some poor legal advice without fully understanding what this advice meant. I have since paid the fine.”
Member Taylor said during cross-examination by the QPS, it became apparent Ms Pivotto had also contravened the Weapons Act 1990 (Qld) in the 11 months she had held her firearms licence, by failing to properly secure her rifle, and by using it for work purposes.
Ms Pivotto said her understanding of the legislation was that she had properly secured the rifle, and that her recreational licence condition allowed her to use her rifle for work. After an explanation given to her by QPS at the hearing, she conceded she had broken the law.
QPS pointed out that Ms Pivotto’s explanation for her two contraventions of the Act was another example of her naivety.
Member Taylor said even if he was wrong about the sovereign citizen argument, those failures by Ms Pivotto would not be enough to justify revocation of her licence.
He concluded she was not a risk to the public at large by the misuse of weapons, and ordered the QPS decision be set aside.
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