A council worker has completely torn to shreds a conspiracy theorist who was trying to get out of paying a $110 parking fine.
In a hilariously savage but polite exchange, the Victorian council staffer sent a long four-paged letter in response to a bizarre grounds of appeal from a driver who was caught parking in a loading zone.
At times, the driver tried to argue for proof of the laws around parking fines and even brought the late Queen Elizabeth and the value of the Australian dollar into their defence to avoid paying the fine.
The City of Monash Council, in south-east Melbourne, confirmed to news.com.au one of their workers who had been employed since 2019 sent the perfectly reasoned response.
Although the parking infringement occurred in October last year, photos of the letter recently started making the rounds on Twitter.
The complainant appears to be part of the sovereign citizen movement, an ideology rising in popularity in Australia where individuals who believe that they, not judges, juries, law enforcement, or elected officials, should decide which laws to obey and which to ignore.
Sovereign citizens also typically do not believe they should have to pay taxes or fines.
The movement gained national attention in December when the murderous Train family gunned down two young constables and an innocent neighbour during a routine missing person inquiry.
It later emerged that they were part of the extremist sovereign citizen movement, a far-right conspiracy theory that views the state – and authorities – as illegitimate.
The sovereign citizen was spotted parking in a loading zone in Oakleigh, the letter stated, which reportedly carries a $110 penalty, according to VicRoads.
But the conspiracy theorist claimed in their grounds for appeal that the council had “no legal or valid claim” against them as they have “committed no criminal offence, offended/broken no law”.
The council staff member began in a droll tone: “I will address your letter as though you have made a lawful request.”
Quite early on in their formal review letter, the Monash City employee also makes it quite clear that they were aware the person had copied and pasted their complaint from sovereign citizen conspiracy groups.
“I note that you are using a proforma letter from an internet site,” they wrote.
In perhaps the most sassy part of the letter, the worker wrote: “It also appears you are under the mistaken belief that Council is somehow legally obligated to provide you with ‘proof of claim’ within 28 days or you will consider Council to be bound by certain contractual obligations.
“As I indicated before, you appear to hold grave misconceptions of a variety of legal principles and in this case, I must state in the strongest possible terms, you cannot legally bind Council using such an ultimatum.”
The conspiracy theorist demanded that they be provided with documents validating the law under which they were being prosecuted.
This was publicly available information so “there is no legal obligation to provide you a copy, certified or otherwise”, the civil servant retorted.
“I note you demand an affidavit to attest the validity of the Road Rules. Any such affidavit is moot as the actions of the Victoria Parliament are what gives the legislation its validity,” they added.
The sovereign citizen believer also brought up Queen Elizabeth and the failed 1988 referendum to change Australia into a republic, which the council worker admitted “confused” them.
Later on, they called their line of argument absurd, when the conspirator tried to muddy the waters by bringing up the changing value of Australian currency.
“I am assuming that your submission as to it being ‘impossible to value the Australian dollar’ is an exercise of reductio ad absurdum,” the council officer wrote. “While Australian currency is made of plastic, the Australian dollar has value ascribed to it by virtue of the Currency Act 1965.”
The letter ended with a curt but firm decision; “I note that you have not provided sufficient evidence or information that would support withdrawal of the infringement notice.”
City of Monash CEO Dr Andi Diamond congratulated their employee for their thorough response.
“Our officer took a factual, legal approach in his responses as he is required to do when assessing applications for review under the relevant legislation, and the letter reflects his attempt to answer all the questions and propositions that were put to him as part of the appeal to the infringement that was received,” she told news.com.au in a statement.
“The letter can be used as part of any future court proceeding that may arise if the infringement remains unpaid and accordingly the officer was comprehensive in his response.”
She acknowledged that people had found her staff member’s response “amusing” but added that this was not the intention of the letter, as they had just been doing their job.
Social media was filled with praise for the level-headed council worker.
“Sovereign citizen writes to their local council to contest their parking infringement, arguing all sorts of pseudo legal nonsense. The council’s response is GOLD!” one person described it.
Another said: “A simple enough matter to swat away, but still written with beautiful legal understanding and respect.”
– With Alexis Carey and Ally Foster