Sovereign Yidindji Nation citizen Wayne Matthew Starr says Qld police have no jurisdiction
A member of the self-proclaimed Sovereign Yidindji Nation told Queensland Police they had no jurisdiction to issue traffic charges against him.
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A man who said he was the detective chief superintendent of Yidindji police told Mareeba police they had no jurisdiction to charge him and that they were trespassing, a court has heard.
A routine traffic intercept on January 20, 2023, on Anzac Ave in Mareeba, culminated in a legal imbroglio as Wayne Matthew Starr, 53, contested seven traffic charges in Mareeba Magistrates Court on March 14.
Representing himself, Mr Starr told Senior Constable Richard Belcher, who gave evidence, that to make him to have a Queensland licence was forced assimilation and subjugation and denied his right to self-determination.
He contested charges that he altered or defaced an identification plate, drove an uninsured vehicle, drove without a licence, had things that purport to be, but are not, registration certificates, number plates or permits, unregistered vehicle, impersonating a police officer, and unlawful possession of an article resembling a licence.
Mr Starr – who denied to police that his name was Wayne Matthew Starr – said First Nations sovereignty had never been ceded.
The court heard his name on his birth certificate was Wayne Matthew Lavery.
He legally changed his name to Wayne Matthew Starr, and he told the court he now wanted to be called Wayne Matthew Balbara.
Mr Starr asked Constable Belcher if he was aware there was “another sovereignty here, another authority here” and the police officer told him he did not recognise Yidindji Sovereign Nation as an authority.
“Queensland is the authority as far as I am concerned, and that is what I enforced,” Constable Belcher said.
The court heard he had a licence plate of YID-008 which was not recognised, and a licence that was not recognised.
Mr Starr asked police witnesses questions regarding the constitution and Magistrate Tom Braes said “he’s a police officer, not a constitutional lawyer” and “I’m not listening to your speeches”.
Magistrates Braes said ultimately it was a question for him to determine if the Yidindji Sovereign Nation existed and had any rights in Queensland.
“There is another space, a coexisting sovereignty, Yidindji has its own law, we have constitutional experts advising the government right now,” Mr Starr told the court.
He sought to take the matter to the High Court but said he couldn’t because there was an application fee and Yidindji had its own currency, not Australian currency.
He told the court there were Yidindji police on standby.
Before the trial began, the court heard there had been advice the Commonwealth Attorney-General would not be intervening and there were no High Court proceedings pending.
Mr Starr said he could not get legal representation as he was from a parallel jurisdiction.
He said Queensland resided in Yidindji territory and Australia was a foreign entity.
The court was shown body worn camera footage of Senior Constable Scott Adamson, who gave evidence.
“He said he was the detective chief superintendent of police, we had no authority to do what we were going, and were in fact trespassing, be produced a police badge,” Constable Adamson said.
He said Mr Starr had photo identification in the name of Matthew Lavery, but his police badge had Matthew Balbara, and a search of registers did not identify any persons by that name, but the name Wayne Matthew Starr came up.
“I showed him the photo, he denied that was, him, I was 100 per cent convinced that was the person talking to me,” Constable Adamson said.
The court heard the Nissan Patrol’s VIN number had been obscured with a plate riveted over it with hand etching on it.
Cross-examined by police prosecutor Sergeant Trevor Woodman, Mr Starr said he had the power to arrest people including Australians “but that was a prickly area”.
The Sovereign Yidindji Government was established by Murrumu Walubara, formerly known as Jeremy Geia, in 2014, when he renounced his Australian citizenship and declared himself a citizen of the Yidindji nation.
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