Controversial ‘sovereign citizen’ Chloe Fisher sparks national debate with defiant stance
A conspiracy theorist was brilliantly shut down by a cop with just one word during a roadside stop. Here’s the reason highway patrol pulled her over.
A conspiracy theorist who filmed her unhinged rant during a roadside police stop was pulled over for driving a Holden Commodore with fake number plates reading “sovereign”.
Chloe Fisher, who goes by the online moniker Sovereign Cleo, made headlines on Sunday after her latest infuriating clash with police went viral online.
The confrontation, understood to be from mid-December 2023 in Victoria, arose when Ms Fisher was pulled over for driving with fake plates and an unregistered vehicle.
When questioned about her car’s fake number plates, she replied: “I’m in terra Australis, there is no state”.
“I’m so tired of this s**t. They’re private plates, nothing false about them. You guys are the fraudulent ones,” she ranted.
“I will uphold the truth. Unfortunately you guys are the ones who sped to catch up to me.”
Ms Fisher continued by insulting the officers’ appearance and baselessly accusing the police force of crimes against humanity before tossing the infringement notice and driving off.
In response to the incident, Victoria Police emphasised that sovereign citizens must comply with the law, debunking their belief in being answerable to no authority.
“While so-called sovereign citizens and conspiracy theorists like to think they are answerable to no authority, the reality is they are part of society and have no choice but to comply with the law,” a spokesman told news.com.au.
Conspiracy theorist’s first run-in with police
Ms Fisher is no stranger to controversy.
She first made headlines in January 2023 after being stopped by NSW Police while driving along a road at Gundagai in the Riverina.
During that stop, she told the officers she was in the process of “going sovereign” and had chosen to remove herself from the “corporation”.
Ms Fisher told officers she was “private … not under any public licence” and operated under her own “moral lore” – not the “law” of the government.
During the confrontation, she handed over a homemade, laminated ID which listed her birthplace as “First Breath Location: Earth”.
After being pressed by the patient police officers she ended up handing over her Victorian driver’s licence and admitting she had legitimate number plates inside her car.
Ms Fisher was fined for not correctly displaying her registered plates and sent on her way.
Meaning behind flag sticker on Holden Commodore
Ms Fisher’s blue Holden Commodore Storm features a sticker showing two flags often hijacked by the sovereign citizen movement: the Eureka Flag and Australian Red Ensign.
The Red Ensign was initially associated with Australia’s commercial shipping vessels but has since been adopted by anti-lockdown and anti-government movements.
Joe McIntyre, an Associate Professor of Law at the University of South Australia who has been researching the sovereign citizen movement, explained the reasoning.
“For a movement that has an inherent distrust of government, the flag’s historical usage as a “people’s flag” must seem appealing,” he wrote in a Conversation article.
“A similar appeal may derive from the fact the ANZACs fought under this flag (as Australian divisions of the British Army).
“In both cases, though, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In both cases, those historical usages spoke more to Australia’s identity as a British dominion.”
Ms Fisher referenced the ANZACs while defending herself after receiving widespread backlash for her interaction with police early last year.
“As I stood in my divine truth, God-given power and rights, I questioned the civil police officer’s authority and intention,” she said, clad in formal country Australian attire,” she said.
“As the police officer stands in her power that she believes to be true and correct, I stand in mine.”
“I am love, I am peace,” she told her few followers.
“Yes, I stand with our Anzacs, upholding the 1901 federation fix pointed red ensign flag proudly as they proudly sacrificed under it.”
Mr Fisher went on to explain she was a “self-funded” disability and aged care support worker who had no faith in Australia’s medical systems or government benefits.
“I am a competent adult who does not need to be governed. I am responsible; I am conscious that I am.
“It’s 2023, wake up – make an article out of that,” she concluded.
Inside Ms Fisher’s grim YouTube account
Her YouTube account, which has just 234 subscribers, is filled with videos showing her boasting about her anti-Establishment ways and pledging to “not give up my rights”.
She appears to have attended multiple Melbourne freedom rallies and the ‘convoy to Canberra’ – an anti-vaccine and lockdown mandate protest in Australia’s capital between late January and mid-February 2022.
On one occasion, she managed to get herself within feet of then-Premier Daniel Andrews, where she called him a “traitor”.
Other clips show a fiery resentment for drag queen story time, which she lamented as “creepy (and) disgusting” during a demonstration in the Shepparton area in November 2023.
She also posted about her disdain for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
When she’s not demonstrating, her social media shows she holds interests in fire twirling, gymnastics, skateboarding, and selling artworks.
‘Sad’: Teal MP weighs in on viral clip
The most recent incident found the woman again the subject of national discussion.
Teal MP Monique Ryan lambasted Ms Fisher’s most recent outing while appearing on Today on Monday morning, bemoaning: “I find it a bit sad.”
“There’s this cognitive dissidence. You say: ‘I don’t live here. It’s not a sovereign state. You can’t tell me what to do, blah, blah, blah, I will drive on your roads, use the health system and other governance if it’s fit’,” she said.
Dr Ryan said the issue was “not uncommon”.
“It’s an issue in our society and something we need to address because there’s a few of these people around,” she said.
Australian media stalwart and former editor of the Sunday Telegraph Neil Breen chalked Ms Fisher’s exploits up to little more than a quest for notoriety.
“These people are trying to make big names for themselves on YouTube carrying on like they’re living in some other sovereignty. You’re not,” he said.