THE AGE FRAUDELENTLY ATTACKS AUSTRALIAN CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP

This is an article printed in The Age newspaper in Melbourne back in 2004. This article unfairly maligns Peter Olney and important civil liberties group UPMART. Interestingly there was no follow up story from The Age when Peter won on appeal in the County Court in 2005.

READ THE ORIGINAL AGE ARTICLE HERE

Registration scheme bogus

By Dan Silkstone
June 7, 2004

The State Government and VicRoads have warned Victorians about a civil liberties group offering motorists lifetime vehicle registration for $500 and issuing illegal number plates.

The group, which claims to have 3500 Australian members, is known as the United People Movement Against Road Tolls.

UPMART's website offers the chance to "claim a lawful exemption from paying road tolls" under a scheme dubbed Common Law Vehicle Registration. The website promises, "Pay once forever!!" and claims to offer lawful car registration.

While other Victorian bumpers proclaim the state as "The place to be", UPMART gives members home-made plates bearing the words "HM Elector's Parliament" (HM stands for Her Majesty's).

Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said such schemes were "highly illegal".

"People who participate in these schemes are being ripped off and are subject to severe penalties for driving an unregistered vehicle," he said.

State Labor backbencher Tony Robinson raised concerns about the group in Parliament, saying he had seen an advertisement for the scheme in the newsletter of Box Hill senior citizen's group, National Seniors.

"I am very concerned that the National Seniors organisation and others might be misled by the advertisement," he said.

Peter Olney, 62, an UPMART member and spokesman, displays the group's black-and-white numberplates on his four-wheel-drive and backs the group's fight against what he sees as an unjust licensing and registration system.

Mr Olney, of Mitcham, said UPMART's lifetime registration cost him $500.

He said UPMART members believed the scheme was legal under citizenship rights from the British Bill of Rights, the Australian Constitution and the Road Safety Act.

Mr Olney will appear before the Ringwood Magistrates Court next month to appeal against a $110 fine he received in January for driving a car without legal registration. VicRoads says several people have been fined for displaying the plates and have fought unsuccessful court actions.

"There is no provision for common law vehicle registration in the Road Safety Act," said VicRoads General Manager Geoff Shanks.

Mr Olney said the Road Safety Act did not specify that VicRoads was the only body permitted to offer a registration service and claimed that UPMART was legally allowed to offer Victorians an alternative. He said "dozens" of drivers bore UPMART plates.

Mr Batchelor said VicRoads was the only agency authorised to register vehicles in Victoria. Fines for driving an unregistered vehicle cost up to $500.

The group also claims its scheme allows motorists to avoid paying for tollways.