In Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited v Oldroyd & Anor [2025] NTSC 20 the defendants unsuccessfully argued Court lacked jurisdiction because they had diplomatic immunity as heads of a diplomatic mission for a sovereign nation of Aboriginal people and that they were only bound by tribal laws or religious laws. The Court disagreed.
The judgment states
[1] The plaintiff (‘ANZ’) holds a registered mortgage over the defendants’ property (‘Property’), securing a loan advanced to them in 2009. The defendants are in arrears on the loan and ANZ seeks to enforce the mortgage by an order for possession of the Property.
[2] The first defendant (‘Oldroyd’) and the second defendant (‘Mrs Oldroyd’) are a married couple (together ‘Oldroyds’). They are the registered proprietors of the Property. Mrs Oldroyd did not enter an appearance to these proceedings and took no part in them.
[3] Oldroyd raised numerous arguments challenging the existence or enforceability of the loan documents and the mortgage, alleging fraud and breaches of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) (‘NCCPA’) on the part of ANZ, alleging various breaches of the defendants’ rights in ANZ’s dealings with the Oldroyds, and denying the service of the proceedings upon the Oldroyds and ANZ’s position that the Oldroyds are in arrears under the loan agreement.
[4] At the hearing, I permitted Oldroyd to file in Court documents headed ‘originating motion’ and ‘notice of contention’ challenging the jurisdiction of this Court to hear and determine the proceedings. The challenge was put essentially on the bases that Oldroyd holds diplomatic immunity as an appointed ambassador of a nation comprised of tribal people, the Property is the premises of a diplomatic mission, the Oldroyds are bound only by tribal law and are not bound by the common and statute law of Australia, and the ANZ had broken ‘the Oaths of life the Customary tribal Lore/law of this land and the laws of Elohim God’ by committing fraud and making false allegations. I dismissed that jurisdictional challenge at the hearing and delivered ex tempore reasons for doing so. Those reasons are repeated below (with some minor non-substantive changes and the addition of footnotes).
[5] Ultimately, for the further reasons set out below, I have concluded that the ANZ is entitled to an order for possession of the Property. Reasons for rejecting the challenge to the Court’s jurisdiction
[6] On 18 March 2025 at 5.19pm, Oldroyd attempted to file an ‘originating motion’ and a ‘notice of contention’ containing a challenge to the jurisdiction of this Court to hear and determine these proceedings.
[7] Those documents were not accepted for filing by the Registrar because they were not in the appropriate form and were emailed to the Court after business hours the day before the hearing. Despite those procedural problems, I permitted Oldroyd to put his jurisdictional argument before me. [
8] Essentially, as I understood it, Oldroyd argued that he is an Aboriginal person and therefore of an independent nation state and bound only by tribal laws and/or the laws of God. In addition, he argued that he has diplomatic status because he has been appointed by various signatories to various documents as an ambassador for an independent Aboriginal state or states, and has been ‘internationally recognised’ as such. In this regard, he relied on various correspondence and other documents from officers of embassies of certain countries, referring to meetings or correspondence and referring to Oldroyd under the title ‘Ambassador Oldroyd’. For both reasons, Oldroyd argued that he is not subject to the laws of the Northern Territory or the jurisdiction of this Court.
[9] Oldroyd wished to call evidence from various witnesses to establish the factual assertions he made in support of his arguments. I did not receive that evidence because, even if the factual assertions were established by the proposed evidence, I rejected the arguments based upon them.
[10] The short answers to the arguments are, firstly, that all Aboriginal people are subject to the laws of the Commonwealth and the laws of the States and Territories in which they live. There is a wealth of authority confirming that proposition from both this Courtand the High Court, as well as superior courts in other States. None of the cases referred to by Oldroyd have decided any differently.
[11] The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory was established by statute and has the powers and jurisdiction conferred now by the Supreme Court Act 1979 (NT), which was passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory pursuant to the power conferred on it by s 6 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 (Cth). The Court’s jurisdiction in respect of Aboriginal people who are residents of the Northern Territory is no different to the Court’s jurisdiction in respect of non-Aboriginal people who are residents of the Northern Territory.
[12] Secondly, I do not accept that Oldroyd or Mrs Oldroyd or the associations or groups who he or they purport to represent or stand with are states within the meaning of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which has the force of law in Australia under and subject to the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act 1967 (Cth).
[13] Oldroyd does not have the recognition of the Australian Government as required by Article 4 of that Convention. Consequently, he and Mrs Oldroyd are not diplomatic agents within the meaning of that Convention and do not have any diplomatic status which would render them or the Property immune from the operation and effect of the laws of the Northern Territory, whether under statute or the common law. Consequently, I do not accept that the Property is the premises of a mission within the meaning of that Convention.[
[14] It follows from that conclusion that the immunity under Article 31 of the Convention of a diplomatic agent from the civil and administrative jurisdiction of the receiving state, here Australia, does not apply. By Article 31.1(a), that immunity does not apply in a real action relating to private immovable property situated in the receiving state, unless it is held on behalf of a sending state for the purposes of the diplomatic mission. As I have said, I do not accept that the Property is the premises of a mission.
[15] Oldroyd also asserted that the Property is a sacred site or a heritage site. He also asserted that all mortgage is a fraud. Even if any of those matters are so, they or any of them do not deny to the Supreme Court the power and jurisdiction to hear these proceedings and, if necessary, make determinations about those things.
[16] I therefore rejected the submissions made by Oldroyd and concluded that this Court does have jurisdiction to decide these proceedings.
[17] I add to the above reasons that, for similar reasons to those set out in paragraphs 10 to 11 above, all individuals, regardless of their faith or religious beliefs, are subject to the laws which operate in the place where they live and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory applies equally to all residents of the Northern Territory, regardless of their faith or religious beliefs.
[18] Oldroyd’s request by email sent on 26 March 2025 for these proceedings to be ‘referred’ to the High Court as a matter within its original jurisdiction pursuant to s 75 of the Constitution is refused. It is trite that this Court has, at first instance, jurisdiction to determine the extent of its own jurisdiction and whether or not a particular proceeding falls within it. On 26 March 2025 and on a number of subsequent dates, Oldroyd sought to file by email a ‘motion’ for ‘strike out of the application and summary judgment’, which also purports to claim ‘the full amount of the Defendants Statement of Claim including cost on a full indemnity basis’ (referring the ‘registered commercial lien’ addressed below). The application to file that document is refused. The ‘motion’ was not in the proper form, the relief sought is misplaced and is grounded on matters put by Oldroyd in the hearing.
