WATCH: Aussie freedom protester facing court says he'd do it all again

At the height of the freedom rallies and protests in Melbourne, Steven Booth's iconic 3.5m flagpole has been hard to miss.

After losing his third job since the start of the pandemic, Steve decided enough was enough and that he had to do something.

When he heard there was a protest happening just a kilometre away from his home, Steve grabbed his flags and hit the streets.

"I've never liked being told what to do just for authority's sake," he said.

"I could see through the spin and the lies and the blatant hypocrisy and (I) woke up pretty quickly."

At the time, residents were restricted to a 5km limit from their home and only permitted to leave for a handful of essential reasons.

Located a short stroll from the heart of Melbourne's Greek community in Oakleigh, Steve decided to support local hospitality while making his voice heard at the same time.

"They say men can't multitask but I thought I could get a kebab and make a rally out of it at the same time," he said.

"To let Oakleigh know that Steve Dimopoulos down the road, which is the local MP, Labor MP, here ... he says he represents the Greek community ... he shut down the Greek community for what? I think on the day there was (sic) two cases in Melbourne.

Steve was charged with breaching the Chief Health Officer's orders after being swarmed by police who took him to Oakleigh police station.

"I told them I was in my, I think it was 5km (limit) at the time, I'm 1km away, I told them I had a mask exemption, I was out shopping and, you've seen the flags - they probably weigh 10-15kg - going for a 1km walk that's an exercise to me," he said.

While Steve is covering his own legal bills, he has also donated to Rebel News' FightTheFines.com.au campaign to help others who have found themselves in a similar situation.

"I've contributed to Fight The Fines, we're a community here," he said.

"We've got to look after ourselves, the government arent going to be here for us and we don't want the government to be here for us, we want the government to leave us alone, so it's up to us to take care of one and other."

Since recording this story, Steve received a 12 month good behaviour bond by a magistrate.