COMMENT: The following letter is a copy of Julian Knight’s right of reply repudiating News Corp Australia columnist Charles Miranda’s critical article ‘Knight plots new legal action‘ published in the Herald -Sun newspaper 1st May 2023 at page 12). Mr Knight’s letter was posted to Mr Miranda.
Mr Miranda’s article is loaded with contemptuous bias, making unfounded and false assumptions and allegations against Mr Knight, having not checked the facts nor sought clarity directly from Mr Knight before publishing. For instance, the article presumes that Mr Knight was apparently writing to veteran groups seeking access to claim veteran benefits.
Mr Miranda’s article’s abstract introduction in the Herald-Sun reproduced and editorially re-titled online:
“Hoddle Street massacre gunman seeks veterans’ help” – Mass murderer and former Army cadet Julian Knight is seeking veterans’ help – possibly for compensation”.
Charles Miranda
“Possibly for compensation” presumption ? Totally wrong! Get your facts right Charlie! If you cant get the fact don’t keep guessing just to get some daily diatribe published.
It reveals that Mr Miranda may have qualified many years ago as a journalist, but no longer writes as a journalist (balanced and objective), let alone as an investigative one, but rather as an opinionated daily tabloid columnist (aka a newspaper shock jock) in the same vein as narrow-minded Neil Mitchell of Melbourne’s 3AW radio station had for 33 years perpetuated before his thankful recent retirement.]
Mr Julian Knight
Port Phillip Prison
PO Box 376
LAVERTON VIC 3028
Mr Charles Miranda
2 Holt Street
SURRY HILLS NSW 2010
23 October 2023
Dear Charles,
Both Ben Wadham and Steven Ridd have informed me of your recent contact in regard to the (false) report that I had been reaching out to veterans’ groups. I thought I would write to you to set the record straight.
On 27 November 2022, I wrote to the Victorian Branch of the RSL with a request to obtain the latest edition of The RS L Handbook (I hold a copy of the 2015 edition). It contains a wealth of historical information regarding decorations, medals, significant dates, etc. It also contains the protocol for the conduct of ANZAC Day ceremonies (which are held in Victorian prisons). Contrary to what you reported in your article ‘Knight plots new legal action‘ (Herald -Sun, 1 May 2023, page 12), the Victorian Branch did notrespond to me.
After receiving no reply from the Victorian Branch, I wrote to the Queensland Branch (that published The RSL Handbook). The Queensland Branch subsequently informed me that the 2015 edition was the last edition printed.
To be clear, I do not consider myself a “veteran” (I never served overseas) and I have never approached veterans’ groups about enlisting their support in my renewed fight against the Commonwealth Government.
I say ‘renewed fight’ because following my sentencing in 1988 I declined to take any action in relation to the ‘bastardization’ that I was subjected to at Duntroon in 1987. This was due to a ‘plea bargain’ that I agreed to; we agreed not to explore my time at RMC and they agree not to oppose the setting of a minimum non-parole term. Your colleague Andrew Rule is in possession of various documents regarding this issue. So too is Ben Wadham. Various documents are also reproduced on the website created by my fellow junior staff cadet Steven Ridd – https://julianknight.com.au/.
I felt bound by that plea bargain until 2012, when the Adult Parole Board of Victoria decided that I would not be granted parole ‘for the foreseeable future.’
In 2013, the DART was established and I submitted by DART requirement my ‘Personal Account’ and my ‘Application for a Reparation Payment’.
In 2014, the Victorian Government passed a one-man Act of Parliament to keep me imprisoned. At that time, I commenced civil proceedings in the ACT. All of those proceedings were dismissed due to being ‘out of time’.
In 2015, the DART Assessor found my account to be ‘plausible’. This finding entitled me to two reparation payments.
In 2016, the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Justice retrospectively directed the DART not to make any reparation payments to anyone convicted of ‘a serious crime’. This directive only applied to me (who I suggest was the sole real target) and two others (collateral damage?)
So, fuck ’em. If they want to renege on a deal 26 years after the event and keep me in prison for the rest of my life, they can pay for it.
…2./
2./
If you examine the above timeline, it is just too pathetic to be anything other than how I have described it. If I was after fame and fortune, I would have sued them in 1988. I don’t even need the money now; there are only so many Mars Bars I can buy on the prison canteen.
If I was released, my one wish would be to have every reference to me removed from the Internet. If they recognized what happened to me and stopped denying me any and every benefit, I would shut up.
To be clear, if they (a) said “sorry for what happened to you at Duntroon”; (b) provided me with a couple of counselling sessions; and (c) gave me a reparation payment (but only after scrubbing any outstanding Commonwealth debts I may have – i.e. my HECS debt – so they don’t pay me with one hand then automatically take it back with the other), I would cease campaigning and litigating. Given what I lost – a chance of freedom on parole – this outcome is a poor second prize.
If, on the other hand, they want to continue to deny me anything and to act tough and adopt a “he gets nothing” attitude, I will continue to litigate. After my current Knightv DefenceForce Ombudsman proceeding in the Federal Court comes a belated unfair dismissal claim. It will just go on and on.
Given I am 55-years-old; I can expect to live for another 20 or 30 years. That’s a long time to have my name repeatedly and continually associated with Duntroon. I am going to die in prison (the Victorian Government made sure of that) so I don’t have much else to turn my mind to.
On the subject of the Internet and name association algorithms, if you Google ‘Royal Military College Duntroon’, a box appears on the right-hand side of the screen titled ‘Notable Alumni’. From left to right the first person mentioned is Peter Cosgrove. The second person is me. I find this embarrassing (and so should the Army). The best outcome for all concerned would be that I stopped being associated with Duntroon. I can expect to outlive General Cosgrove. If people playing hardball want to see me eventually supplant him as the first person associated with Duntroon, keep it up and I will keep having my name associated with the place. If they think ruthlessness is a virtue, they shouldn’t complain if I exhibit it.
I wish to make this clear: despite my experience of bastardization at Duntroon, I am proud of having been selected to go there. Responsibility for my failure ultimately rests with me (one of the principles that I was taught and still remember is that of “command responsibility”).
I am ashamed of my actions and frustrated that I cannot now do anything to make amends for them. As I indicated above, I am embarrassed that my name is associated with is, in spite of various arrogant fuckwits who think they are acting out William Golding’s book ‘Lord of the Flies’ in a collegiate setting, still a fine officer training institution. When I read Darren Moore’s book Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-2001, I was proud to see my name included in Appendix 10 at page 489. I winced, however, when I saw I was mentioned in detail at pages 153-156.
An academic one wrote an article about whether it would be better for a notorious Victorian criminal or for me to be released. He opined it would be better to have the criminal released. My retort was that if released, he would have gone-back to dealing drugs and killing people. If I had been released with a clean slate, I would have gone straight into the Defence Force Recruiting Centre and re-enlisted. The fact that a lot of people think like the academic should cause you to ponder whether their thinking has been corrupted.
…3./
3./
There is a well-known photograph of me leaning on another junior staff cadet in one of the car parks at Duntroon.
Two young lads embarking on training for a career in the Army.
It was taken in around March 1987 (before the bastardization really got bad).
I was discharged [from Duntroon and the Army] in July 1987. The Hoddle Street shootings were in August 1987. Look at the smiling youngster and ask yourself “What the Hell happened?”
As a number of people have said (including Tim Watson-Munro and Steven Ridd), they either accepted a psychopath into Duntroon. or Duntroon turned me into one. Which is it? By the way, I underwent both psychiatric and psychological examinations for the Adult Parole Board of Victoria in 2012. Both of them found that I was not a psychopath and did not have any personality disorders. Makes you wonder (or at least it should). Perhaps there really is such a thing as “temporary insanity”.
If you wish to examine my case, Ben Wadham, Mary-Ann Martinek, Steven Ridd, Tim Watson-Munro and Andrew Rule are all familiar with it. You can also feel free to contact me directly if you so choose. I am not averse to criticism.
One final point: whomever fed you the ‘contacting veterans’ groups’ story obviously has his or her own agenda. Perhaps you should ponder what it is. You can feel free to show this letter, or discuss its contents, with whomever you choose.
COMMENT: The following article was published under this title on ‘The Conversation‘ website by Ben Wadham, Senior Lecturer, Flinders University on 1st March 2014. We reproduce it without the bias by AAP photo comments allowed by The Conversation’s editor, and we add a few select photos ourselves. In February […]
