KNIGHT’s Legal Battles Record

All these court cases listed below reside in the public domain, so long as you know where to find them.  Instead, on this website, we facilitate access to all these court cases by reproducing details of each court case on this website under the menu header ‘Legal Battles‘.

We make the following .PDF document readable, safely downloadable and then printable publicly.  The following list of cases in is chronological order and includes cases brought against Julian Knight as well as the ones he has brought since being incarcerated in various maximum security prisons battling while denied access to everything – legal representation, a computer, stationery, Internet, email, legal and source documents except only by Freedom of Information (F.O.I.) applications lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The document is sourced from F.O.I. court records of Julian Knight.  This particular list is dated 1988 – 2023.  This embedded 13-page .PDF document below is of a relatively large size of 7.6 MB, so it is likely not accessible by using a mobile device such as an iPhone or Android.  Should this document not readily appear by simply viewing this webpage, then we suggest clicking the listed option ‘Open in New Tab’.

Download [7.59 MB]

List of Cases are not what they seem

Whereas other  Internet sources about Julian Knight’s listed legal actions are exaggerated in quantity for ulterior hateful motives, as this lot below conveys.   Various media have attempted compiling a list of his court cases.  They do so to it seems try to slur his reputation of being somehow a ‘vexations litigant‘ – that is, someone who persistently brings legal action without reasonable grounds or for improper purposes.

Such is untrue about Julian Knight.  There are flaws in this list of 68 cases.  Many are repeats; else appeals brought after the original cases were deemed by the applicant Mr Knight to have been a21 denied of his natural justice.

The following cases are listed in reverse chronological order, most recent (thus far) at top.

  1. Knight v Defence Force Ombudsman [2024] FCA 474 Button J
  2. Knight v Defence Force Ombudsman VID364 [2023] FCA
  3. Knight v G4S Custodial Services Pty Ltd [2023] FCA 926
  4. Knight v Commonwealth Ombudsman [2023] FCA 868
  5. Knight v Victoria [2017] HCA 29
  6. Knight v Department of Education [2017] (reparations claim for historical sexual assault in Wodonga in 1981, age 13)
  7. Knight v Commonwealth of Australia (No 3) [2017] ACTSC 3
  8. Knight v Commonwealth of Australia [2016] FCA 1160
  9. Knight v State of Victoria [2014] FCA 369 (11 April 2014) Mortimer J
  10. Knight v Wise [2014] VSC (16 June 2014) Daly AsJ
  11. Knight v State of Victoria [2014] FCA 369 (11 April 2014) Mortimer J
  12. Knight v Wise [2014] VSC 76 (7 March 2014) Forrest J
  13. Knight v Governor PPP [2014] VSC 10 (31 January 2014) Rush J
  14. Knight v Wise (No 2) [2013] VSC 339 (28 June 2013) Emerton J
  15. Knight v Adult Parole Board [2013] VSC 97 (12 March 2013) Macaulay J
  16. Knight v Commissioner, Corrections Victoria [2013] VSC 13 (30 January 2013) Hollingworth J
  17. Knight v Selisky [2012] VSC 635 (19 December 2012) Bell J
  18. Knight v Hastings [2012] VSCA 315 (appeal costs) (18 December 2012) Neave JA & Hargrave AJA
  19. Knight v Wise [2012] VSCA 315 (appeal) (18 December 2012) Neave JA & Hargrave AJA
  20. Knight v Secretary, Department of Justice [2012] VSC 613 (14 December 2012) McMillan J
  21. Knight v Wise [2012] VSC 506 (31 October 2012) Kyrou J
  22. Knight v Adult Parole Board [2012] VSC 23 (3 February 2012) Osborn J
  23. Knight v Hastings [2012] VSC 423 (costs) Williams J
  24. Knight v Hastings [2012] VSC 203 (17 May 2012) Williams J
  25. Knight v Secretary, Department of Justice [2011] VSC 571 (15 December 2011) Daly AsJ
  26. Knight v Wise [2011] VSC 313 (7 July 2011) Hollingworth J
  27. Knight v Hastings [2011] VSC 332 (24 June 2011) Emerton J
  28. Knight v Department of Justice (General) [2011] VCAT 1276 (16 June 2011) Davis J
  29. Knight v Corrections Victoria 3 [2010] VSC 338 (11 August 2010) Bell J
  30. The Commissioner, Corrections Victoria v Knight (2010) 31 VR 567
  31. The Commissioner, Corrections Victoria v Knight [2010] VSCA 203 (13 August 2010) Maxwell P & Nettle JA
  32. Knight v Hastings & Roach [2010] VSC 99 (3 May 2010) Robson J
  33. Knight v Corrections Victoria [2009] VSC 607 (18 December 2009) Vickery J
  34. Attorney-General (Victoria) v Knight [2009] VSC 465 (7 October 2009) Harper J
  35. Knight v Attorney-General (Victoria) [2009] VSC 287 (1 July 2009) Byrne J
  36. Knight v Money [2009] VSC 242 (2 June 2009) Byrne J
  37. Knight v Corrections Victoria [2009] VSC 607 (18 December 2009) Vickery J
  38. Knight v Anderson [2007] 16 VR 532 Bell J
  39. Knight v Anderson [2007] VSC 278 (1 August 2007) Bell J
  40. Attorney-General (Victoria) v Knight [2004] VSC 407 (19 October 2004) Smith J
  41. Knight v Secretary to the Department of Justice [2004] VSC 29 (costs) (23 February 2004) Kellam J
  42. Knight v Spadano & Anor [2004] VSCA 228 (appeal) (5 December 2003) Buchanan & Chernov JJA
  43. Knight v Spadano & Anor (2003) 145 A Crim R 1
  44. Knight v Spadano & Anor [2003] VSC 413 (costs)
  45. Knight v Minister for Corrections [2003] VSC 413
  46. Knight v Spadano & Anor [2003] VSC 412 (judgment) (7 October 2003) Cummins J
  47. Knight v Minister for Corrections [2003] VSC 412
  48. Knight v Minister for Corrections & Ors [2003] VSC 82 (21 February 2003) Warren J
  49. Knight v CORE [2003] VCAT 712 (costs)
  50. Knight v State of Victoria (CORE) & Wise [2003] VSC 459 (14 November 2003) Kellam J
  51. Knight v Secretary to the Department of Justice [2003] VSC 341 (appeal) (10 September 2003) Kellam J
  52. Knight v Spadano & Scaife [2003] VSCA 102 (appeal) (23 July 2003) Ormiston & Phillips JJA
  53. Knight v State of Victoria (CORE) & Wise [2003] VCAT 712 (costs) (20 June 2003) Coghlan DP
  54. Knight v CORE [2003] VCAT 501 (10 April 2003) McNamara DP
  55. Knight v CORE [2002] VCAT 1769 (20 December 2002) Steele SM
  56. Knight v CORE [2002] VCAT 731 Coglan DP
  57. Knight v Wise & Spadano BC200204964 (Unreported Judgments Disk 4)
  58. Knight v Wise & Spadano (2002) 134 A Crim R 95
  59. Knight v Wise & Spadano [2002] VSC 355 (27 August 2002) Balmford J
  60. Knight v State of Victoria (CORE) & Wise [2002] VCAT 731 (strike out) (12 July 2002) Coghlan DP
  61. Knight and Department of Justice (No 2) (August 1996) 64 FOI Review 49
  62. Knight and Department of Justice (No 2) (1996) 63 FOI Review 32
  63. Knight and Department of Justice (February 1996) 61 FOI Review 9
  64. Knight and Department of Justice (No 2) (1995) 8 VAR 460 (19 May 1995) Coghlan PM
  65. Knight and Department of Justice (1994) 8 VAR 52 (1 December 1994) Galvin DP
  66. Knight v Secretary to Department of Employment, Education & Training, (7 September 1992) Balmford SM, AATA 273
  67. R v Knight [1989] VicRp 62; (1989) VR 705 [Hoddle Street Shootings sentencing]
  68. R v Knight [1987]  CC3792/87 (1987)  (accused stabbing of Duntroon Staff Cadet Philip John Reed in Civic)

Judicial abbreviations above, explained:

    1. FCA = Federal Court of Australia
    2. VSC = Victoria Supreme Court
    3. HCA = High Court of Australia
    4. VAR = Variation
    5. VCAT = Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribuna;
    6. VSCA = Victoria Appeals Court (of the Victoria Supreme Court)
    7. FOI = Freedom of Information
    8. AATA = Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia
    9. VR = Victorian Reports (a series of law reports which report significant cases from the Supreme Court of Victoria in its first decisions and appeal decisions jurisdictions)
    10. CORE = State of Victoria Public Correctional Enterprises (circa 2003), since renamed Corrections Victoria

Back in 2016, corporate media 9News reported the following extracted list of cases:

* In 1992, Knight launched a $25,000 damages claim against a Pentridge governor, alleging he was illegally held in solitary confinement for seven days

* He is now subject to an indefinite general litigation restraint order after launching more than 30 unsuccessful applications for leave to commence proceedings since 2004.

* He was first declared a vexatious litigant in 2004 and must apply to begin legal proceedings.

* In 2007, he fought prison authorities who intercepted a letter he wrote to a victim in 2005.

* He sued Attorney-General Rob Hulls in 2009 in an attempt to overturn his status as a vexatious litigant.

* He took his fight for access to a computer in his jail cell to the courts in 2006.

* In 2011, he fought a levy placed on cigarettes and tobacco products in prison canteens.

* In 2012, he sought to be moved out of maximum security to improve his prospects of early release.

* That same year he launched legal action for access to a PlayStation.

 

SOURCE:  ‘Julian Knight’s time in court, Aug 30, 2016, https://www.9news.com.au/national/julian-knight-s-time-in-court/b24eaf9e-0b9d-475d-8839-4999e1b31d3c

Editor’s Comments:

Now seriously, if these sixty-eight supposed individual cases were instead of being distinct legal battles, but distinct military combat battles – well frankly, our Julian would have a parade jacket resembling some North Korean minion officer of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, way more than those patchwork quilts adorned left breast by our Army’s General Sir Peter John Cosgrove, AK, CVO, MC (confessed Duntroon senior cadet bully) and those chest medals of Ben Roberts-Smith VC.

Try marching into combat weighed down by this brass accolade, or ironing!

However, a quick scan down the above extensive list of 68 cases, reveals to one with knowledge about what each individual case title is about, that many are actually duplicates of the same legal matters involving Julian appealing against miscarriages of justice by both the Judiciary, Governments and their bureaucracies.

So it looks worse than what it really is.  Also, the two lists provided here are not the same – there are different identified cases missing from both lists.

Factually, Julian Knight’s cases are way fewer in reality than the listed 68 above.   Indeed, there have been essentially just a handful of legal issues that Mr Knight has brought before the Judiciary to date between 1994 and 2024, since his incarceration in 1987, so over some thirty-seven years.

We group them on this website thus under this webpage menu heading of ‘LEGAL BATTLES‘ thus:

This is more like it – just five repeated legal issues he has brought on, and not by his own initiation, but to fight the injustice he has repeatedly copped!  Also, note that he brought no legal cases (1987-1991), but by 1992 he had had a gutful.

Under each of these headings, we list the relevant cases in chronological order and for each we include their transcripts, where attainable:

From this grouping we have complied, the following facts about the cases Julian Knight has brought, and we refer to the listed cases above from oldest (bottom) to most recent (top):

(A)  Knight  brought no cases to a court (1987-1994)

  • Knight did not bring the stabbing case of Duntroon senior cadet  Philip ‘Mongo Reed (30-May-1987).  That was a criminal matter for the ACT Police (‘R‘) to prosecute in court.  Yet they ended up abandoning that case (likely under Duntroon/ADF political coercion), so the case never went to court.
  • Knight’s conviction for his Hoddle Street shooting spree was a criminal committal, inquest hearing, guilty plea and sentencing hearings brought not by Knight but by the Victorian Crown prosecutor (DPP) ‘R‘.
  • In addition, the following cases had not been brought by Knight, but by others, namely The Commissioner of Corrections Victoria, and the Attorney-General (Victoria) both political operatives of the Victorian State Government – these cases listed above as #40, #34, #31, and #30, so they should not be included in this list with the others.  The two cases brought by the Attorney-General (Victoria) – a politician, were to slur Knight as a ‘vexatious litigant’, in a political attempt to censor him and to deny him natural justice.  The first attempt in October 2004 by Victorian Labor’s Rob Hulls MP and the second political attempt in October 2009.   There is a decades-long pattern of political interference in Knight’s rights to justice in the Judiciary.
Victorian Labor’s Rob Hulls MP (1999-2010)- so much for social justice

  • So, the above numbered cases #68 and #67 are not legal cases brought by Knight, so they should not be included in this list with the others.

(B)  Knight’s prison rights denied

  • From Knight’s time initially served at HM Pentridge Prison (1987-1994), then at HM Barwon Prison (1994-2005) then to Port Phillip Prison (2005-2025), he experienced ongoing denial of his prisoner human rights and natural justice
  • The injustices included (mainly in Barwon Prison):
    • Being denied access to higher education subsidy, AUSTUDY . (He was prohibited from earning an income whilst in prison).
    • He had his prison cell ransacked by prison officers
    • He had his PC confiscated by prison officers
    • He has his  digital storage disks confiscated
    • Prison officers at HM Barwon Prison disciplined him by depriving him of certain prisoners’ privileges
    • Prison officers at HM Barwon Prison unilaterally re-classified him as a long-term placement in high security Acacia unit of already in a maximum security prison
    • His letters were opened by prison officers
    • He was falsely accused of concealing fabricated knives in his cell (they were illegally placed there by prison officers)
    • He was denied cigarettes and charged a tobacco levy
    • He was denied access to Freedom of Information requests to support his two main legal issues (C) and (D) in this list
    • He was conveniently slurred by the Supreme Court of Victoria of being a “vexatious litigant”
    • Later on in Port Phillip Prison he was further denied his requested access to a computer, printing facilities and access to various legal databases and websites for his two issues below (C) and (D).
    • Knight placed in solitary confinement in Port Phillip Prison – issues writ of habeas corpus
    • Port Phillip Prison Officers strip search a visitor of his to prison  – his mother
  • So, between numbered cases brought by Knight in the Supreme Court of Victoria #66 and #23, as well  #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, #14, #21, #10, and #3  –  these each related to similar matters concerning his prisoner rights including appeals

And yes, critics in the media will counter Knight’s prison rights with what about the rights of his victims on Hoddle Street in 1987?

This is an understandable reaction, but we posit the following analyses to those who make such an argument.  Go To the webpage menu heading ANALYSES on this website and start with the webpage (click hyperlink below):

 

KNIGHT’s Character

(C)  Parole right undermined

  • Knight was due for parole in 2014, so he applied twice to the Adult Parole Board of Victoria, in 2012 and then in 2013 (numbered references above being #22 and #15)
  • So, the following cases brought by Knight in his application for parole are in the above list, shown as numbers #24, #22, #15

(D)  Defence Abuse Reparations?

(content pending)

  • Knight v Defence Force Ombudsman [2024] FCA 474 (VID 364 of 2023) Button J
  • Knight v Defence Force Ombudsman VID364 [2023] FCA
  • Knight v Commonwealth Ombudsman [2023] FCA 868
  • Knight v Department of Education [2017] (reparations claim for historical sexual assault in Wodonga in 1981, age 13)
  • Knight v Commonwealth of Australia (No 3) [2017] ACTSC 3  (sues Duntroon)
  • Knight v Commonwealth of Australia [2016] FCA 1160
  • Knight v State of Victoria [2014] FCA 369 (11 April 2014) Mortimer J
  • Knight v Wise [2014] VSC (16 June 2014) Daly AsJ
  • Knight v State of Victoria [2014] FCA 369 (11 April 2014) Mortimer J
  • In addition, Knight in 2017 sought to make a reparations claim for historical sexual assault he was subjected to in 1981 at age 13 whilst on a camping trip with  Westbourne Grammar School he was attending (it did not go to court).

(E)  Knight’s Freedom of Information applications

  • As Knight challenged/appealed against both this indefinite detention (by politicians) and him being denied Defence Abuse reparations (by government bureaucrats) he required the legal facts (via his Freedom of Information civil rights) from the respective authorities, which in all cases rejected his requests.  This left him no choice but to tale the matters to the Supreme Court of Victoria to issue a court order that he received his requested F.O.I. documents
  • Those cases for F.O.I. listed above are #65, #64, #55, #33, #29, and #28.

It will take us some months to accurately document these cases and group them appropriately, and ideally provide the transcripts of each.

This website remains intentionally as a work-in progress.  However, due to other project commitments, this is expected to take us some months to setup and populate with the content.  It is all in the public interest by the way – and we seek nor will accept and payments  of any kind.  We just wish and welcome others to question as they so choose, as this website seeks to provide a public service – including especially  to the victims of Hoddle Street.  We are from Melbourne and this includes an old Army mate of Julian Knight as regular contributor to this website.

Each case brought by Mr Knight has been a response to his copped injustice at the hands of various persecuting authorities within our Australia.  Ulterior hateful motives indeed by persecution brigades in political circles, all out of the Canberra’s Commonwealth clique – namely Duntroon Army Brass, ADF bureaucrats, Liberal Party politician bullied by a media shock jock, and political appointees running the likes of DART and DFO holding judicial power and military careers at the same time – so perceived conflicts of interest surely.

In the Australian Army, Julian was a knock-around Aussie larrikin.  Consider Australia’s emerging history of larrikins:  ‘The (horse) ‘Breaker’ Morant, Alberta Jacka VC, the Desert Rats, the  Tunnel Rats of the Vietnam War, to larrikin Corporal Scott Smith who bravely paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country in Uruzgan, etc, etc…

Since Knight’s persecution by government ever since venturing from normal Army ranks to out-of-touch Canberra’s snobby Duntroon, Julian has battled injustice imposed on his human rights as Australian citizen.

This author entrusted this larrikin in Khaki in the field in close quarters.  One could rely on him in thick and thin.   But from personal experience, Duntroon institutional training culture since its naive inception back in 1911, was never about fostering Army officer mateship.   Canberran elitist toffs and institutions wouldn’t have a clue in hard times.  Duntroon’s training culture continues to selected grammar school lads and convert them into bullies.

Duntroon is an extension of Canberran insular culture.  Aussie larrikins are anathema to such haughty insularism.  Canberra/Duntroon elitist insular culture is anathema to Aussie egalitarian  ANZAC spirit.  That’s why the ADF has become dysfunctional and useless.

One can only envisage what Julian Knight could have achieved in combat had Duntroon training been respectful, or positive leadership (not negative) and given the opportunity.

What a waste?  What a tragedy?  What a disgrace to our ANZAC legacy ADF?

error: Content is protected !!