[The Knighthood’ as collective authors of this herein website, comply with the Australian Copyright Act 1968, No. 63, 1968 (Compilation No. 58) amended from 16th January 2019, Part III, Division 3, Clauses 41, 41A and 42 in our ‘regurgitating’ the cohort of published media outpourings on Julian Knight in this section of this website ‘Media Scrutiny’. We do so for the purpose of review, criticism, satire and correcting the fake news reporting and propaganda. The Knighthood’s critique are included in the context wrapped in square brackets, bold italic text.]
SOURCE: https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/screen-guide/hoddle-street-1743/
This TV documentary was funded by Screen Australia and publicly aired on the ABC at the time. “As part of Australia’s national screen framework, Screen Australia routinely partners with the ABC and other state/federal agencies to provide production funding for local content. For instance, Screen Australia often provides foundational development and production investment, while the ABC serves as the primary free-to-air broadcaster and commissioner, airing the content on the main ABC TV channel and its streaming platform.”
[The Knighthood comment: It may be available to members of the public for purchase as a video from ABC Content Sales. However, we note that such video content covering the Hoddle Street shooting spree by Julian Knight is increasingly being made less available on the Internet as it used to be. We suspect that this herein website may be contributing to the censorship, as well as likely undertandable lobbying by the living victims, first responders and the media. As time goes on, this website will be one of the few comprehensive source of information publicly available on the Internet. This will be a good thing, because the truth is told warts and all, and is the only source of media that analyses the causation.
“The anatomy of a real-life massacre and the effect on the victims of the worst multiple murder in Australian history. In 1987, a 19-year-old youth, Julian Knight, took two rifles and a shotgun, and walked out into Hoddle Street, a main thoroughfare of Melbourne. Forty-five minutes later six people were dead, one was dying, and 19 were wounded. This is the story of what happened the night before the massacre, what happened on the night, and what happened afterwards. It tells why the killer did it, and asks what can be done to prevent others from doing it again.”
[The Knighthood comment: Well, “what can be done to prevent others from doing it again”? Shut down ADFA and RMC Duntroon. Instead, train them in New Zealand, where the military culture is civil, and have the Australian Government fund all training costs. Convert Duntrroon into a bastardisation asylum museum, perpetually again funded out of ADF annual budgets, like the AWM.]
[The Knighthood: in Julian Knight’s own words]:
“On 14 December 1988, the ABC broadcast its TV documentary “Hoddle Street” (produced by David Morgan and Mark Ruse, and narrated by Jonathan Holmes). This documentary includes excerpts from an interview with the Commandant of RMC, Major-General Murray BLAKE. It also included commentary on my time at Duntroon by Tim WATSON-MUNRO and Dr David SIME. As mentioned (previously), Major-General BLAKE conceded in his interview that I had been subjected to two acts of “bastardization” whilst at RMC. Both Mr WATSON-MUNRO and Dr SIME were critical of the Army’s handling of my discharge in light of the circumstances surrounding my discharge.
I have been informed that it is possible to purchase a copy of the “Hoddle Street” documentary from ABC Programme Sales.” ~ Political Prisoner, Julian Knight, 2014.
[The Knighthood: Well we reproduce much of that content in the article on this website – click internal link below.]
References and Further Reading:
‘Julian Knight banned from buying ABC documentary on Hoddle Street murders’
2014-09-23, by Mark Russell, The Age
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/julian-knight-banned-from-buying-abc-documentary-on-hoddle-street-murders-20140923-10ku07.html
‘Hoddle Street mass murderer Julian Knight has been banned from sending a letter to the ABC asking to buy a copy of the documentary on his 1987 shooting rampage.
Supreme Court Justice Jack Rush said on Tuesday that Knight, 46, who is serving seven life sentences for killing seven people and injuring 19, had applied for an injunction to force Port Phillip Prison authorities to allow him to send three letters to the media.
Hoddle Street mass murderer Julian Knight.Peter Gregory
The letters had been intercepted by prison staff before being mailed.
[The Knighthood: Julian’s letter #1]
In his judgment rejecting Knight’s application, Justice Rush said Knight’s first letter, dated April 23, 2013, was addressed to “Manager ABC Program Sales” and asked if he could buy a copy of the ABC television documentary Hoddle Street; a copy of any unaired interview footage from that documentary (to support a submission to the Defence Abuse Response Task Force); footage of any interviews with army personnel that took place after the incident; any unaired footage of the incident itself; and copies of the Anzac Day marches in Melbourne between 1983 and 1985.
Port Phillip Prison General Manager Ian Thomas claimed if Knight got what he wanted from the ABC and the material was introduced into the prison environment, there was a chance it would “upset the delicate balance of the prison population and create a risk of the crime being glorified in the prison. Real-time footage of a violent crime of the nature of which the applicant [Knight] was convicted, or footage from a documentary regarding a notorious crime in the history of the state of Victoria is inappropriate material to be available to prisoners in a maximum-security prison,” Mr Thomas submitted.
[The Knighthood: Julian’s letter #2]
Justice Rush said Knight’s second letter, dated April 28, 2013, was addressed to Media Watch‘s now former host Jonathan Holmes and asked if Mr Holmes or the ABC would be interested in conducting an interview with Knight in the public interest.
[The Knighthood: Julian’s letter #3]
The third letter, dated April 28, 2013, was addressed to a Herald Sun journalist and raised concerns about how he was being portrayed in the media, and how his sentence, and eligibility for parole, had become a political issue.
“He compares his situation and offences with other murderers who have been released following terms of imprisonment,” Justice Rush said.
In February, the Napthine government introduced a new law designed to keep Knight in prison for life.
“The applicant made a number of submissions as to why the interception of the letters was not warranted on the grounds the correspondence could not be construed as a threat to prison security,” Justice Rush said. “I do not agree with the submissions of the applicant. The reasoning of the manager as to the undesirability of documentary and real-time video footage of a violent crime in the prison are in my opinion reasonable. It is not for judges, save in the most obvious of cases, to supervise or interfere with the administrative decisions of prison authorities concerning the conduct of prisons and prisoners.”
[The Knighthood: Just as it is not for judges, to supervise or interfere with the administrative decisions of prison authorities concerning the conduct of prisons and prisoners”, ditto it is not for politicians and the media to interfere with the decision of judges. Julian Knight was in 1988 handed a judicial custodial sentence maximum of 27 years (back dated to his incarceration from 1987, before then being eligible for parole in 2014. The hypocisy is rife.]