A Victorian hotelier is taking the state government to the High Court to argue the constitutional legality of its "aggressive and heavy-handed" coronavirus lockdown measures.
Lawyers for Mornington Peninsula resident and Sorrento restaurant owner Julian Gerner filed the challenge on Monday afternoon.
His barristers, Bret Walker SC and Michael Wyles QC, want an expedited court hearing.
They're arguing the lockdown is in breach of implied freedoms in the constitution, which allow people to move freely within their state.
Victoria's lockdown restrictions "have no legitimate purpose that is compatible with the constitutionally prescribed system of federation", they wrote.
Mr Gerner says he wants the court to grant a declaration confirming his rights to freedom, setting aside the "disproportionate and unreasonable responses and restrictions imposed by the Victorian government".
Mr Gerner singled out a number of restrictions, including the rule that Melbourne residents cannot travel more than five kilometres from home.
"This is not what we signed up for and is inconsistent with a free society, representative democratic government and civilised living," he said in a statement on Monday.
"Aggressive and heavy-handed enforcement of these restrictions has also alarmed most fair-minded people."
Shadow attorney-general Edward O'Donohue said Mr Walker's role in the action, given his success in High Court litigation over many years, "should send a shiver down the spine of Daniel Andrews".
"This latest litigation should be a wake up to all the members of the Andrews Labor Government that their punitive, we know best attitude has alienated suffering Victorians who have lost hope in this government and are sick of being lectured," he said.
In a separate challenge in Victoria's Supreme Court, Mornington Peninsula cafe owner and aspiring Liberal MP Michelle Loileo wants a declaration the government's now scrapped 9pm to 5am curfew was invalid, and in breach of her rights under Victoria's human rights charter.
