Category Archives: Ben Roberts-Smith

Australian War Memorial defers military history prize after judging panel awards it to book on Ben Roberts-Smith

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Exclusive: Governing council ‘retrospectively’ decides the Les Carlyon literary award should go only to first-time authors, ruling out Chris Masters’ book

The Australian War Memorial has effectively overruled a decision by its appointed judges to award a military history literary prize to a book about the alleged war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith.

War memorial sources and documents seen by Guardian Australia show that an external judging panel chose Chris Masters’ book Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes as the 2024 winner of the Les Carlyon literary award for military history, after a panel comprising memorial employees had included it in a shortlist of six from 59 entries.

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Nick McKenzie denies seeing privileged communication between Ben Roberts-Smith and his lawyers

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Investigative journalist says ‘legal strategy’ he referred to in secret recording was reference to war veteran allegedly telling his ex-wife to lie to court

Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has denied in a Sydney court that he saw privileged communications between Ben Roberts-Smith and his lawyers during the proceedings of the war veteran’s failed defamation case against him and Nine.

The court also heard a “secret” recording where McKenzie allegedly told a witness in the defamation proceedings that Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts, and her friend Danielle Scott were “actively briefing us on his legal strategy in respect of you”.

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Journalist Nick McKenzie admits to ‘deceptive methods’ if in the public interest during Ben Roberts-Smith bid for appeal

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McKenzie was also questioned over his communications with Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife, Emma Roberts, and her friend Danielle Scott

Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has agreed in Ben Roberts-Smith’s bid to reopen his appeal for his defamation case that he has used “deceptive methods and subterfuge” to obtain information “on occasion if it is in the public interest”.

McKenzie was cross-examined on Thursday afternoon by Roberts-Smith’s lawyer, Arthur Moses SC. It’s part of a two-day hearing in which the war veteran is arguing the appeal should be reopened in light of new evidence that he claims shows there was a “miscarriage of justice” in the defamation proceedings caused by McKenzie’s alleged “misconduct”.

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Nine journalist Nick McKenzie allegedly told of Ben Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife’s planned legal action

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Roberts-Smith argues his unsuccessful defamation case against McKenzie and Nine newspapers should be retried because of a ‘miscarriage of justice’

The Nine journalist Nick McKenzie was told about a legal action Ben Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife planned to take against the war veteran ahead of his defamation trial, a court has heard, with the informant allegedly telling him “it’s always good to be on the front foot”.

On Tuesday the federal court of Australia heard that a friend of Emma Roberts had told McKenzie that Roberts-Smith was planning to notify and write to the Commonwealth director of public prosecutions (CDPP) about an alleged “breach” and to “restrain any further publications being made”.

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This article was amended on 2 May 2025. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Nick McKenzie was told Emma Roberts planned to contact the CDPP. McKenzie was told that Ben Roberts-Smith planned to do this.

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Ben Roberts-Smith demands defamation retrial citing alleged recording of Nine investigative journalist

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Federal court hears Nick McKenzie allegedly told a witness that Roberts-Smith’s ex-wife and her friend were ‘actively briefing us on his legal strategy’

Ben Roberts-Smith has argued his case should be retried because there was a “miscarriage of justice” caused by the alleged “misconduct” of Nick McKenzie, the Nine journalist whom Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully sued for defamation.

In an interlocutory application, published by the federal court in Sydney on Monday, Roberts-Smith claimed that McKenzie “engaged in wilful misconduct in the proceedings by improperly and unlawfully obtaining and retaining information concerning [Roberts-Smith’s] legal strategy concerning the trial that was confidential and privileged”.

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Former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty gives up Order of Australia honour six years after Ben Roberts-Smith tip-off

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Federal court judge in last year’s defamation case found Roberts-Smith tried to evade surveillance after Keelty alerted him to pending war crimes investigation in 2018

The former Australian federal police commissioner Mick Keelty has relinquished his Order of Australia honour, six years after he passed information received from serving police officers to Ben Roberts-Smith, alerting him to a pending war crimes investigation.

Keelty retired from the AFP in 2009 after a 35-year law-enforcement career, including eight as AFP commissioner.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation appeal: news companies argue ex-SAS corporal’s case ‘fundamentally flawed’

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Roberts-Smith, 45, is seeking to overturn June defamation trial judgment that found he engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan

News companies defending a defamation appeal launched by Ben Roberts-Smith over reports he engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan have told a court the ex-SAS corporal’s case is “fundamentally flawed”.

The appeal by Roberts-Smith, 45, seeks to overturn his June defamation loss against Nine newspapers and the Canberra Times over 2018 reports on war crimes during the Victoria Cross-recipient’s Afghanistan deployments.

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Ben Roberts-Smith: judge won’t make documents decision in war crimes probe due to bias perception

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Justice Anthony Besanko recuses himself from court decision relating to war crimes investigation into Australian veteran

The judge who dismissed Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation action will not decide whether criminal investigators probing war crimes allegations against the decorated veteran should have access to sensitive information heard in closed court during the defamation trial.

Justice Anthony Besanko has recused himself from deciding whether investigators from the government’s Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) should be allowed to access information tendered in closed court, over concerns of a potential perception of bias.

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Ben Roberts-Smith to appeal after defamation case was dismissed by federal court

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Ex-soldier lost case against three newspapers in June with trial judge finding they had proven on the balance of probabilities that Roberts-Smith murdered unarmed civilians in Afghanistan

Ben Roberts-Smith has launched an appeal after he lost his war crimes defamation trial in the federal court.

Justice Anthony Besanko found in June that three newspapers had proven Roberts-Smith had, on the balance of probabilities, murdered unarmed civilians while serving in the Australian military in Afghanistan.

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Australian federal police abandon two alleged murder investigations into Ben Roberts-Smith

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The long-running investigations into murder allegations in Afghanistan will be replaced by new inquiries because of concerns about evidence

Two key criminal investigations into alleged murders involving Ben Roberts-Smith have been abandoned by the Australian federal police because of concerns over potentially inadmissible evidence.

The long-running investigations – into murder allegations at a compound codenamed Whiskey 108 and in the southern Afghan village of Darwan – will be replaced by new inquiries undertaken by a new joint taskforce, staffed by officials from the Office of the Special Investigator and federal police investigators not previously connected to the cases.

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Australia news live: economists push interest rate forecasts higher; teens arrested over violent carjacking

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Eight teenagers in police custody after allegedly dragging woman from car on the Gold Coast. Follow the day’s news live

Business groups argue ‘same job, same pay’ laws would disadvantage workers

I mentioned a little earlier that business groups have glommed together to launch a campaign against the federal government’s proposed “same job, same pay” industrial relations laws.

The so-called ‘Same Job, Same Pay’ proposals does not mean equal pay for men and women. It does not speak of fairness and justice, as its name falsely represents.

It means by law, employers will have to pay workers with little knowledge or experience exactly the same as workers with decades of knowledge and experience.

Without a real threat of losing passengers to other airlines, the Qantas and Virgin Australia airline groups have had less incentive to offer attractive airfares, develop more direct routes, operate more reliable services, and invest in systems to provide high levels of customer service.

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Australian government considers compensation for Afghanistan war crime victims

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Human rights and legal groups have stepped up their calls for a compensation plan in the wake of the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation ruling

The Australian government is looking for “a way forward” to compensate families of victims of alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, the defence minister has told legal advocates.

But officials continue to warn about the complexity of the compensation issue, one of the key outstanding recommendations from the landmark Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces soldiers.

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Ben Roberts-Smith has been dealt a crushing blow. The full fallout is yet to come

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Australia’s most decorated living soldier has had his defamation case dismissed, but questions remain over his future

The 1,800 words of Justice Anthony Besanko’s summary judgment were quietly devastating.

Delivered in less than 20 minutes, the judge’s decision would see Ben Roberts-Smith VC lose what remained of his reputation, his job, and possibly his willingness to live in a country where he was once revered.

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Ben Roberts-Smith: calls for uniform to be removed from Australian War Memorial display

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Greens say removal would be ‘first step in correcting the official record’ after federal court dismisses defamation case

The Australian War Memorial is facing calls to remove Ben Roberts-Smith’s uniform from its display, after the federal court dismissed the defamation case initiated by Australia’s most decorated living soldier.

But the Australian Special Air Service Association has argued it was “a very disappointing day” for veterans who had served in Afghanistan, saying the majority who had done the right thing were being “re-traumatised after having gone through a difficult war”.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation loss bad news for Seven boss as Nine marks ‘day of justice’

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Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, who parachuted the former soldier into a network job in 2015, says ‘the judgment does not accord with the man I know’

For Seven’s chairman, Kerry Stokes, the verdict in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial was all bad news.

The cost of the trial is estimated to be between $25m and $35m and, with the billionaire media proprietor bankrolling the former soldier and Seven employee, Stokes’s legal tab will be significant if he does pick up the bill.

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Key witness in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial acted ‘like a drunken fool’ towards police, says magistrate

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Federal police sought former soldier’s phone as part of investigation into war crimes potentially committed in Afghanistan

One of the key witnesses in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial has pleaded guilty to hindering a commonwealth official after he acted “like a drunken fool” in refusing to hand over his phone, wanted as part of a police war crimes investigation.

In April last year, Australian Federal Police sought the phone of the former soldier as part of a broader investigation into war crimes potentially committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s year-long defamation trial against three newspapers concludes

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Ex-soldier’s barrister tells court that reporters ‘jumped on rumours’, while newspapers’ counsel alleges Roberts-Smith ‘prepared to lie under oath’

Ben Roberts-Smith’s long-running defamation case has concluded in Sydney, with his barrister telling the court the decorated former soldier was the victim of a “war of words” from jealous comrades intent on tearing down his reputation.

After more than 100 days of evidence, 42 witnesses from around the world, hundreds of exhibits, and thousands of pages of transcripts, the year-long trial ended with closing submissions from legal teams Wednesday morning.

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Evidence of Afghan witnesses against Ben Roberts-Smith ‘hardly neutral’, lawyer tells court

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Lawyers for Ben Roberts-Smith urge court to disregard evidence of Afghan witnesses, saying the men were prejudiced against Australian soldiers

Lawyers for Ben Roberts-Smith have urged the court hearing a defamation trial to reject the testimony of three Afghan men who gave evidence against the Australian soldier in his defamation trial, saying they regarded foreign troops as “infidels” and gave “inconsistent and contradictory” evidence.

“To say they are credible is incredible,” Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Arthur Moses SC, told the federal court in closing submissions in the former soldier’s long-running defamation action.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial hears Australian SAS soldiers ‘turned a blind eye’ to alleged war crimes

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In closing submissions, newspapers’ lawyer accuses several of Roberts-Smith’s witnesses of ‘outright dishonesty’

A powerful omertà within Australia’s SAS caused soldiers to “turn a blind eye to the most despicable and egregious breaches of the laws of war”, Ben Roberts-Smith’s long-running defamation trial has heard.

On the second day of closing submissions, Nicholas Owens SC, acting for the newspapers being sued by Roberts-Smith, said witnesses, including those called by the newspapers, were reluctant to report alleged war crimes because of a “pervasive culture” that forced new soldiers in particular to “toe the line” of the regiment’s culture.

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial hears conflicting evidence over Afghan deaths

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Troops who were present at Whiskey 108 compound split over whether two men shot dead were murdered or were insurgents killed lawfully

The tunnel at Whiskey 108 – and whether there were any people hiding in it – continues to dominate and divide the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial, with an SAS soldier accusing a comrade of cowardice over a raid on the compound in the Afghan village of Kakarak.

At issue is whether two men killed in the compound in April 2009, were pulled from the tunnel and murdered by Australian troops, or were insurgents lawfully killed in a firefight.

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