Category Archives: Ben Roberts-Smith

Ben Roberts-Smith planned to leave Australia and researched buying wellness business in Spain, court documents show

Posted on by

Partner of soldier accused of war crimes says the couple discussed possibility of moving overseas to ‘create some normalcy in our lives’

Ben Roberts-Smith was planning to leave Australia to live overseas and had a business class flight out of the country booked in four days’ time when he was arrested at Sydney airport this month, court documents allege, with investigators telling a court “his willingness to return to Australia to face prosecution cannot be judged”.

Roberts-Smith was ultimately granted bail last week under strict conditions, a move opposed by prosecutors who said there was potential concern he was a flight risk and might try to avoid ever having to face trial for a series of alleged murders he committed in Afghanistan.

Continue reading...

Ben Roberts-Smith released from prison on bail after being charged with five counts of war crime murder

Posted on by

Former SAS corporal granted bail ahead of potential trial on charges relating to alleged killing of civilians in Afghanistan

Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail under strict conditions while he awaits a potential trial on alleged war crimes.

The Victoria Cross recipient, once Australia’s most lionised soldier, faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan.

Continue reading...

Australian War Memorial amends Ben Roberts-Smith display after former soldier charged with war crimes

Posted on by

Text on plaque in Hall of Valour updated to include references to war crime – murder charges and the ongoing legal process

The Australian War Memorial has updated the display dedicated to Ben Roberts-Smith after the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal was officially charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.

The changes, implemented on Friday, mean nearly half of the descriptive plaque in the museum’s Hall of Valour is now dedicated to events occurring after his military service, beginning with the initial reports of misconduct in 2016.

Continue reading...

Billionaire Gina Rinehart says ‘I don’t understand’ arrest of Ben Robert-Smith over alleged war crimes

Posted on by

Australia’s richest person questions cost and time spent investigating former soldiers as pockets of support emerge for Victoria Cross recipient

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, says “I don’t understand” the justification for prosecuting Ben Roberts-Smith for alleged war crimes, as pockets of high-profile support emerge for the Victoria Cross recipient.

Roberts-Smith was arrested in Sydney on Tuesday and charged with five counts of “war crime – murder” in relation to alleged offences in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012. He is yet to enter a plea but is expected to defend the charges.

Continue reading...

Ben Roberts-Smith is back in court, now as a defendant. His case reminds us that there are laws even amid war

Posted on by

The former soldier’s previous defamation trial presents the rare situation of there being hours of evidence of his alleged crimes already on the public record

For almost every day of his marathon defamation trial, Ben Roberts-Smith VC, sat in the same spot in the federal court. A chair by the window, bathed in sunshine, from where he could glare at witnesses giving evidence.

He sits now in a very different position.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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”.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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”.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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”.

Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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”.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Australian government considers compensation for Afghanistan war crime victims

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...