Ben Roberts-Smith

Roberts-Smith was born on 1 November 1978 in Perth, Western Australia. He is the elder son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith. His father is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Army Reserve major general and judge advocate general of the Australian Defence Force. His brother, Sam, is an opera singer. In his biography of Roberts-Smith, Crossing the Line, journalist Nick McKenzie alleges that Roberts-Smith developed a reputation for intimidating smaller students at school. He graduated from Hale School in 1995. == Military career and honours ==

Early career Roberts-Smith enlisted in the Australian Army in 1996 at age eighteen. After completing basic training at Blamey Barracks in Kapooka, he underwent initial employment training at the School of Infantry at Lone Pine Barracks in Singleton; and from there, Roberts-Smith was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) in Holsworthy, all in New South Wales. Initially part of a rifle company, he subsequently became a section commander in the Direct Fire Support Weapons Platoon. With 3 RAR, Roberts-Smith was deployed twice with Rifle Company Butterworth, in Malaysia. He was also part of two operations in East Timor in 1999, including as part of the International Force East Timor. Medal for Gallantry On 31 May 2006, Roberts-Smith was a scout and sniper in a patrol whose aim was to establish an observation on the mountain Koran Ghar, overlooking the Chora Pass in Uruzgan Province, as part of the 2006 Dutch/Australian Offensive. Besides Roberts-Smith, members of the patrol comprised two junior soldiers, a British sergeant from the Special Boat Service, an American special forces radio operator and Sergeant Matthew Locke. The patrol's aim was to monitor and report on Anti-Coalition Militia movements in the pass below and to maintain concealment. The patrol report had identified only a single Afghan unarmed "spotter", but Roberts-Smith said that two armed insurgents had approached the position in an oral account provided to the Australian War Memorial. Roberts-Smith later said that he had been confused. After being awarded the VC, he became "Australia's most highly decorated combat soldier from the conflict". During defamation proceedings in 2022, the awarding of the VC to Roberts-Smith was questioned, with testimony revealing that multiple SASR members suspected the events justifying the honour may have been fabricated. Patrol commander In 2012, Roberts-Smith was deployed to a rotation in Afghanistan as a patrol commander and held the rank of corporal. Roberts-Smith was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service as part of the 2014 Australia Day Honours on 26 January 2014. The award arose from the 2012 tour of Afghanistan, in which he "distinguished himself as an outstanding junior leader on more than 50 high risk" operations. Roberts-Smith left the Army Reserve in 2015. == Corporate career ==

The University of Queensland offered Roberts-Smith a scholarship to study a Master of Business Administration in October 2013, after he announced that he was leaving the full-time army. At this time the university was looking to establish a program to support soldiers to enter corporate roles. In April 2015, Roberts-Smith was appointed by Seven West Media's owner Kerry Stokes to be deputy general manager of regional television for Seven Queensland, based in Maroochydore. Two months later, he was promoted to general manager. When he was first promoted to general manager, some staff joked "that it would have been difficult to find a less qualified person than Roberts-Smith". While at Seven Queensland, Roberts-Smith was secretly recorded expressing disdain for the media business, dislike of fellow Seven executives and incredulity that he was still running Seven Queensland despite being at the centre of a war crimes scandal. It was alleged during defamation proceedings in February 2022 that Roberts-Smith had employed a private investigator, John McLeod, to pose as a barman during a Seven Queensland work event to listen to staff at the event and discern their opinions of him. In April 2021, Roberts-Smith temporarily stepped down from Seven Queensland to focus on his defamation action against Nine Entertainment. He resigned from Seven in June 2023 following the case's unsuccessful outcome. == War crime allegations ==

Following the publication of Masters' No Front Line book in October 2017, Fairfax Media's Nick McKenzie and the ABC's Dan Oakes covered the story, linking the case to an ongoing inquiry by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force into criminal misconduct on the battlefield by special forces; an inquiry that resulted in the Brereton Report. Responding to the coverage in an interview with The Australian, Roberts-Smith described the scrutiny as "un-Australian". Oakes wrote that "It's not 'un-Australian' to investigate the actions of special forces in Afghanistan." In June 2018, a joint ABC and Fairfax Media investigation detailed an assault on the village of Darwan in September 2012 during which a handcuffed man was kicked off a cliff by an Australian special forces soldier nicknamed "Leonidas" after the famed Spartan king. On 6 July 2018, Fairfax Media reported that Roberts-Smith was "one of a small number of soldiers subject to investigation by an inquiry looking into the actions of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan". In August 2018, Fairfax Media reported that Roberts-Smith bullied several of his fellow soldiers and alleged that he had committed domestic violence against a woman he was having an affair with. Roberts-Smith denied these allegations. In June 2023, the ABC reported allegations that Roberts-Smith directed another SASR soldier to kill an elderly imam during an August 2012 operation in Afghanistan. It was alleged that this led to the man being dragged from a mosque and killed despite him being unarmed and a prisoner of the Australians. The incident was among those which the Brereton Report recommended be considered by war crimes investigators. Investigation In November 2018, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced that they "received a referral to investigate allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers during the Afghanistan conflict". In 2018, former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty informed Roberts-Smith that the AFP had received referrals regarding alleged war crimes. Keelty's disclosure came days after the AFP began a covert operation targeting Roberts-Smith, leading him to start using burner phones to obstruct the police investigation. In April 2021, the AFP confirmed it was conducting a probe into allegations that Roberts-Smith had destroyed or buried evidence directly related to the ongoing investigation. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions later decided that the original AFP investigation could not lead to a prosecution because of the likelihood that information it had received from the Brereton inquiry would be inadmissible due to the inspector-general's use of special coercive powers to question serving members of the ADF. The abandonment of the probe led to the establishment of a new joint task force with personnel from the Office of the Special Investigator and a new team of AFP investigators, known as Operation Emerald-Argon, to investigate the allegations. Arrest and charges On 7 April 2026, Roberts-Smith was arrested by the Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport. He was remanded to the Silverwater Correctional Complex to appear before the online bail court on 8 April 2026. His legal counsel declined to apply for bail at that hearing. Subject to strict conditions and a $250,000 surety, bail was granted on 17 April. Roberts-Smith has sought funding for his defence from a scheme set up to provide assistance for legal representation and related costs for current and former ADF members who have been "charged with a crime in relation to matters that are the subject of the AFP or OSI Afghanistan investigation". Although no formal court plea has been entered, Roberts-Smith said in a public statement on 19 April 2026 that he denies all allegations. He is expected to next appear in court on 5 June 2026 for a status hearing. == Defamation suit ==

In response to the war crimes allegations in the 2018 series of articles, in January 2019 Roberts-Smith commenced defamation proceedings in the Federal Court against Fairfax Media (a subsidiary of Nine Entertainment) and two Fairfax journalists, Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, as well as a former Fairfax journalist, David Wroe. Fairfax mounted a truth defence, based on its reporting being "substantially true". As part of this, Fairfax detailed a series of six unlawful killings alleged to have been carried out by Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan, including those in Darwan. The defamation trial was labelled by lawyers and media as "the trial of the century". Kerry Stokes' private investment company, Australian Capital Equity (ACE), extended Roberts-Smith a line of credit to fund his legal action, against which he drew A$1.9 million. In August 2020, it was reported that legal experts had raised concerns about a personal relationship between Roberts-Smith and his defamation lawyer, saying it could constitute unprofessional conduct by her. News Corp Australia published a photo of Roberts-Smith holding hands with the lawyer, who they reported was visiting him at his new apartment in Brisbane. The lawyer conceded that it was "unwise to spend time with him socially". On 1 September 2020, Fairfax/Nine Entertainment lawyer Sandy Dawson told the Federal Court that the Australian Federal Police had information, including an eyewitness, that allegedly implicated Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan war crimes. The defamation trial, expected to last for ten weeks, commenced in June 2021 in Sydney. In November 2020, the Federal Court was told that Roberts-Smith and his wife had given inconsistent accounts about the status of their relationship during previous years. In April 2021, The Age published an article alleging that Roberts-Smith had attempted to cover up the alleged crimes by hiding incriminating images on a USB drive buried in his backyard, which had since been obtained by the Australian Federal Police. In June 2021, ABC News reported that 21 current and former SAS soldiers would make an "unprecedented" appearance at court to testify against Roberts-Smith in the defamation trial. The defamation trial was held in 2022. Submissions ended in June 2022 after 110 days of evidence during which 41 witnesses were called. Fairfax Media's defence against Roberts-Smith's suit concluded in early April 2022 after calling witnesses for eleven weeks. Among the witnesses were 32 Australian soldiers, of whom some had served alongside Roberts-Smith, as well as several civilian eyewitnesses from Afghanistan. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the soldiers "testified in public and on oath" but, due to national security orders, their identities were suppressed and they were referred to in court using pseudonyms such as Person 1, 14 and 18. Several serving members of the SASR provided testimony regarding bullying and threats made by Roberts-Smith during his service both within Australia and Afghanistan. "Person 1", a serving SASR member, said that Roberts-Smith had stated that he would "put a bullet in the back of his head" if he did not improve his performance. After this, Person 1 was advised by other members to report Roberts-Smith's threat which he did, leading to Roberts-Smith threatening him again, stating "If you're going to make accusations, cunt, you better have some fucking proof." Reports of Roberts-Smith's bullying were also reiterated by Person 43 and Person 10, other serving members of the SASR. Judgment On 1 June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the defamation case brought by Roberts-Smith. Besanko found that the newspapers on trial, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, had established substantial or contextual truth of many of their allegations, including that Roberts-Smith "broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement and is therefore a criminal". As a defamation suit is a civil proceeding, Besanko was required by the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) to assess the evidence using the civil standard of proof, the balance of probabilities, instead of the criminal standard of proof, beyond reasonable doubt. Due to the gravity of the allegations, Besanko followed the Briginshaw principle, which required stronger evidence than would be necessary for a less serious matter. Besanko found that four murder allegations against Roberts-Smith had been proven. The judgment concluded that it was substantially true that: • during the Whiskey 108 mission in 2009, Roberts-Smith committed murder "by machine gunning a man with a prosthetic leg". Roberts-Smith later asked other soldiers to drink from the prosthetic leg; • during the same Whiskey 108 mission Roberts-Smith committed murder "by pressuring a newly deployed and inexperienced SASR soldier to execute an elderly, unarmed Afghan in order to 'blood the rookie; It was ruled that two allegations of murder at Syahchow and Fasil in 2012 were not proven. and • Roberts-Smith engaged in a "campaign of bullying" and threatened violence against an Australian soldier. On 15 June 2023, Roberts-Smith stated that he was proud of his actions in Afghanistan and would not be apologising. Later in June, he accepted liability for payment of the legal costs of his failed defamation suit against the three newspapers from 17 March 2020. One respondent to the case previously stated that approximately $30 million was spent on successfully defending it. In December 2023, Kerry Stokes's private investment company, Australian Capital Equity, was ordered to pay costs. In 2023, Kim Beazley, Chair of the Australian War Memorial Council, acknowledged "the gravity of the decision in the Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG defamation case and its broader impact on all involved in the Australian community". Beazley added that careful consideration was being given to the additional content and context to be included in collection items on display. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented that the decision to include Roberts-Smith had been made by the Palace and not the Australian government, although they had previously indicated to the palace that they had "no objections" to the making of the awards. In September 2024 it was reported by The Sydney Morning Herald that Roberts-Smith had attended a recent Australian Defence Force gala dinner to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the SASR and that some who had served in the special forces found this inappropriate. The same article said that the Office of the Special Investigator could soon bring criminal charges against Roberts-Smith, including further alleged war crimes and other criminal matters. Appeal On 11 July 2023, Roberts-Smith filed an appeal against Justice Besanko's judgment to the Full Court of the Federal Court after being granted an extension. Nine Entertainment said it would oppose the appeal. Commencing on 5 February 2024, the Full Court heard Roberts-Smith's appeal over ten days. Lawyers for Roberts-Smith filed an interlocutory application with the Federal Court on 27 March 2025, seeking to amend his appeal due to a secret recording of a conversation between Nick McKenzie and one of his sources. Roberts-Smith's lawyers sought "wide-ranging subpoenas" as part of the application to re-open the appeal, which Nine Entertainment's lawyers opposed, calling them a "fishing expedition". Justice Nye Perram denied the majority of Roberts-Smith's subpoenas, allowing only subpoenas for communications between Nick McKenzie's and Nine Entertainment's lawyers, and between Roberts-Smith and a friend of his ex-partner. In court, Roberts-Smith argued that his ex-partner had accessed his email account and passed on privileged communications to McKenzie. Roberts-Smith lost his appeal against Besanko's ruling on 16 May 2025. The Full Court of the Federal Court unanimously found that he was not defamed when Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters published reports alleging he had committed war crimes in Afghanistan. "We are unanimously of the opinion that the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that [Roberts-Smith] ... murdered four Afghan men" the court stated, ordering Roberts-Smith to pay the respondents' legal costs. Legal costs are estimated to have totalled $30 million for the initial trial and $4 million for the appeal. On 17 June 2025, Roberts-Smith sought special leave in the High Court of Australia to appeal against the judgment of the Full Federal Court. On 4 September 2025, the High Court refused his application for leave to appeal and ordered that he pay costswhich will include the further cost of the application to the High Court. The Australian War Memorial subsequently updated its wording of his display which now states that he has exhausted all legal avenues to challenge to the defamation judgment. Funding Roberts-Smith has been supported by some wealthy Australians. Kerry Stokes funded his original civil proceedings. John Singleton paid for newspaper advertising which called attacks on Roberts-Smith "disgraceful". However, they accepted Rinehart's lawyers' assurance that she possessed no such documents. On 9 September 2025, the Federal Court ordered Roberts-Smith together with Kerry Stokes's private company Australian Capital Equity to pay costs fixed at $13,270,950 to the media respondents, plus a costs assessment fee of $224,872 for the application for costs. == Public perceptions ==

and Prime Minister Julia Gillard in attendance Prior to the publication of war crimes and domestic violence allegations, Roberts-Smith was widely regarded as one of Australia's most admired and highly decorated soldiers. He was considered a national hero. Roberts-Smith was the Fremantle Football Club's number-one ticket holder for the 2012 to 2015 Australian Football League seasons. In 2013, he was named Australian Father of the Year by The Shepherd Centre, a not-for-profit charitable organisation. In 2014, Roberts-Smith was made deputy chair for Tony Abbott's mental health advisory committee. The combat uniform Roberts-Smith wore during the battle in Afghanistan for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross is displayed at the Australian War Memorial. The Memorial also commissioned a 2014 painting of him, Michael Zavros's Pistol Grip. From 2014 to 2017, Roberts-Smith served as Chair of the National Australia Day Council, a social enterprise owned by the Australian Government. His voice, alongside others, was featured on Australian country singer Lee Kernaghan's 2015 track "Lest We Forget" from the album Spirit of the Anzacs. The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a photographic portrait of him by Julian Kingma in 2018. During defamation proceedings against newspapers and journalists, Roberts-Smith said that after the publications of the allegations against him, that he lost approximately $475,000 worth of speaking engagements. He had been offered a partnership at consulting firm PwC; however, after he had informed them of the allegations, the job had not proceeded. When his civil action was dismissed in June 2023, Justice Besanko found that Roberts-Smith's "reputation has been lowered so far ... that two unproven allegations of battlefield murder weren't enough to defame him", and that he had "disgraced his country Australia and the Australian army by his conduct as a member of the SASR in Afghanistan". == Personal life ==

Roberts-Smith met his former wife, Emma Groom, in 1998 at an army ball in Sydney when he was 19. In April 2018, Groom discovered that Roberts-Smith had been having an affair when a woman, who was given the pseudonym "Person 17" in the defamation trial, arrived at her house and showed her hundreds of text messages sent by Roberts-Smith. In January 2022, Roberts-Smith was ordered to pay his former wife's legal costs after unsuccessfully trying to sue her in the Federal Court over allegations that she had accessed confidential emails. ==See also==