Ben Roberts-Smith

Benjamin Roberts-Smith (born 1 November 1978) is an Australian former soldier.

In 2023, a civil defamation trial initiated by Roberts-Smith in the Federal Court of Australia found that he committed war crimes (including murder) in Afghanistan during 2009, 2010 and 2012.

An appeal to a Full Court, comprising three judges, of the Federal Court, commenced on 5 February 2024.

Roberts-Smith is Australia's most decorated living soldier.

Roberts-Smith was born on 1 November 1978 in Perth, Western Australia.

He is the elder son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

He graduated from Hale School in 1995.

His brother, Sam, is an opera singer.

Roberts-Smith joined 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 leader in the Direct Fire Support Weapons Platoon.

With 3 RAR, Roberts-Smith was deployed to East Timor twice, the first time as part of the International Force East Timor in 1999.

After completing the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) selection course in 2003, and the SASR reinforcement cycle, Roberts-Smith was initially posted to 3 Squadron at Campbell Barracks in Perth.

He took part in operations off Fiji in 2004, and was part of personal security detachments in Iraq throughout 2005 and 2006.

He was awarded a Medal for Gallantry in 2006, the Victoria Cross in 2011, and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2012.

Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions; the first two were in 2006 and 2007.

In 2006, Roberts-Smith was awarded the Medal for Gallantry for his operations as a patrol scout and sniper in Afghanistan.

After completing junior leadership training in 2009, he was posted to 2 Squadron as a patrol second-in-command (2IC), and later as a patrol commander.

Roberts-Smith was a member of training and assistance teams throughout Southeast Asia.

He returned to Afghanistan in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

In 2011, Roberts-Smith noted that he - and the ADF - expected him to be able to continue to fight as a frontline patrol commander following the receipt of the Victoria Cross.

He said that "[O]nce you reach patrol commander, that is the pinnacle for an SAS operator. You are now the man."

He was presented with the VC by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, at a ceremony held at Campbell Barracks on 23 January 2011.

The decision to award the VC to Roberts-Smith was raised during defamation proceedings where it was revealed that several former and serving members of the SAS had questioned the decision.

The award arose from a 2012 tour of Afghanistan, in which Roberts-Smith "distinguished himself as an outstanding junior leader on more than 50 high risk" operations.

After discharge from the Australian Army in 2013, he was granted a scholarship to study business at the University of Queensland.

He left the full-time army in 2013 at age thirty-five with the rank of corporal, and served part-time with the Army Reserve until 2015.

On 26 January 2014, Roberts-Smith was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service as part of the 2014 Australia Day Honours.

A 2014 painting of Roberts-Smith, Pistol Grip by Michael Zavros, hangs in the Australian War Memorial which commissioned it.

In 2015, he was appointed deputy general manager of the regional television network Seven Queensland and later, general manager of Seven Brisbane until temporarily stepping down in 2021 to focus on his defamation action against Nine Entertainment.

Following the defamation outcome in 2023, Roberts-Smith resigned from Seven West Media.

In 2017, Roberts-Smith's actions in Afghanistan came under scrutiny in light of an independent war crimes inquiry into "questions of unlawful conduct concerning (Australia's) Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan".

In November 2018, the Australian Federal Police launched an investigation into Roberts-Smith over allegations he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

With assistance from a legal team hired by Seven Network owner Kerry Stokes, Roberts-Smith commenced defamation proceedings in August 2018 against Nine Entertainment publications The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and against The Canberra Times, and also named each of the three journalists involved in reporting acts of bullying and war crimes committed by him.

The civil trial commenced in June 2021 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

The media outlets mounted a defence which required them to prove the truth of their claims based on the civil standard of proof, on the balance of probabilities, applying the Briginshaw principle.

In June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed Roberts-Smith's defamation case against the three publications, ruling that it was proven that Roberts-Smith murdered four Afghans and had broken the rules of military engagement.

The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a photo by Julian Kingma of Roberts-Smith in 2018.

The uniform he wore in Afghanistan is also displayed in the War Memorial.

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".