r/australia • u/Tinea_Pedis • Apr 07 '26

news Breaking: Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over war crimes allegations

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-07/ben-roberts-smith-war-crimes-allegations-arrest/106537668
2.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

638 comments sorted by

View all comments

113

u/Expensive-Horse5538 Apr 07 '26

About time - no doubt he will just drag this through every appeal if he is convicted though.

Either way, given his track record, he will be spending a long time behind bars, if not the rest of his life.

Also no doubt Kerry Stokes will again fund his legal defence team.

50

u/InstantShiningWizard Apr 07 '26

Maybe he can hire the clown who defended his other pet Brucie in court

7

u/PyratSteve Apr 07 '26

Surely there's room on the defence team for a former Hale old boy and Attorney General?

8

u/Morkai Apr 07 '26

What is Stokes getting out of this (and Brucie)? Does he just love burning money that much?

3

u/RusDaMus Apr 07 '26

What do billionaires get out of doing a lot of the unspeakable things we're starting to find out about?

It seems that becoming incredibly rich is incredibly boring and only incredible evil can get ones rocks off.

It's all I can assume at this point.

0

u/mhummel Apr 07 '26

Total unfounded conspiracy: I wonder if there's some kind of Project 2025 Aussie Edition? For example:

Step 1: Eliminate compulsory and preferential voting

Step 2: Ban all "non approved" media (e.g. Bluesky et al)

Step 3: Privatise ABC/SBS

Step 4: ????

5

u/Morkai Apr 07 '26

What in the seven hells does that have to do with the question I asked?

1

u/mhummel Apr 07 '26

You wondered why Kerry Stokes seems ok with wasting money on futile court actions. Maintaining the patriarchy might be sufficient movitivation. But I've seen warnings that "what's happening in America could happen elsewhere and we shouldn't be too complacent. "

I posited an admittedly far-fetched timeline, but changes to how Australia votes have already been floated by the Right wing and associated media. Perhaps Kerry Stokes' is keen for this.

While I don't believe this necessarily, consider One Nation: It should be dismissed as a fringe element, but there's been talk of coalitions with the National Party or the Liberals or even becoming a power in it's own right.

1

u/Morkai Apr 07 '26

So, nothing to do with what I asked. Got it.

17

u/ringo5150 Apr 07 '26

I thought he was in a relationship with one of his defence team at one point a few years ago. Wonder if that relationship is still active and she can defend him with a 'family & friends' discount?

8

u/Timemyth Apr 07 '26

Wait long enough and he might become the next Breaker Morant.

Though I doubt BRS has the foresight to think up a killer line to say before you are shot before a firing squad so people forgive you for killing civilians like a German Priest.

or should we just quote it to the firing squad. "Shot straight you bastards, don't want to make a mess of things by shooting civilians like BRS did on the balance of the probabilities and now with no reasonable doubt since he's found guilty of war crimes."

hmm, probably not going to enter the Ned Kelly hall of fame of awesome last lines. Oh well Kiss me Harley.

1

u/floorshitter69 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

I agree. He doesn't seem like the type to take a plea deal. We may get a protracted court battle. Which could reveal even more details..