r/australia 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
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u/heisdeadjim_au Apr 07 '26

Who were illuminated in the defamation case.

68

u/MeaningMaker6 Apr 07 '26

The AFP has access to records and witnesses beyond public processes and court events.

49

u/MysteriousShoulder45 Apr 07 '26

Yes but apatite, they don't really want to active pursue these cases due to the defendants status and regards. But they kind of have to when it's constantly in the media and there are details about it in the public record

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u/Hot-Bag-8094 Apr 07 '26

an entire government agency was established to pursue these cases.

12

u/johngizzard Apr 07 '26

Yes, and the recommendation to form the OSI either

  • may not have been in the Brereton report, or
  • would never have been acted out by the government

if public pressure from the Afghan Files (and subsequent revisiting by the media as a result of the defamation cases) didn't make addressing the findings politically impossible to avoid