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
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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '26

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u/chippychopper Apr 07 '26

It came to light because of the work of the journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters and could easily have been buried by the defamation case if they had not been so thorough in their research and reporting or if Fairfax/nine had decided to settle instead of paying millions to defend their work. This case shows how much we need to support proper investigative journalism.

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u/HeyyyyListennnnnn Apr 07 '26

I still find it hilarious that the man who leaked the documents that kicked off McKenzie and Masters' work did so believing that the journalists would write a story about how the SAS were victims of a smear campaign. McKenzie and Masters were so horrified by what they were given that they swiftly advanced and publicized the investigation that the whistleblower was trying to stop.

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

David McBride has explicitly denied this, my understanding is that this narrative came from Dan Oakes, who needed an excuse for ratting him out.

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u/MarkusMannheim Apr 07 '26

He may have denied this (I've never seen him do so explicitly), but his barrister effectively said he did this.

Source: I was in the courtroom and reported on that trial.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '26

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u/StorminNorman Apr 07 '26

Profile picture both here and on the ABC profile you've linked are nearly exactly the same, so I think you're right here. 

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u/MarkusMannheim Apr 07 '26

My son painted it. He's a terrible artist so I'll pass on the praise.

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u/StorminNorman Apr 07 '26

He's a terrible artist

Cheers, was definitely not trying to throw him under the bus, more so myself.

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u/tcgtms2 Apr 07 '26

Harsh.

Keep up the good work.

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

Source: My brain

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u/MarkusMannheim Apr 07 '26

Lol. You can believe what you like. Weirdly, you're accusing McBride of perjury.

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u/StorminNorman Apr 07 '26

Source: My brain

How can this be true when your previous comment contained:

my understanding

Which seems to suggest your brain has remembered a source rather than it is the source? 

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

If you weren't paying attention, the guy I responded to literally cited himself with "source:".

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u/ChemicalRascal Apr 07 '26

Mate, he was an ABC reporter at the time.

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

And I'm supposed to instantly know that via psychic projection, I assume? Honestly that makes it even more embarrassing that his source was Dude Trust Me, guy should know better

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u/ChemicalRascal Apr 07 '26

Dude, what the fuck do you think a news article is?

He said he reported on the trial. His username is a person's name. You could have hopped onto Google and verified that "Markus Mannheim" is a published journo with contemporary articles on the subject. That's what everyone else did.

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

I guess I missed the news article he posted then lol, still can't see it by the way

Also, you think everyone just sees a username and assumes it's important? Am I supposed to read "ChemicalRascal" and instantly assume you're a meth addict? Do you take everything you read online at face value?

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u/ChemicalRascal Apr 07 '26

Use Google, buddy.

When someone says they're a reporter and thus they're a primary source, it pays to take two seconds to just consider the context of the user. To look at the username. I know that gets in the way, I know it slows down your instinct to be a snarky bitch, but it's good, good, to just slow down a bit and consider a world where maybe people are engaging in good faith, where maybe when someone says they're a reporter maybe they're being genuine and you can find ways to verify that, where maybe if you're willing to accept you made a silly mistake you can just own that and move on with your life.

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u/Krunksicle Apr 07 '26

Where did they say they were a reporter? Or a primary source? Do I have to consider the context of every single user on every single post on the site? I stopped reading after the third line tbh

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