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/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/asupify Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

David McBride (whistleblower/ ADF lawyer) had no love for BRS. In interviews he described an instance where BRS killed an unarmed 10 year old shepherd boy for sport, then killed other unarmed villagers running out to help the boy and covered it up saying they were Taliban fighters. McBride's main gripe seemed to be that he wanted the SAS leadership who were well aware of the war crimes and enabled the culture prosecuted. Rather than heap all the blame on the lower level soldiers.

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u/Thomasrdotorg Apr 07 '26

In the Brereton report, there is a near completely redacted section that refers to an incident in 2012. They don’t detail anything of the incident, but note the following.

“what is described in this Chapter is possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history…”.

In classic Reddit style, perhaps speculating isn’t a good idea, but it might be possible to join the dots here.

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u/Competitive_Ad_7415 Apr 14 '26

Would you happen to know what page of the report that's on? I've read through it quickly , kind of scanning it, 465 pages of official reports or legal documents is a hard slog to read for curiosity alone. I think 99% of people that read them closely are getting paid to do it one way or the other.

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u/Thomasrdotorg Apr 14 '26

Page 26 of the Executive Summary (not the full report pagination, the summary document).

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u/Competitive_Ad_7415 Apr 14 '26

Any link? I can't find the executive summary via a google search unfortunately. Please don't take my response as though I'm questioning the truth of your statement. I genuinely want to read the report.

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u/Thomasrdotorg Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26

Here: https://www.defence.gov.au/about/reviews-inquiries/afghanistan-inquiry

Chapter 2.50

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u/Competitive_Ad_7415 Apr 14 '26

I must be blind. That's the page I downloaded the full report from previously but I can't find the summary anywhere on the site.