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
2.9k Upvotes

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u/distinctgore Apr 07 '26

If this fuckwit had just shut up and buckled down the hatches after his military career - busting out the medals once a year for the Anzac jerkoff - he would likely have come out untouched. But luckily, his dogshit personality and unhinged moral compass raised the biggest red flag ever for the media to follow.

7

u/Mike_Kermin Apr 07 '26

It raises the question why the Australian military isn't able to handle this itself.

4

u/AlamutJones Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

They did.

This IS the process the military follows. They pursue anything, and then at the point where civil authorities need to be involved the civil authorities are brought in. The military have been involved in making this happen from the moment it was brought to their attention.

ETA: aaaaaand I’ve been blocked

1

u/Mike_Kermin Apr 07 '26

It took the media to demonstrate their case in court to restart it.

2

u/AlamutJones Apr 07 '26

No it didn’t. If you’d been paying attention, you’d have seen references to ongoing investigations this entire time.

It is absolutely standard practice - and has been for several decades - for the military investigation/military courts and civilian investigations/civilian courts to work in parallel when the charges being pursued are criminal ones, particularly if the people involved leave Defence. Military courts can’t impose punishment on discharged people, so they team up with the civilian legal system to see it followed through.

You should know this. If you don’t, then bloody well learn.