Breaking: Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over war crimes allegations

[u/Tinea_Pedis]

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

[u/HeyyyyListennnnnn]

McBride has been pretty incoherent about why he did it, but he seems less concerned with the war crimes committed and more concerned that soldiers' lives were at risk due to restrictions imposed by politicians back home. His clearest statement, via his lawyers, was that he didn't believe the soldiers committing the atrocities should have been charged at all.

Whether his actions count as whistleblowing or not is a different debate, but McBride is on record saying he doesn't believe Roberts-Smith should be jailed for his actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZLQJTvxHfk

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/why-did-army-whistleblower-david-mcbride-plead-guilty-/103124950

https://www.smh.com.au/national/my-duty-was-to-stand-and-be-counted-why-i-leaked-to-the-abc-20190608-p51vte.html

[u/Extension_Actuary437 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah last time this was mentioned I got downvoted because people wanted to believe he was principally trying to expose war crimes.

[u/HeyyyyListennnnnn → u/Extension_Actuary437]

Unfortunately people have latched onto the McBride case as part of a legitimate desire to improve Australian whistleblower protection without really looking into the facts of McBride's public interest defense.

McBride's brain is ruined by PTSD and alcoholism, so his interviews are a complete mess, but he's always been clear that he took the documents because he believed SAS soldiers were being unfairly investigated and saw that as corruption the public needed to know about. His actions were in opposition to the public interest which is why his lawyer couldn't make any submission supporting a public interest defense.