Fallen military hero Ben Roberts-Smith, who spectacularly failed in his bid to clear his name of war crimes allegations, has been given a special honour by King Charles III at a formal ceremony.
Mr Roberts-Smith was seen attending the event at Government House in Western Australia on Thursday alongside his parents to receive a coronation medal from King Charles III, which the monarch decreed should go to all living recipients of the Victoria Cross.
Despite receiving that honor, Mr. Roberts-Smith suffered a surprising defeat in a marathon last June. defamation trial in which a Federal Court judge found that war crimes allegations levelled against him by Nine newspapers were “substantially or contextually” true.
Those claims included that as an SAS commander, Roberts-Smith kicked an Afghan prisoner off a cliff in September 2012, ordered the execution of an amputee and was implicated in three other executions of unarmed prisoners.
Mr Roberts-Smith was awarded the Australian Victoria Cross, Australia’s highest military honour, after his actions at the Battle of Tezak in 2010.
He was seen outside the residence of Washington Governor Chris Dawson on Thursday.
Also present was his father, retired Major General and former Supreme Court Justice Len Roberts-Smith.
It was unclear whether Dawson was involved in the event and he declined to answer questions about it.
Ben Roberts-Smith is seen outside Western Australia’s Government House, where he received a coronation medal from King Charles III.
The office of Governor-General David Hurley, former head of the Defense Force, said in a statement that the decision to award medals was made by Buckingham Palace and did not involve Australia’s royal representatives.
Prime Minister Antonio Albanese also made clear on Saturday that the decision to recognise Roberts-Smith was made by the king and not his government.
“This was the Palace’s decision to award all Victoria Cross winners an additional award,” he said in an interview with Weekend Today on Channel 9.
‘There are legal actions underway over these issues so, given the government’s commitment, it is important that there is no interference in that.
“But it certainly wasn’t a government decision.”
Queensland Governor Jeannette Young tweeted a photo of herself with her state’s recipients of the King Charles III Coronation Medal.
He said the presentation was “in line with His Majesty the King’s wish that living Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Australia, the George Cross and the Cross of Valor receive it”.
The King Charles III Coronation Medal has been awarded to all living Australians who have received the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Australia, the George Cross and the Cross of Valor.
Nine Newspapers quoted an unnamed military official as saying Roberts-Smith may or may not refuse to accept the medal in person in recognition of the controversy now dogged by his defeat in the Federal Court last year.
In that decision, Judge Anthony Besanko ruled that all of the claims made by Nine Newspapers and Federal Capital Press that Roberts-Smith insisted were defamatory are true “substantially or contextually.”
Judge Besanko also found that the domestic violence-related allegations had “contextual truth” even though the evidence from Roberts-Smith’s former lover, Person 17, “was not reliable enough to determine that an assault had occurred.” .
However, the judge said the allegations, along with the claim that the former soldier was a hypocrite for posing as a DV activist, were “contextually true.”
The judge found there was “substantial truth” to claims that Roberts-Smith had pushed an innocent villager off a cliff in Darwan, southern Afghanistan, and then ordered his execution.
There was also “a substantial truth”: Mr Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed Afghan man with a prosthetic leg and had ordered a young soldier from the Taliban compound Whiskey 108 to shoot an innocent villager to “make the rookie bleed” .
Mr Roberts-Smith has appealed the findings; hearings will be held in February and a judgment is expected shortly.
The incidents are believed to be under scrutiny by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) Afghanistan Inquiry, commissioned by the Department of Defence.
The report, known as the Brereton Report, investigates allegations of possible violations of the Law of Armed Conflict by members of the Special Operations Task Force in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
So far one SAS soldier has been charged with war crimes.
Australian Defence Force Chief Angus Taylor has recommended to Defence Minister Richard Marles that a group of special forces commanders be stripped of their medals for misconduct by their units.
The failure of Roberts-Smith’s defamation suit aimed at clearing his name came after 110 days of explosive hearings and cost a total of $25 million.
This has put his hopes of returning to the corporate world and as a motivational speaker in limbo.
Mr Roberts-Smith was awarded costs and will be required to pay the very substantial legal bill of his victorious accusers, Nine Newspapers and Federal Capital Press.
As a Victoria Cross holder, Mr Roberts-Smith attended the coronation of King Charles III in 2022 despite the objections of the Australian government.
Mr Roberts-Smith was also ordered to pay the legal costs of the publishers he sued for libel.