Fallen military hero Ben Roberts-Smith – who spectacularly failed to clear his name from war crime allegations – has received a special honour from King Charles III in a formal ceremony.
Mr Roberts-Smith was seen attending the event at Western Australia’s Government House on Thursday along with his parents to receive a King Charles III coronation medal, which the monarch decreed should go to all living Victoria Cross recipients.
Despite receiving that honour Mr Roberts-Smith last June suffered a stunning loss in in a marathon defamation trial where a Federal Court judge found that war crimes claims made against him by Nine newspapers were ‘substantially or contextually’ true.
Those claims included that as an SAS commander, Mr 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 Victoria Cross for Australia, Australia’s highest military honour, after his actions in the 2010 battle of Tezak.
He was seen outside the residence of WA Governor Chris Dawson on Thursday.
Also in attendance was his father retired major general and former Supreme Court judge, Len Roberts-Smith.
It was unclear if Mr Dawson was involved in the event and he has refused to answer questions about it.
Ben Roberts-Smith is seen outside Western Australia’s Government House where he received a King Charles III coronation medal
The office of Governor-General David Hurley, a former chief of the Defence 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 Anthony Albanese also made clear on Saturday the decision to recognise Roberts-Smith was made by the King and not his government.
‘This was the decision of the Palace to give all Victoria Cross recipients a further award,’ he said in an interview with Weekend Today on Channel 9.
‘There’s ongoing legal action on these issues so given the government’s engagement, it’s important that there not be 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.
She said the presentation was in ‘keeping with His Majesty the King’s wish for living Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross, Victoria Cross for Australia, George Cross and Cross of Valour to receive it’.
The King Charles III coronation medal has been given to all living Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross, Victoria Cross for Australia, George Cross and Cross of Valour
Nine Newspapers cited an unnamed military official who said Mr Roberts-Smith could decline or not receive the medal in person in recognition of the controversy that now dogs him following the Federal Court loss last year.
In that decision Justice Anthony Besanko ruled that all the claims made by Nine Newspapers and Federal Capital Press that Roberts-Smith insisted were defamatory are either ‘substantially or contextually’ true.
Justice Besanko also found imputations related to domestic violence had ‘contextual truth’ even though Mr Roberts-Smith’s former mistress Person 17’s evidence was ‘not sufficiently reliable to find an assault had occurred’.
However, the judge said the allegations, along with the contention that the ex-soldier was a hypocrite for posing as a DV campaigner, were ‘contextually true’.
The judge found there was ‘substantial truth’ in the claims Mr Roberts-Smith had pushed an innocent villager off a cliff in Darwan, in southern Afghanistan, then ordered his execution.
There was also ‘substantial truth Mr Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed Afghan with a prosthetic leg and ordered a young soldier at the Taliban compound Whiskey 108 to shoot an innocent villager to ‘blood the rookie’.
Mr Roberts-Smith has appealed the findings, with hearings held in February and a judgment expected shortly.
The incidents are believed to be currently under the microscope of the Department of Defence-commissioned Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) Afghanistan Inquiry.
Known as the Brereton Report, it is probing allegations about possible breaches of the Law of Armed Conflict by members of the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan from 2005 to 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 over the misconduct of the units.
The failure of Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation lawsuit intended to clear his name followed 110 days of explosive hearings and cost a total of $25million.
It has put his hopes-for a return to the corporate world and as a motivational speaker in limbo.
Costs were awarded against Mr Roberts-Smith and he will be asked to pay for 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 objections from the Australian government.
Mr Roberts-Smith was also ordered to pay court costs for the publishers he sued for defamation
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