Ben Roberts-Smith
Benjamin Roberts-Smith is an Australian former soldier who served in the Australian Army. He is a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award for gallantry in battle that can be awarded to a member of the Australian Defence Force. In 2023, he was found in a civil defamation trial to have committed murder and other war crimes while deployed to Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith joined the Australian Army in 1996 at the age of eighteen. In 1999, he was deployed twice to East Timor. In 2003, he was selected to serve in the elite Special Air Service Regiment. In 2004, Roberts-Smith was deployed to operations off Fiji as part of Operation Quickstep. In 2005 and 2006, he served as part of Security Detachment Iraq. Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions during 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012. In addition to the Victoria Cross For Australia, Roberts-Smith was awarded a Medal for Gallantry in 2006 and a Commendation for Distinguished Service in 2012. These honours made him one of Australia's most highly decorated soldiers, and he was once regarded as a national hero.
After his discharge from the Australian Army in 2013, Roberts-Smith was awarded a scholarship to study business at the University of Queensland. In 2015, Kerry Stokes appointed him as Deputy General Manager of the regional television network Seven Queensland. He was later promoted to General Manager of Seven Brisbane, a role from which he temporarily stepped down in 2021 to focus on his defamation action against Nine Entertainment. Following the outcome of the defamation trial in 2023, Roberts-Smith resigned from Seven West Media.
In October 2017, Roberts-Smith's conduct in Afghanistan came under scrutiny after reports that he had killed a teenager he suspected of spotting his patrol. In August 2018, he commenced defamation proceedings against media outlets that had published allegations that he had committed war crimes and bullied other soldiers. In June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed the defamation case, ruling that the media outlets had established, to the standard required in Australian defamation law, that Roberts-Smith murdered four unarmed Afghans and had broken the rules of military engagement. An appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Courtheard over ten days, beginning on 5 February 2024was unanimously dismissed on 16 May 2025. The High Court of Australia refused an application by Roberts-Smith for special leave to appeal on 4 September 2025 and ordered him to pay the defendants' costs.
Early life, family and education
Roberts-Smith was born on 1 November 1978 in Perth, Western Australia. He is the elder son of Sue and Len Roberts-Smith. Len is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, Army Reserve major general and judge advocate general of the Australian Defence Force. Ben's brother, Sam, is an opera singer.In journalist Nick McKenzie's biography of Roberts-Smith, Crossing the Line, it was alleged that Ben developed a reputation for intimidating smaller students at school. He played rugby and basketball in high school, winning the best and fairest in his final year. He graduated from Hale School in 1995.
Military career and honours
Early career
Roberts-Smith enlisted in the Australian Army in 1996 at age eighteen. After completing basic training at Blamey Barracks in Kapooka, he underwent initial employment training at the School of Infantry at Lone Pine Barracks in Singleton; and from there, Roberts-Smith was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in Holsworthy, all in New South Wales. Initially part of a rifle company, he subsequently became a section leader in the Direct Fire Support Weapons Platoon. With 3 RAR, Roberts-Smith was deployed twice with Rifle Company Butterworth, in Malaysia. He was also part of two operations in East Timor in 1999, including as part of the International Force East Timor. By 2001, following Malaysia and East Timor, he held the rank of corporal.After completing the Special Air Service Regiment selection course in 2003 and the SASR reinforcement cycle, Roberts-Smith was initially posted to 3 Squadron at Campbell Barracks in Perth. Joining SASR meant surrendering his rank of corporal and starting at the base rank of trooper. While in 3 Squadron, he was a member of training and assistance teams throughout Southeast Asia. He took part in preparations to evacuate Australian citizens from Fiji in 2004 and was part of personal security detachments in Iraq throughout 2005 and 2006.
Afghanistan
Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions, in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012.Medal for Gallantry
On 31 May 2006 Roberts-Smith was a scout and sniper in a patrol whose aim was to establish an observation on the mountain Koran Ghar, overlooking the Chora Pass in Uruzgan Province, as part of the 2006 Dutch/Australian Offensive. Besides Roberts-Smith, members of the patrol comprised two junior soldiers who would be referred to as "Person 1" and "Person 2" in a later defamation proceeding, a British sergeant from the Special Boat Service, an American special forces radio operator and Sergeant Matthew Locke. The patrol's aim was to monitor and report on Anti-Coalition Militia movements in the pass below; and to maintain concealment.On 2 June, Person 2 witnessed a lone Afghan teenager approaching the patrol observation post, leaving shortly thereafter. Person 2 communicated, by radio, with the rest of patrol the teenager's approach and subsequent exit. After hearing of the teen's exit, Roberts-Smith and Locke arrived at the observation post and enquired why the teen had not been engaged. The other soldiers replied that their orders were to observe and not attract attention. Although the other soldiers had decided it was not necessary to engage the Afghan, Roberts-Smith and Locke "decided to hunt down and shoot dead the two 'enemy' after concluding they had spotted the patrol". The patrol report had identified only a single Afghan unarmed "spotter", but Roberts-Smith later said that two armed insurgents had approached the position in an oral account provided to the Australian War Memorial. When the inconsistency was raised, Roberts-Smith claimed to have remembered incorrectly.
Following the shooting of the teen, the post became the focus of the Anti-Coalition Militia's attempts to identify and surround it. In one instance, the militia attempted to outflank the position, and Roberts-Smith was one of two members of the patrol who were required to move out of their secure position and kill the enemy combatants. Two members of the militia later attempted to attack the post from a different position and Roberts-Smith also killed them. Roberts-Smith then identified that the post was vulnerable and made the decision to divide the patrol and take a position in which he could more readily utilise his sniper rifle. While separated, he then identified 16 Anti-Coalition Militia advancing towards the post. Roberts-Smith used his rifle to stop their advance while under fire. After being joined by another member of his patrol, he was able to hold off the militia until air support arrived.
The Australian War Memorial states that Roberts-Smith's actions while under "fire and in a precarious position, threatened by a numerically superior force, are testament to his courage, tenacity and sense of duty to his patrol". During the battle, Person 1's gun had jammed and he was unable to assist for a period of time. It was later alleged that, following the patrol's return to base, Roberts-Smith had threatened to shoot them in the back of the head. In 2006, Roberts-Smith and Locke were awarded the Medal for Gallantry in recognition of their actions on 2 June.
Victoria Cross
After completing junior leadership training in 2009, Roberts-Smith was posted to 2 Squadron as a patrol second-in-command. On 11 June 2010, at Tizak in the Kandahar Province, he and other SASR soldiers were on a mission searching for a Taliban commander during the Shah Wali Kot Offensive. Immediately upon helicopter insertion, the soldiers became pinned down by machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire from multiple positions. With air support, Roberts-Smith and his patrol were able to move within 70 metres of their opponent's positions. The patrol advanced on the insurgent position but were pinned down by sustained fire 40 metres from their objective. Robert-Smith then spotted a structure from which he was able to get cover from fire. He approached the position and engaged a grenadier, killing them in the process. Roberts-Smith's patrol was still pinned down by machine gun fire from three positions. He exposed his position and drew fire away from the rest of his patrol. With fire drawn away from the patrol, Roberts-Smith's commander was able to throw a grenade, which neutralised one of the positions. Disregarding his own safety, Roberts-Smith then stormed the remaining two positions.For his actions at Tizak he was presented with the Victoria Cross by the governor-general of Australia, Quentin Bryce, at a ceremony held at Campbell Barracks on 23 January 2011. After being awarded the VC, he became "Australia's most highly decorated combat soldier from the conflict". During defamation proceedings in 2022, the awarding of the VC to Roberts-Smith was questioned, with testimony revealing that multiple SASR members suspected the events justifying the honour may have been fabricated.