Brendan Nelson tells court he was cautioned by ‘senior government figure’ over his support for Ben Roberts-Smith
The former defence minister and head of the Australian War Memorial Dr Brendan Nelson has described Ben Roberts-Smith as the “most respected, admired and revered Australian soldier in more than half a century” before allegations he committed war crimes “devastated” his public standing.
But Nelson has also revealed he was cautioned by a “public figure … serving in a senior position in government” about his unswerving public support for the soldier.
In emotive testimony in RobertsSmith’s defamation trial over war crimes allegations, Nelson said he had met Roberts-Smith through his position as defence minister and as head of the War Memorial, describing him as an “immensely courageous” and admirable man.
“Ben Roberts-Smith, VC, MG was the most respected, admired and revered Australian soldier in more than half a century,” he told the court in Sydney.
Roberts-Smith, one of the most decorated soldiers in Australian military history, is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times for defamation over a series of reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committingwar crimes, including murder.
The first articles over which Roberts-Smith is suing, published in June 2018, did not name Roberts-Smith, but rather described a soldier given the pseudonym Leonidas allegedly committing war crimes. Nelson said it was “immediately” apparent the stories referred to Roberts-Smith because of: their use of the Spartan warrior’s name – Roberts-Smith has a Spartan helmet tattooed on his ribcage; their reference to the soldier’s height – Roberts-Smith is nearly two metres tall; and their reference to significant military decorations – Roberts-Smith is a recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Nelson said he had rung RobertsSmith
upon reading the story.
“I told him I’d read the story, I knew it was about him. I told him that I believed in him. I was very sorry that such an article should be published about him.”
Nelson said he had asked after Roberts-Smith’s welfare, to which the soldier had replied, “I know who’s behind this, I know what’s driving them, but it’s not true.”
Nelson has previously said RobertsSmith is “one of the greatest Australians” and vowed to “stand with him”.
“Unless there have been the most egregious breaches of laws of armed conflict, we should leave it all alone,” he said in 2018. “War is a messy business.”
Nelson told the court on Monday he had been cautioned about his staunch public support for RobertsSmith, saying he had been “taken aside by a public figure … serving in a senior position in government”. Nelson was interrupted by an objection before he could detail the nature of that conversation. He declined to name the senior government figure before the court, but said it was “not the prime minister”.
In court on Monday, Nelson said Roberts-Smith was an “immensely courageous and strong man”.
“But he was clearly hurt. It has been devastating, the impact on him.”
Nelson said he had called RobertsSmith again after subsequent articles were published to offer him “my support for him, my belief in him, and that of the overwhelming majority of Australians”.
Roberts-Smith had become “despondent, anxious, introspective, and much less willing to engage in public events”, Nelson said.
The trial also spent nearly an hour debating a claim of legal privilege over an email sent by Roberts-Smith to his lawyer, Mark O’Brien.
It led to near-chaotic scenes of Roberts-Smith’s legal team redacting the email with a felt-tipped pen before the bench, only to have it handed back because the redacted material could be read through the scribbled lines.
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An unimpressed Justice Anthony Besanko adjourned the court. When he returned to the bench, Roberts-Smith’s legal team abandoned their claim for privilege.
While a single email amid thousands of pages of evidence, the argument around it centres on whether members of the SAS passed on infor