CAMERON MILNER: The way Australia treats Ben Roberts-Smith is a test of our national character
As his accusers hide behind a veil of anonymity and legal immunity, Australia’s most decorated soldier is standing up and fighting to clear his name.
The way Australia treats Ben Roberts-Smith is a test of our national character.
As former prime minister John Howard has rightly pointed out, the man deserves the presumption of innocence and his day in court.
Mr Roberts-Smith, who has never run from a fight, has vowed to clear his name in court.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Acting against him in the court of public opinion we have a national news organisation using all its weight and reach to punch down on a war hero.
Nine’s cabal of self righteous tut-tutters puts even the left wing bias of the ABC to shame.
If you believe in the rule of law, then the cornerstone of that belief has to be the right to a free and fair trial.
Yet Nine’s editorial board has decided, on the basis of a defamation trial, that Roberts Smith is a war criminal and should be treated as such.
There’s the breathless re-telling of the stories from seriously questionable people — including those Nine’s own lawyers went out of the way to call murderers before a judge — that are deemed more trustworthy than a recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Aaron Patrick’s expose in The Nightly on Tuesday showed why any professional media outlet should have questioned the motivations of those providing salacious and untested accounts of Ben Roberts-Smith’s wartime conduct.
The key witness for the prosecution kept their anonymity as a source for Nine while publicly and repeatedly smearing Mr Roberts-Smith.
The facts of what happened and why “Person 4” and his colleagues also accused of murder have been granted legal immunity and anonymity by the Commonwealth is only now coming to light.
Australians will make up their own minds about whether justice is truly being served.
On Saturday, thousands of Australians will attend an Anzac service and I for one hope Mr Roberts-Smith attends and is offered the dignity and respect he has earned as the most decorated soldier in our nation’s history.
No amount of smear and confected outrage can deny the gallantry for which Mr Roberts Smith has been venerated.
Australians send our young men and women into war to protect our way of life and our values.
Ben Roberts-Smith was no different.
He served six tours as an SAS commander it was his actions in saving the lives of his mates that saw him cited for a Victoria Cross.
In my books, that makes him a hero. To the minds of a sanctimonious few, it makes him a target of a take-down.
For those fortunate enough to attend the dawn service alongside Mr Roberts-Smith, know you are standing with a hero.
The rest of us this Anzac Day will remember all who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our laws and our land.
That includes the presumption of innocence.
Cameron Milner is a former Queensland Labor State secretary
