Australia reacts to Ben Roberts-Smith arrest: ‘Makes me want to vomit’

In a statement sent to news.com.au, Gina Rinehart – who has long been a vocal supporter of Mr Roberts-Smith – questioned the use of taxpayer funds to investigate Australia’s most decorated living veteran.

“I don’t understand how it can be justified to spend more than $300 million to try for years to bring SAS veterans, who have served our country, towards criminal proceedings, and most recently the arrest of Ben,” she said.

“Have we lost sight of the fact that in our inadequately defended country, facing uncertain times, the morale of our defence force has already been brought to its lowest ebb since inception, our defence personnel numbers are inadequate, and recruitment is suffering.

“Surely, the more than $300 million of taxpayers’ money would have been far better spent strengthening Australia’s security and keeping Australians safe from terrorism, including removing terrorists and their supporters from our country.”

It comes as billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and the social media site X (formerly Twitter), also weighed in. He responded to a post on the site by controversial Australian activist Drew Pavlou with a brief three words: “This sounds insane”.

Mr Pavlou had written a post supportive of the Victoria Cross recipient, ending with the words: “Free Ben Roberts-Smith”.

Following his arrest at Sydney Airport on Tuesday, Mr Roberts-Smith has been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder, with police to allege he intentionally caused the death of two people, and aided and abetted others to intentionally cause the death of a person in three other instances.

He will face court on Wednesday.

Pauline Hanson had earlier rushed in to defend Mr Roberts-Smith, declaring on X: “I remain steadfast in my support of Ben Roberts-Smith despite news of his arrest today”.

“Ben, his immediate and broader Defence family need the Australian people’s support right now and I will not abandon him like so many other politicians,” she continued.

“Ben was disgracefully arrested in front of his twin 15-year-old girls.”

Legendary Aussie boxer Danny Green also posted an angry message of support.

“Ben Roberts-Smith you have the support of many good people,” Green wrote on Instagram. “A shocking day when a MAN who was trained by the government and paid by the government to go to a war joined by the government, now arrest him in front of his two children, the same man who risked his life daily for that same government’s own children.

SHAME ON EVERYONE WHO HUNG THIS HERO OUT TO DRY. You know who you are I hope you feel satisfied. Makes me want to vomit and rage at the same time. Rats.”

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott also questioned why

“Of course, there are rules that have to be observed and enforced, even against soldiers in times of war. Still, it’s wrong to judge the actions of men in mortal combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life,” Abbott wrote on X.

“If Ben Roberts-Smith transgressed, why wasn’t this picked up prior to his gallantry awards and why wasn’t any culture of brutality towards prisoners detected by his more senior officers, and dealt with quickly, rather than being allowed to fester, as has been alleged, for over a decade?”

But Greens senator David Shoebridge posted a screenshot of an article about the arrests, and wrote: “Good”.

In 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko dismissed Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation action against the Nine group newspapers and ruled that on the balance of probabilities, the soldier was involved in the murder of four unarmed Afghani men.

A partner at top tier law firm Thomson Geer, Justin Quill, said that given the 2023 ruling, the impending criminal charges were “not surprising”.

“Having said that, although it’s not surprising, for most of us he probably hasn’t been in our minds much and it is such a spectacular fall from grace that it is still – in that respect – surprising.

“This case has been, and will continue to be, pretty unprecedented in its context and size. This is effectively a war crime hearing in Australia. We’ve never had such a trial, although one soldier has been ordered to stand trial at a later date.”

Oliver Schulz, 43, was charged in 2023 with the war crime of murder after helmet-cam footage was published by the ABC which showed the shooting death of Afghan man Dad Mohammad in 2012.

Mr Schulz pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court in October and is not expected to stand trial until 2027.

Mr Quill said a critical point to understand about the Mr Roberts-Smith case was the 2023 ruling was made to the civil “balance of probabilities” standard, not the criminal “beyond reasonable doubt” standard.

“Therefore you shouldn’t assume because of Justice Besanko’s findings that the criminal court will necessarily make the same findings,” he said.

The six-month gap between Mr Roberts-Smith’s last legal challenge against the defamation ruling, and Tuesday’s arrest, led Mr Quill to believe the Australian Federal Police had additional evidence not yet heard in court.