/qresearch/ -  Q Research

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Gina Rinehart blasts Labor’s Defence sell-off as she speaks at opening of new Brisbane housing complex for homeless veterans

Hancock Prospecting boss Gina Rinehart has torn into federal Labor's planned sale of historic Defence properties as her $200 million pledge to help house homeless veterans took a major step forward on Monday.

Des Houghton - October 12, 2026

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Gina Rinehart's pledge to spend $200 million on housing for homeless veterans took another step forward on Monday with the opening of the Daniel Keighran VC Apartments in Brisbane.

Australia's richest woman used the occasion to criticise the federal government's sale of historic Defence Force properties and what she described as the poor treatment of many former servicemen and women.

She said it "made my blood boil" to learn of the low pensions received by some mentally wounded veterans, many of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mrs Rinehart, honorary guardian of Australia's veterans through Soldier On Australia, spoke at the opening of the first of four new Brisbane veteran housing complexes in the riverside suburb of Norman Park.

The facility has been named the Daniel Keighran VC Apartments in honour of Queensland-born Daniel Keighran VC, who received the Victoria Cross for his bravery under fire while on patrol in Derapet, Afghanistan, in August 2010.

Mrs Rinehart's veteran housing initiative now stretches from coast to coast across Australia.

The Daniel Keighran VC Apartments add to two other veteran housing facilities opened in Western Australia earlier this year: the Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG Beach Houses at Scarborough and the Sergeant Matthew Locke MG Apartments in South Perth.

Mr Keighran, who still lives in Brisbane and earned his Victoria Cross while serving with the Brisbane-based 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, attended Monday’s opening.

He thanked Mrs Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting, saying the homes had already begun transforming veterans' lives.

Veterans Housing Australia, which operates one of Mrs Rinehart's dedicated veterans housing facilities in Perth, will manage the Norman Park complex in partnership with the Salvation Army.

Two other residential veteran housing facilities funded by Hancock Prospecting are already operating at full capacity in Brisbane. A third is expected to welcome residents next month.

"The accommodation offers veterans stable and secure housing and a place to call home," Mrs Rinehart said.

Mrs Rinehart's support for veterans spans several decades through substantial assistance to Soldier On, the SAS Resources Trust, the Commando Welfare Trust, Legacy, RSL WA and other organisations.

She has also previously provided housing support through Sir Valston Hancock House, a dedicated complex of refurbished units in South Perth that has provided more than 3,500 nights of accommodation since opening in September 2024 for veterans who might otherwise have slept rough.

The facility is named after her uncle, Air Marshal Sir Valston Eldridge Hancock KBE CB DFC, who served in numerous operational roles during World War II before becoming Chief of Air Staff from 1961 to 1965.

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Mrs Rinehart said she was pleased to be able to provide more accommodation for veterans and their families.

"After the opening of our first two Perth properties for veterans this year, together with the earlier Sir Valston Hancock House, we're pleased to be able to provide more accommodation for veterans and their families, this time in Brisbane,” she told News24.com.au.

"Like Perth, home of our highly skilled SAS, Queensland veterans have a long and proud history of service to our nation. While many veterans call this city home, sadly too many who have served have no stable home of their own.”

Mrs Rinehart said it was wrong that defence facilities would be sold off by the federal government.

"With a federal government that seems more determined to sell unused or scarcely used barracks to support excessive spending and waste, including many facilities with significant historical and sentimental value to those who serve or have served, rather than opening them to our approximately 6,000 homeless veterans, it is necessary to find suitable accommodation around the country to help address this national disgrace,” she said.

"I hope more veteran organisations, including those receiving government funding, add their voices to calls for the immediate opening of these underused Defence facilities for the benefit of veterans sleeping rough.

"Our own $200 million commitment, while the largest private commitment ever made to veterans in Australia, is not enough on its own. More can, should and must be done to help those who were willing to sacrifice everything for us.

"Stable and secure housing is the foundation needed to help turn homeless veterans' lives around. Skills acquired during military service, including carpentry, plumbing and mechanical trades, could be used to help maintain existing barracks, along with any cleaning, maintenance and painting work required.

"What really makes my blood boil is that veterans who have fully earned their already inadequate pensions are restricted from working as much as they want or need. If they earn above the small amount permitted by the government, their pensions are reduced.

"Veterans should be able to work as much as they choose without having an expensive and intrusive bureaucracy hanging over them, and simply have their earnings taxed like everyone else. This policy prevents many veterans from saving for a home or even paying rent during a severe cost-of-living crisis."

Mrs Rinehart said veterans and pensioners should not be penalised for wanting to work.

Removing barriers to employment for pensioners could release hundreds of thousands of English-speaking Australian workers into the workforce, she said.

Corporal Keighran said it was "humbling and an absolute honour" to have the new facility named after him.

"Those who have served our nation face unique challenges as they transition back to civilian life," he said.

"Many land on their feet, but for many others unforeseen hurdles arise and take them down a path no veteran should have to endure. Mrs Rinehart has stepped up for these veterans in a way never seen before."

https://www.news24.com.au/business/real-estate/gina-rinehart-blasts-labors-defence-selloff-as-she-speaks-at-opening-of-new-brisbane-housing-complex-for-homeless-veterans/news-story/70c601991a2b5141fcf3f80b91c2ef5b

https://www.hancockironore.com.au/speech-by-mrs-gina-rinehart-ao-daniel-keighran-vc-apartments-opening/

https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSQld/videos/its-being-called-a-national-shame-thousands-of-australian-veterans-living-in-car/969382448964830/

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>>25156309

Gina Rinehart’s $200m commitment to help homeless veterans opens second residence where Ben Roberts-Smith cut the ribbon

Gina Rinehart has opened another block of apartments as part of her company’s $200 million commitment to help homeless veterans, with Ben Roberts-Smith VC cutting the ribbon.

Laurence Karacsony - October 19, 2026

Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart has opened another block of apartments as part of her company’s $200 million commitment to help homeless veterans.

The apartments in Brisbane’s Bowen Hills marked the second residence opened by Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting in a single week.

Ms Rinehart said the apartments honoured the only known Aboriginal fighter pilot to serve in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II.

Len Waters, who served at the same time as Ms Rinehart’s uncle, Sir Valston Hancock, was an Aboriginal who left school before 14 to support his family by shearing, before becoming a pilot in 1944.

Ms Rinehart said Len’s story deserved to be “far better known”, choosing to name the Brisbane residence the “Len Waters Apartments”.

“Very sadly, when Len came home from the war, he was unable to build the flying career he wanted,” Ms Rinehart said.

“Too many of today’s veterans also come home to find no home and doors not open to them, thanks to current uni-party decisions. Veterans are restricted from working as much as they may want or need, or heavily penalised if they work more than what the government allows.

“Approximately 6,000 veterans are homeless and our unused or scarcely used barracks sit empty or are being sold off to fund government overspending. Pretty speeches and pollie photo opportunities at veteran parades or similar gatherings, don’t help the veterans one iota.”

Ms Rinehart’s $200 million commitment is the largest private commitment ever for veterans in Australia.

“By itself (the commitment) is inadequate,” Ms Rinehart said.

“I again remind the government, we are on a wrongful path proven to not serve the interests of our veterans.

"(I) again call on the federal government to open underused defence facilities to homeless veterans and their families, and to let veterans work as much as they choose, with their earnings taxed as ours are, but without touching their much deserved pensions.”

The nation’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith VC, officially opened the residence in Brisbane on Sunday evening alongside his family and the daughter of Mr Waters, Di Russell.

Mr Roberts-Smith said it was an honour to stand beside Ms Russell and her family to open a home named after her father.

“At a time when the odds were stacked against him, he earned his wings and flew 95 sorties for his country,” Mr Roberts-Smith said.

“Every veteran who walks through these doors has served our country, and some have been through very hard times since. What they find here is a safe, secure place to call home, among people who understand what they’ve been through.

“No private Australian has done more for homeless veterans than Mrs Rinehart. She hasn’t waited for governments to act. She has put her own resources on the line, and veterans right across Australia are better off for it.”

Ms Russell said her family was “so proud to see Dad’s name on a place that gives veterans a safe home”, adding that it was a “wonderful” way to remember him.

“Flying was Dad’s dream from the time he was a boy. Like a lot of veterans, he came home and had to find his own way,” Ms Russell said.

“Knowing that veterans doing it tough will now have a stable home in a building that carries his name means a great deal to all of us.

“We thank Mrs Rinehart and everyone involved for honouring Dad in this way, and for looking after the veterans who will call this place home.”

The Len Waters Apartments are the second of Ms Rinehart’s four Brisbane apartments to be officially named, following the opening of the Daniel Keighran VC Apartments in Norman Park on Monday, October 12.

Six apartment buildings have now been acquired across Australia under the commitment, with more to come.

https://www.news24.com.au/news/local/gina-rineharts-200m-commitment-to-help-homeless-veterans-opens-second-residence-where-ben-robertssmith-cut-the-ribbon/news-story/211573515c1752c25b467c5df7e24f5d

https://www.hancockprospecting.com.au/speech-by-mrs-gina-rinehart-ao-opening-of-the-len-waters-apartments-for-homeless-veterans/

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Ben Roberts-Smith to discuss war crime charges, arrest and time in prison in two-and-a-half-hour interview

Ben Roberts-Smith is preparing to speak at length about his fight to clear his name, with the embattled former soldier sitting down for a rare extended interview with radio host Ben Fordham.

Joe Gallop - October 19, 2026

Ben Roberts-Smith is preparing to speak at length about his fight to clear his name, with the embattled former soldier sitting down for a rare extended interview with 2GB radio host Ben Fordham.

Fordham said the two-and-a-half-hour conversation recorded in Brisbane will detail Roberts-Smith’s military career, war crime charges and time behind bars.

“You’re not going to want to miss this,” Fordham said.

“Australia’s most decorated living soldier is speaking about the fight to clear his name.”

Roberts-Smith, a former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient, faces five charges of the war crime of murder over his alleged involvement in the deaths of five Afghan nationals who were not taking an active part in hostilities between 2009 and 2012.

Fordham has described the interview as “raw, emotional and at times tense”, promising listeners will hear Roberts-Smith “as you’ve never heard him before”.

The interview will cover Roberts-Smith’s childhood and family, his lengthy military career, the actions that earned him the Victoria Cross in Afghanistan in 2011, and the legal battle that has dramatically changed his life.

Australia’s most decorated living soldier is also expected to discuss his arrest at Sydney Airport in April and the 10 days he spent in Silverwater prison before being granted bail.

He will talk about the moment he was arrested, in front of his family, on a flight that had just landed in Sydney.

Roberts-Smith has consistently denied wrongdoing and has yet to enter pleas to the charges.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Fordham said the interview would revisit what he described as Roberts-Smith’s “defamation disaster”, referring to his unsuccessful case against Nine Newspapers, which resulted in an estimated $30 million in legal costs.

Federal Court findings in that civil case were made on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt.

The former soldier has spoken publicly in recent days about launching his own clothing brand, as well as criticising media coverage of the allegations against him.

Roberts-Smith has largely avoided media interviews in recent years.

After being released on bail in April, he categorically denied the allegations and has maintained his innocence.

Fordham’s interview is due to be broadcast across 2GB Breakfast from 7am on October 22 and 23.

It will also be released on YouTube.

https://www.news24.com.au/news/australia/ben-robertssmith-to-discuss-war-crime-charges-arrest-and-time-in-prison-in-twoandahalfhour-interview/news-story/eb026da839c03c37cb5927f71dd1466e

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Indi covers a region that revolted during the 2020-21 pandemic lockdowns, with a wave of protests and civil disobedience aimed at the laws imposed on Victorians. It has been a hot bed of activism that included attempts to have former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews arrested for ­terrorism.

The incident marks a rare moment in Australian politics. One of the most ­significant attacks on a parliamentarian occurred in 1966 when Labor opposition leader Arthur Calwell was shot at close range after attending an anti-conscription rally at Mosman Town Hall in Sydney, but survived.

The orange Toyota RAV was surrounded by police tape after the incident and the area was swarming with police. An ambulance was parked outside her office near a car park. Emergency workers stood around the scene holding up a plastic screen to protect Dr Haines’ ­privacy.

It’s understood the mother of three was at the back of her car getting things out of the boot in a parking bay when she was struck by what eyewitnesses said was a white Toyota LandCruiser.

Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason said Dr Haines was in a critical condition.

Superintendent Mason said bystanders performed a citizen’s arrest and police seized a knife from the suspect’s car. There was nothing to indicate at this stage that Dr Haines knew the man.

“A 43-year-old male driver of the vehicle involved in this ­collision was detained by civilians, witnesses to the incident, and then arrested by police upon their arrival,” Superintendent Mason said.

“That male is currently at the Wangaratta Police Station and will be interviewed by investigators. We’ve got quite an extensive crime scene. We have investigators present, and they’ll continue to work through and try and collect all available evidence to ascertain exactly what has occurred and how it has occurred.”

The incident was isolated and Victorian Police would not rule out that it was a targeted, political attack.

Dr Haines’ family released a statement, asking Australians to keep her in their thoughts.

Her family confirmed she was receiving urgent medical care.

“We thank the swift assistance of bystanders and the dedicated health workers who assisted her, and police for their response,” Dr Haines’ family said.

“Our family, and Helen’s staff, will be making no further comment at this time, and ask that their privacy be respected by the public and media. Please keep Helen in your thoughts.”

Mr Burke said threats to federal MPs were on the rise.

“The year before last we had 951 reports of harassing and threatening behaviour against various high office holders,” Mr Burke said.

“The more recent ­financial year that 915 has gone to 1067.”

“At this moment in time while it’s still so early in the investigation our thoughts are all with Helen and her family and her community and her friends … ­importantly someone is in ­custody.”

At least five police, including a detective, were at the scene late in the afternoon and police closed off the street outside Dr Haines’ office, which is near a main roundabout and the Ovens River.

Dr Haines was first elected as the member for Indi in 2019. She replaced another independent, Cathy McGowan in the sprawling regional electorate in Victoria’s north. Although she only narrowly won her seat in 2019, she has twice been re-elected with a margin of more than 8 per cent.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll said he was “deeply appalled by this violent attack on Helen ­Haines”.

Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson extended her thoughts to Dr Haines, calling the incident “shocking”.

“My thoughts are with Helen and her family,” Ms Wilson said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/democracy-under-assault-car-attack-on-independent-mp-helen-haines/news-story/4f4b33f586527bfd0b4a8c985a4a2d55

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8L-eSXymig

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Crossbench MPs devastated by the attack on Helen Haines say Covid, social media have stoked rising anger and aggression

ROSIE LEWIS - 20 October 2026

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Devastated crossbench MPs who are close to Helen Haines have attributed a rise in aggression and violence towards public figures to the Covid pandemic and the “amplification of social media”, with calls for greater consequences for bad behaviour in and out of parliament.

Politicians from across the spectrum have been shocked by the targeted attack against Dr Haines, the independent Member for Indi, outside her electorate office on Monday, warning that if such an incident can happen to her – a “matriarch” and “very loved, respected” MP who isn’t considered controversial – it could happen to anyone.

There are calls for politicians and the broader community to tackle rising anger and aggression head on, prompting Community Strong Australia MP Zali Steggall to declare: “When the Prime Minister says ‘turn the temperature down’, I just don’t think that’s good enough.”

Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie, who represents the South Australian seat of Mayo, said the pandemic had been a “real pivot” for hostile behaviour.

“I don’t think that that’s just for political offices. I think it’s more broadly across the community that there’s a level of anger and resentment that exists out there for many people,” Ms Sharkie said.

“You go to a coffee shop and there’s most likely to be a sign saying ‘please be kind to our staff’. I didn’t see that a decade ago in any store. When did I see a change? I think post-Covid I saw a change.

“I do recognise that a lot of people are hurting financially at the moment, whether they’re young or old, no doubt about that. But also I look at this globally … post-Covid, there have been some heinous attacks on members of parliament. There’s maybe more violence in the community more broadly.”

Ms Sharkie, who was feeling heartbroken for her colleague and friend, said she personally felt “a little bit more unsafe now” than when she entered parliament in 2016 but not necessarily because of her job.

“I just think that that’s because of society for all of us,” she said.

“We just can’t accept these sort of actions as part of political discourse in this country. I’m sure that there’ll be conversations in the parliament but if you count both chambers, (that’s only) a couple of hundred people having a conversation. There’s 28 million Australians. I think this needs to be a bigger national discussion about people being safe in the workplace. Because politicians have a right to be safe in the workplace just as that cafe worker and ambulance worker.”

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Ms Steggall, who sits next to Dr Haines in the House of Representatives, said increasing anger and aggression in Australia was linked to Covid but believed the problem lay more with social media, the winding back of safety measures online and Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, which is now called X.

“That has led to amplifying conspiracy theories, rejection of facts and government and establishment,” Ms Steggall said.

“Then you have the anonymity of the online world where people just behave in a way where I would challenge anyone to say to my face what they write on social media or to say that to anyone in their life.

“You’ve got the Covid moment but also the amplification of social media. All of a sudden, people that might have been isolated in their views are now connected with others and it can get amplified. It is a more dangerous environment in that sense.

“This sort of condoning of anger in our society, we need to address that.”

Ms Steggall said a lot more could be done to set better standards and respectful debate from the top.

“There needs to be greater consequences and penalties for breaches. Greater calling things out for what it is. When threats are made they are serious, that undermines trust in democracy.

“We can have better standards and we have those standards in other areas, right? In traditional media, in any other workplace. You go to McDonalds and you get a warning that if you’re going to be abusive to their serving staff, you’ll be asked to leave. Why is that standard not applied in every workplace, including the political workplace?”

Dreading news of Dr Haines on Tuesday and hoping for her full recovery, Ms Steggall questioned if the attack was “a moment of loss of innocence for Australia”.

Fellow Community Strong Australia MP Allegra Spender said all politicians needed to lead better and treat each other with respect in parliament, agreeing Covid and social media – in particular algorithms – were to blame for a deterioration in behaviour.

She said a conversation about how to push back against hostility had to happen when federal parliament returned on Monday, including a holistic look at security for MPs.

“It’s about a culture change but if this isn’t going to wake us up, what is?” Ms Spender said.

“I’m a very big advocate for people to switch off algorithms. The algorithms drive outrage deliberately because that’s engagement. People can be radicalised be it Islamist or other types of misogynistic extreme content pretty quickly on social media. Therefore how do we put in the appropriate guardrails so people can actually make better choices? They want to have greater choice over how they consume social media.

“My experience of my fellow politicians in the main, for instance in elections, is you can disagree and disagree with respect but we need to work harder at that. I say to parliamentarians – you have kids watching parliament every day and in parliament there’s behaviour that’s unacceptable in workplaces, school yards and classrooms and acceptable in the parliament and that’s not okay.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/crossbench-mps-devastated-by-the-attack-on-helen-haines-say-covid-social-media-have-stoked-rising-anger-and-aggression/news-story/d26a90856b748a7dba1444ddce335fed

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ASIO director-general Mike Burgess said Monday’s incident had happened in an environment where increased levels of grievance, intolerance and polarisation had made violence seem permissible.

“I have repeatedly put on the record my concern about the use of violent rhetoric in public discourse. Words matter,” Burgess said in a statement.

“I genuinely believe the temperature of our security environment would be several degrees lower if we recommitted to conversing with civility, debating with respect and disagreeing with restraint.”

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said 41 people had been charged with offences relating to threats against high office holders, including politicians, since special national security investigation teams were launched last October.

Victorian Premier Ben Carroll said extra security measures could be imposed at voting booths at next month’s state election, while NSW Premier Chris Minns said he feared such incidents would deter other people from running for political office.

Independent senator David Pocock described it as a “wake-up call”. “As a male parliamentarian, you get some threats. You get the angry phone calls, the awful emails, the anonymous comments,” he said.

“But I think we’ve got to look at what’s happening to female politicians, and just the ridiculous amount of threats and abuse that they have to cop, and as Australians, we need to stand up and say this is not OK.”

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said Coalition MPs had often discussed the increased threat of political violence as he stressed the importance of keeping an Australian culture of vigorous debate that never crossed the line into violence.

“We need to do everything we can as elected representatives to prevent this ever happening again,” he said.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said Haines was a “lovely lady” who worked tirelessly for her community, while Greens leader David Shoebridge said the notion that Haines could be targeted for her work was “horrifying, senseless and shameful”.

Hanson described Haines as a “beautiful lady” before blaming Albanese and state premiers for the deteriorating state of political debate. Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, whose own security has been recently upgraded, criticised that response.

“We all have a role to play and it can’t just be finger pointing. I think it’s a bad move to point the finger on a day like this,” he said.

Hanson also revealed she had ordered her cartoon creator to change a One Nation video that mocked Senator Jacqui Lambie’s struggles with vaginal prolapse. After Lambie condemned the cartoon on Monday, Hanson said she should “have a laugh” and “get over it”.

But on Tuesday, she changed tone. “The video went up without my actually seeing it, and I was not aware of the content of the video,” Hanson said.

“It wasn’t as tastefully done as it could have been, and I do apologise for that. I’ve already spoken to them about it and changing that.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/turn-down-the-temperature-spy-chief-s-urgent-warning-as-helen-haines-remains-in-critical-condition-20261020-p616y0.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFu5BvFCQWs

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Bear said she had known Jefferies, a husband and father of three young children, for years.

“We’re very close to them, so I can wholeheartedly say he’s a selfless man. I’m not surprised that he stepped in and tried to do the right thing,” Bear said.

“He’s a young dad of three kids and has a wife at home, so anything terrible could have happened.”

A vase of flowers rested on the table out the front of Jefferies’ barbershop on Tuesday morning, matching the floral tribute at Haines’ office.

Underneath the vase was a handwritten note for Jefferies: “I hope you are OK. We pray for you. Nev and Donna.”

Jefferies was joined by several other locals shortly after, including Cody Lepoidevin. The 20-year-old was working across the street when he heard jolts and screams.

He said initially it looked like an accident, but then he saw the car drive forward again “at least three times”.

“We thought he was trying to run away, but he then reversed and drove back into her another three times before trying to flee,” Lepoidevin told reporters.

“I was there to restrain him [Nugent] against the wall, but yeah, more or less they got him out of the car. He was quite delirious … from there on, it was pretty much just blur. We did what we could.”

Nugent is expected to be interviewed by police later on Tuesday.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush joined the chorus of praise for Jefferies, Lepoidevin and the others who intervened.

“They put their own lives in jeopardy to get in front of what was occurring,” Bush said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I’d also like to acknowledge our staff that were on the scene actually within eight seconds.”

As Wangaratta continues to comprehend the terrible incident that has put it on the national stage, the locals’ actions have shown what the town is all about, according to Mayor Irene Grant.

“That’s the sort of thing that I think we are known for, our community,” she said.

“We volunteer, we step up, we support each other, and never more so than in a situation like this, people do rally, and I think that will be what will happen as the days unfold.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-split-second-decision-that-put-a-dad-in-danger-to-save-helen-haines-20261020-p616x7.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1un1efY2fnE

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In a reply to a post by Senator Wong condemning the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, who died when an aid convoy in which she was travelling in was hit by an Israel Defence Forces drone in April 2024, the account wrote: “what an insult to this womans life”.

The account had also solicited donations for people in Gaza.

In another post the account wrote the former female US Secretary of States were each “mass murderers of innocent civilians”.

“The Biden administration’s “no daylight,” unconditional support for Israel has provided so much leeway that Tel Aviv has no way of climbing down from its stated war objectives, despite having achieved none’,” he said in one post.

“Help the children of Gaza,” he stated in another post on August 25, 2024.

In May he wrote: ”You have not been clear on anything other than giving israel impunity to kill thousands of children”.

In May 2023 he replied to prime minister Albanese, saying: “what a pathetic year from a so called labor gov”.

A year earlier he posted in a now deleted post by the US ambassador to the UN questioning whether the US was “trying to provoke the first war between nuclear armed nations”.

Analysis of his posts show that his posts pre 2023 were about native forest logging and other environmental concerns.

He also replied to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in May 2022 asking how he and Albanese were both “going to tackle climate change while increasing fossil fuel production?”.

Earlier this year he posted a link to a YouTube video by far right commentator Candace Owens making claims about conspiracies surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s network and Charlie Kirk, titled “Did Epstein’s Network Reemerge In Charlie Kirk’s World”.

Before October 7 his posts were predominantly standard environmental activism featuring native forest logging specifically in Victoria, carbon accounting/forestry emissions, deforestation, climate policy and biodiversity.

He would often be critical of government and industry policy.

The account recently posted about “satanic child sexual abuse material network” and the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The account in 2018 posted a photograph of the 1997 Toyota LandCruiser bearing the same number plate as the vehicle allegedly used in the attack.

In 2022, the X account launches into a rant about the NDIS and what he claims is his own disability.

“You need to understand

- NDIS has huge gaps

- DSP is not enough for many ppl w/o NDIS

- not all ppl w disability are on the DSP etc.”

Another post states:

“I’ve had plenty of time living with a significant disability, in a lot of chronic pain and also having to cook on a fire and wash my clothes in the river. without many houses available, and no houses available for ppl like us, where do you think we have been forced to live.”

On June 1, 2022, Mr Nugents posts:

“You really have no idea, do you. I have a masters degree, H1 average, still can get the basic assistance I need to work. Tried many times. Disability pension not enough to manage it so I’m constantly broke…”

(continued)

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Victorian Police have confirmed the man was known to them, but was not on their radar recently as they continue to probe if this was a “deliberate” attack.

Dr Haines was left critically injured after she was struck by a vehicle outside her electorate office in Wangaratta in what is being treated as one of the gravest attacks on a sitting parliamentarian in recent decades.

Police arrested the man at the scene shortly after the incident on Murphy Street, where a fast-acting bystander restrained him until officers arrived.

Victoria Police confirmed that police also located and a allegedly seized a knife inside the white Toyota LandCruiser as evidence.

Mr Nugent, 43, is understood to be from the small community of Tarrawingee, about 12km east of Wangaratta, within Dr Haines’s federal electorate of Indi.

Police on Tuesday were at a rural property on Great Alpine Road, Tarrawingee. It’s understood Nugent had resided at the address.

Social media material reviewed by The Australian shows the man had been involved in environmental campaigning in the Strathbogie region, including opposition to logging and planned burning.

He describes himself on X as a “plant person”.

In a November 2019 post, he said:

“Shut down the forestry industry” lol. Again you confirm you have absolutely no idea about Victorian forestry. Native forest logging employment 1 in 40 Victorian forestry jobs and they have a funde transition plan. How’s that “no old growth logging anyway” bs going Steph??”

The X posts in 2019 were more focused on environmental issues. On September 8, 2019, the account poste: “Pollution from coal fired power plants kills over 4,000 Australian every year so please spare me your absurd hypocrisy as the leader of a pro-coal-at-any-cost party pretending to be concerned about the damage coal does to people and our planet.”

And a few days earlier, the account posted: “This is why tree “targets” rather than ha planted is an extremely misleading metric.”

In March 2018, before his social media posts took a dark turn, Mr Nugent was quoted on the Friends Of The Earth Melbourne website, saying:

“This time last year communities around the Strathbogie Ranges in North East Victoria had done everything they legally could to prevent the logging of Parlours Creek coupe.”

“They had many meetings with state owned logging company VicForests, DELWP, and a raft of politicians. They were told there was nothing they could do to stop the destruction of their forests”.

The internet also lists a “Victorian forestry factsheet” detailing employment, economics and water issues relating to the industry that was “prepared by Brendan Nugent”. The post said he holds a master of “Forest Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, Creswick Campus (Victorian School of Forestry)”. The university would not confirm or deny that Mr Nugent had a degree, citing privacy reasons.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/plant-person-and-progaza-radical-brendan-nugent-arrested-over-helen-haines-attack/news-story/ebb5bc0ac7dce7821d17f86b4945ea15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvM4SVPIvx4

>>25159764

Police are stretched trying to stop hundreds of other attacks on MPs and councillors every single day

GEOFF CHAMBERS - 19 October 2026

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The Australian Federal Police personal protection unit is under unprecedented pressure, with officers privately concerned that security gaps will be exposed by the speed, scale and complexity of threats and acts of violence targeting parliamentarians.

Federal and state officers have made dozens of arrests and laid charges against mainly male offenders targeting politicians across the spectrum, as they work to protect officials against conspiracy theorists, right and left-wing extremists, religiously motivated individuals, people suffering mental health conditions and others caught in family court matters who shift blame on to MPs.

The volume of death, physical, sexual, kidnap and extortion threats against MPs, other elected officials and family members has exploded since the pandemic, with federal and state police now providing rolling briefs for parliamentarians on the dangers they detect and responding to more than 4000 complaints in the past few years.

Coalition and Labor MPs were in shock on Monday night because Helen Haines is considered one of the most inoffensive, pleasant and community-minded MPs in the parliament.

The fact the attack happened in Wangaratta, the regional Victorian town close to where Dezi Freeman resided, will raise existing fears that parliamentarians based outside the big capital cities could be more exposed to lone-wolf acts of violence.

The Australian understands the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team, comprising officers from Victoria Police, the AFP and ASIO, were on the scene outside Haines’ electorate office soon after the white Toyota LandCruiser struck the Indi MP.

The 43-year-old Tarrawingee man was understood to be known to the AFP and ASIO. He is one of hundreds of extremists and radicals on the radar of the AFP, ASIO and state police. The challenge for security agencies is balancing already thin resources to protect councillors, state MPs, federal parliamentarians, judges and other public officials from harm. Many threats are not followed through. But all threats must be taken seriously.

Threats against One Nation leader Pauline Hanson are constant and serious. Female MPs and senators are often targeted more aggressively.

Anthony Albanese, cabinet ministers, Coalition and One Nation MPs have been subjected to constant threats, with electorate offices often targeted, sometimes on multiple occasions. That has forced some MPs, including the Prime Minister, to move their electorate offices.

The location of electorate offices is vetted by security agencies to ensure adequate security measures are in place. Parliamentarians supported by the AFP Close Personal Protection unit must provide their daily itineraries ahead of time. In addition to the work of the AFP, the Department of Home Affairs coordinates physical security arrangements for the homes and electorate offices of high-office holders, MPs and senators. Staff at electorate officers are regularly exposed to abuse, including bomb threats.

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Former opposition leader Peter Dutton, who as home affairs minister deported bikies, drug dealers and people-smugglers, was the subject of dozens of threats and required 24/7 CPP surveillance.

Josh Frydenberg, Australia’s most senior-ranking Jewish politician in history, was also targeted. Senior Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has been forced to increase his security in response to threats. Lidia Thorpe has also been subjected to threats.

After multiple fatal and near-fatal attacks on politicians in the UK, Japan and the US, AFP and ASIO chiefs have made it clear that Australia was not immune from similar serious incidents.

The assassination of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, murders of British MPs Sir David Amess, Jo Cox and Ann Widdecombe, and attempted assassinations and serious assaults targeting US politicians have sparked concern among international law enforcement agencies about personal safety risks faced by elected officials.

Globally, there have been dozens of fatal and serious attacks on elected officials.

In Australia, many threats against parliamentarians are linked with individuals with deep distrust of traditional institutions who have aligned themselves with violent conspiracy groups. Social media has become a weapon used by extremists to threaten and intimidate others.

Senior AFP officers often speak about how a threat towards a parliamentarian that reaches a criminal threshold is not just an attack on a member of parliament but an attack on democracy itself.

The AFP is concerned about a high-risk and febrile environment that has seen an explosion in violent threats being levelled at MPs, senators, their children and partners, and staff, via mail, phone calls, emails, social media and in person. AFP and state police investigators are using considerable resources to identify those using pseudonyms online.

A key message that will be repeated in coming days will be that the premise of free speech does not extend to actions or commentary that incite violence.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/cops-fight-rising-tide-of-violent-threats-against-politicians/news-story/8f63eca983ccda9ade4a44de6bea0eb0

>>25159764

Analysis: Helen Haines attack must be a turning point for Australia

James Massola - October 19, 2026

For years, we’ve received warnings that Australia is not immune to the phenomenon of political violence that is a growing problem in affluent, democratic countries around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic played a part, propelling people disaffected by lockdowns and stay-at-home restrictions towards radicalisation. International tensions have continued to increase since then while attacks on MPs’ offices have grown following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In the UK, two MPs – one from Labour and the other a Conservative – have been killed while in office in the past decade, while there have been repeated attempts to attack US President Donald Trump.

And now an attack of what appears to be an overt and targeted act of political violence – directed at independent MP Helen Haines – has brought that violence home to Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this year revealed he had spent weeks away from his Sydney residence as the government bolstered security and built a blast-resistant safety bunker in Kirribilli House, with 20 court cases ongoing regarding threats to the prime minister.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie recently received major security upgrades to his home and office because of threats against him, while cabinet ministers regularly have personal security.

Now, in a violent vehicle attack, the member for Indi, Haines, a 65-year-old former nurse and one of the most respected and respectful members of Australia’s federal parliament, has been injured.

Haines is in a critical condition and has been rushed to hospital, with what are reported to be serious leg injuries.

How on earth Haines became a target for anyone is difficult to fathom.

Albanese looked visibly shaken as he confirmed the attack on Monday night and said a suspect had been arrested. A major police investigation is under way involving police and Victoria’s counter-terrorism unit.

Crucially, the prime minister said the motive of the suspect was not yet known and refused to speculate on what it might have been, but the presence of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke alongside Albanese spoke volumes about what the government seems to believe has occurred.

Burke, for his part, noted that the number of reports of harassing and threatening behaviour against various high office holders had been 951, and in the most recent year that number had risen to 1067.

First and foremost, we must hope that Haines recovers from this attack.

But in the days and weeks ahead, it’s also time for Australia’s political leaders to lead a conversation about why more Australians are being radicalised and what can and must be done to head off further incidents of violence against political leaders, and indeed, more broadly within society.

The political class was already aware of the growing risks that MPs face; it’s time for the rest of us to grapple with the problems posed by radicalisation, extremism and the growing threat of political violence.

Social media companies, too, must not be let off the hook, given the outsized part they have played in providing platforms for and access to material that can radicalise and isolate people.

This attack has not yet been confirmed as politically motivated.

But it must be a turning point, and it is incumbent on all politicians to turn down the temperature of political debate rather than continuing a race to the bottom with cheap personal attacks and juvenile insults.

There must never be another incident like this attack on Helen Haines again.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/helen-haines-attack-must-be-a-turning-point-for-australia-20261019-p616vi.html

>>25159764

WA Police Minister laments ‘MAGA rubbish’ online as MPs react to Haines attack

Hamish Hastie and Holly Thompson - October 20, 2026

WA Police Minister Reece Whitby has lamented the decline of “civility” in online public debate, blaming “MAGA rubbish” imported from the US political discourse as the precursor for physical violence.

Whitby was one of several WA politicians expressing dismay and shock after Victorian Independent MP Helen Haines was hit by a car on Monday afternoon in what appears to be a targeted attack.

“Be robust in your debate, but don’t attack the person, and don’t get personal,” Whitby said.

“The kind of language we see, which is imported from the US so it’s MAGA rubbish, it doesn’t sit with Australian views.

“The extremes on either side of the political spectrum end up meeting because they’re exactly the same. I don’t care if you’re left or right – you’re a threat.”

Whitby said vile, abusive language online was a precursor to people carrying out violent acts in real life, and accused “some in the political system” of egging it on.

“It actually makes some people –who’ve gone down the rabbit hole and been radicalised – it gives them licence to carry out action,” he said.

Asked whether he was referring to One Nation as the political party egging on behaviour, Whitby said: “You can make your own minds up about that, but you know you’ve seen it. You’ve seen the language. We don’t need that at all.”

Nationals MP Lachlan Hunter called for an audit of security measures at Parliament House and electorate offices, noting one of his offices doesn’t have security cameras.

Whitby said there had already been a review of security at Parliament following the arrest of a 20-year-old man who was allegedly planning a mass casualty attack on WA parliament, as well as police precincts and religious institutions.

“We’ve had police add their presence … and security arrangements have been beefed up previously,” he said.

“We can’t put a cocoon around members of parliament. I’m really angry and sad today, but I don’t want to see this place cornered off. It’s the people’s house. People come here to demonstrate.”

Hunter said he had written to Premier Roger Cook twice recently to relay his security concerns, particularly about his two electorate offices, but had received no response.

“I would like to see the premier actually do a security review and audit of not only this building behind me at Parliament House, but also all electorate offices as well,” he said.

“I’ve received a number of threats being elected only in March last year. I received a number of threats when I was a candidate running for public office.

“I think these are part and parcel of being a public figure, but there needs to be stronger mechanisms in place.

“I’m worried, as not only a state member of parliament but as a regional member of parliament, that the increased level of threat … is at an all-time high.”

Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Minister Jessica Stojkovski said in the past 10 years, there had been an increase in “the temperature of political discourse”, but that she herself felt safe.

“I think all members of parliament experience online threats … and that female MPs are targeted,” she said.

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said the incident involving Haines was “incredibly traumatic”.

“I’ve got to say, I feel supported in the Churchlands office, and the team feels supported, and I know that is the experience of many, but if there are any gaps in the system, then obviously we would ask those in charge of such matters to make sure that any gaps are rectified,” he said.

Midland Labor MP Steve Catania said he personally didn’t feel unsafe but said the social media discourse was getting worse.

He said it would be a shame if it got to the point of needing to reduce public access to MPs.

Cook was approached for comment.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/western-australia/wa-police-minister-laments-maga-rubbish-online-as-mps-react-to-haines-attack-20261020-p61738.html

>>25159764

‘Conspiratorial multiverse’: Experts warn of rise in online extremism amid Helen Haines attack

ELIZABETH PIKE - October 20, 2026

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Social media platforms are serving up a “conspiratorial multiverse” that draws people in and feeds them antisemitic, anti-establishment content regardless of where they lie on the political spectrum, radicalisation experts have warned.

Concerns about the rise of “mixed ideology” extremism have been revived after federal MP Helen Haines was left fighting for life in hospital on Tuesday, after she was struck by a vehicle outside her electoral office in northern Victoria.

The incident led Anthony Albanese to declare the “contest for clicks” was driving social extremes just months after Australia’s intelligence agencies warned of the new, emerging online threat.

University of Sydney Research Associate Dr Milica Stilinovic, who specialises in digital extremism, said she had detected an alarming escalation since the Covid-19 pandemic in the number of people being radicalised online.

Dr Stilinovic likened the current online space to a “conspiratorial multiverse” that may draw people in on a specific issue, such as Covid vaccines, but leads to the same end point regardless of whether the person is left or right-wing.

“As they go deeper they are ending up in far-left, far-right, white supremacist views and it all leans towards antisemitism and this idea of the ‘New World Order,’” Dr Stilinovic said.

“Deep down it’s moving towards (questions about) who’s running the show and it happens during times of crisis, people are searching for answers, a common enemy.”

“All these roads are leading to this mishmash of ideological narratives, and usually the target is the Jewish community on the local or global scale.”

Dr Stilinovic’s research examined how people with interests in the raw vegan diet had ended up holding far-right views such as Hitler’s ideas of naturalism.

Entry points started with extremism, not ideology, making people across society including doctors and lawyers susceptible to radicalisation.

“And that is what makes it dangerous … (The online space) is dependent on algorithms and dependent on engagement, and the most extreme rises to the top,” Dr Stilinovic said.

“Nowadays people have an ability online to traverse across several different narratives that have competing interests and outcomes but are still held as truth.”

The message comes after Australia’s top intelligence agencies and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke warned in May they had noticed the emergence of new, online threats.

Mr Burke said ASIO and the Australian Federal Police were encountering “characteristics” in their case loads that were not “traditionally part of how we would regard counter terrorism in Australia”.

“We had people being radicalised online, being radicalised fast, having mixed ideology and not necessarily the traditional ideologies that might be attached to terrorism,” Mr Burke said at the time.

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Deakin University Associate Professor Dr Josh Roose said the pandemic accelerated anti-government sentiment, particularly in regional Australia, where grievances about financial struggles and lack of services created a hot-bed for online radicalisation.

Dr Roose was an expert witness at the Wieambilla shooting inquest and found potential similarities with the alleged attack on Dr Haines in Wangaratta.

Instead of focusing on youth radicalisation, the terrorism expert said authorities should be looking at how to reach out to middle-aged men who were a vulnerable demographic, especially if they lived in isolated areas with little contact or family connections.

“The easiest way to understand it is to see people who hold the ideology versus people who are grievance-fuelled. These are people experiencing significant personal challenges and are distressed financially, emotionally, anxious about their futures,” Dr Roose said.

“They are not going out there trying to change the world in their image by joining extreme movements, but there is scope there for violence.”

Dr Roose reviewed the online profile of Brendan Nugent, the man who allegedly attacked Dr Haines, and found his posts and comments were largely framed through the lens of “justice and injustice,” regardless of the political issue.

This fed back into grievances against forms of authority that were largely from a left-wing perspective, Dr Roose said.

“Hyper-extremism has become commonplace … it has core themes like justice and injustice, a more powerful other, a sense of disempowerment.”

The Prime Minister led calls from across politics to “turn the temperature down,” with ASIO chief Mike Burgess and AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett releasing similar statements in support.

Mr Albanese convened a meeting with security chiefs on Tuesday about the incident as the government considers boosting protections for MPs.

Police have not yet established a motive for the attack on Dr Haines.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/conspiratorial-multiverse-experts-warn-of-rise-in-online-extremism-amid-helen-haines-attack/news-story/d53b68f87e6862bdc6ab7b719f4ec79a

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who recently came under fire for disparaging comments about Muslims and Indigenous Australians, said Mr Albanese was being hypocritical, accusing his ­office of circulating “dirt files” targeting political opponents including Dr Haines.

“I’ll tell the PM, you tone it down,” Senator Hanson told News24. “Get rid of your dirt file that goes on against parliamentarians, including my party.”

Her call came minutes before she apologised for a video released by One Nation making fun of the health struggles of independent senator Jacqui Lambie.

Independent MP Zali Steggall said Senator Hanson was the ­opposite of what Dr Haines ­represented, accusing the One Nation leader of pushing hate and division.

The Opposition Leader said the success of “our great country” was resolving differences through “vigorous debate and choice of the ballot box”.

“That’s what we are, and we must protect that, which means every one of us must condemn acts that cross the line,” Mr Taylor said.

“I think we can get this balance right. We have in the past, but clearly what we saw yesterday was unacceptable and un-Australian.”

While Liberal frontbenchers Andrew Hastie and James Paterson were among those who backed Mr Albanese’s push for politicians to behave more respectfully, Nationals leader Matt Canavan said “we would be doing our heritage a disservice if we don’t strongly argue our case for what we think is right”.

“One thing we must protect is our robust democratic tradition that is based on the adversarial contest of ideas,” Senator Canavan said. “There just has to be a hard red line on anything that shifts into promoting or inciting a violent reaction. I can’t say I see that often or at all but these horrific events are a reminder for all of us not to cross that line.”

Former Victorian and NSW premiers Jeff Kennett and Bob Carr denied the political debate had become more uncivil since they were in politics, arguing social media was the changed factor.

Former prime minister John Howard said “we should not jump too quickly to compare civility of political debate at various times”.

Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher said she was concerned about the rise in sexualised threats towards female MPs.

Mr Nugent is an environmental activist who has regularly criticised political leaders on social media, including accusing them of “giving Israel impunity to kill thousands of children”.

Mr Nugent describes himself on X as a “plant person”, complains about “huge gaps” in the NDIS, the fact that he is “broke”, and living in “chronic pain”.

The account is a key focus of the investigation by police and anti-terror authorities, The Australian understands.

Australian Federal Police commissioner Krissy Barrett said the AFP had long been concerned about growing threats against federal MPs and high office holders. In 2025-26, the AFP received 1067 reports of harassment, offensive and threatening behaviour against federal MPs, ministers and protected establishments, up from 951 the previous year.

Victoria Police acting superintendent Ashley Mason said the “man has had some prior involvement with police”, but he wasn’t on the force’s radar recently.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/grip-of-madness-ecoactivist-brendan-nugent-charged-with-attack-on-mp-helen-haines/news-story/ff9abf4c3c82bf18dd0791d5b089d40e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydkmGK2n3-Y

>>25091054

>>25131968

Antisemitism commission seeks final reply from Palestine activists

JAMES DOWLING - October 19, 2026

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Pro-Palestinian activists are preparing a response to potentially “adverse” findings by the antisemitism royal commission following their involvement in its most controversial hearing, with the inquiry narrowing in on its final report.

In one of the final stages of the Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Royal Commission’s work, parties who made appearances during its hearings have been contacted requesting they respond to counsel submissions – the views and findings of the commission’s lawyers that former judge Virginia Bell will use as the groundwork for her final report on December 18.

The notices seek to ensure “procedural fairness” by giving stakeholders and parties who may be at the centre of adverse findings the right to respond.

While non-publication orders block any publication of the counsel’s submissions or the replies from various parties, Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees said his activist group was among those contacted.

Mr Lees, who jointly co-ordinated the group’s march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last year, said PAG planned to respond to the notice this month and had hoped the commission would lead the debate on fundamental rights to protest.

“We remain highly critical of the whole way the commission was constructed and conducted,” he said. “We did appeal for greater input into the commission … on the expectation that the issues relating to protest movements, any proposed restrictions on speech, assembly and protest would be dealt with in a much more meaningful way than turned out to be the case.

“Our request for one of our spokespersons to give evidence was not granted.”

A commission spokesperson said: “Counsel assisting prepared written submissions in respect of each hearing block, which were provided – in whole or in part – to parties with leave to appear or other persons given leave to respond to submissions on particular issues. This process accords procedural fairness to those who might be affected by any adverse findings of the commissioner proposed in the submissions of counsel assisting.

“The royal commission does not comment on its engagement with particular parties.”

The Australian understands the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism has also been afforded the chance to respond to counsel submissions on the commission’s third hearing block which focused on universities. Mainstream Jewish groups collectively represented at the commission have had ongoing engagement with its lawyers behind the scenes.

The non-publication orders signed by Ms Bell indicate the notices were delivered from September 2 to 28.

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PAG was locked out from appearing at the commission, The Australian reported last month, with its lawyers only sitting in on one of its 62 sitting days. This was despite active lobbying by PAG and many of its critics that protest leaders should be compelled to give evidence.

The group said it had entered a single witness statement into evidence. In its one appearance during the hearings, rather than sitting in the witness box, its lawyers were given the chance to grill then-NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief David Ossip on the scale and timing of Israel’s initial military retaliation on Gaza.

It caused acrimony among Jewish community figures, with Ms Bell vigorously denying an accusation by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin that she had let PAG and APAN “hijack” her inquiry.

Many of Ms Bell’s critics say the absence of protest leaders from the commission’s witness list was a glaring oversight, and clamoured at the end of its public hearings last month for Ms Bell to request a substantial extension in order to put alleged perpetrators of antisemitism in the witness box.

Former disability royal commission chair Ronald Sackville said the commission’s examination of protests lacked “any depth”, while senior Liberal Jewish MP Julian Leeser said: “The problem with failing to call people to account is it sends a signal to the protest organisers … (that) there’s no consequence at all.”

Students for Palestine organiser Yasmine Johnson was one of the few anti-Israel advocates called before the inquiry and gave evidence during its analysis of antisemitism on university campuses.

In her appearance she denied racism or antisemitism by student activists at pro-Palestine campus encampments nationwide and defended using the chants “Globalise the intifada” and “There’s only one solution, intifada revolution”, despite acknowledging the history of intifada violence.

“I don’t hold movements for the justice of the oppressed to a standard that says there can never be any violence,” Ms Johnson said. “The intifadas were acts of mass resistance by Palestinians to their oppression.”

Ms Bell pointed to the history of terror­ist violence used in the second intifada, suggesting it muddied suggestions the slogan was peaceful.

Ms Johnson said: “In a context where Palestinians have been put in a concentration camp in Gaza, or at the time where we’re facing massive oppression in Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, that intifada was also a legitimate act of resistance by a people under occupation.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/antisemitism-commission-seeks-final-reply-from-palestine-activists/news-story/c3f2d78eabe0744dc8b38e2c454ed62f

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>>25153220

>>25156334

Inside Ben Roberts-Smith’s media campaign for support

Calum Jaspan - October 21, 2026

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Disgraced war hero Ben Roberts-Smith has launched a coordinated publicity blitz over the past week that will be capped off by a 150-minute interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham broadcast on Thursday morning.

Currently out on bail as he prepares to fight five counts of war crimes murder charges, Roberts-Smith’s public relations offensive also includes launching a clothing line and Instagram page.

The Victoria Cross (VC) recipient and former SAS soldier has become a lightning rod for division across politics and culture since launching and later losing a defamation case against this masthead in which he unsuccessfully contested he’d ordered and committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

He now faces war crimes charges which could land him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Where the VC holder would give his first major interview had been the subject of intense competition, with conservative broadcasters Karl Stefanovic and Kyle Sandilands both vying for the exclusive.

But he chose to work with the newly formed Tapt, the radio stations formerly owned by Nine, and its headline star Fordham.

While he is not paid for the interview, promotional pictures released by 2GB show him wearing his new clothing line Epic 1 Two in the video recording, which will be premiered in full on YouTube in video format at 9am.

The network is using the long-form interview format as part of a new strategy to find audiences on digital platforms outside traditional radio.

The interview, which spans two and a half hours, is the first since Roberts-Smith was charged with war crimes offences. It presents an opportunity for him to put his side of the story to the public, according to those familiar with the process not authorised to speak publicly, although Roberts-Smith did give several interviews before charges were laid and has in the past engaged media managers.

Roberts-Smith has drawn support from sections of the population, in particular those aligned with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. Prospective voters of the party view him more favourably than they do their only lower house MP Barnaby Joyce, recent polling showed.

Roberts-Smith launched Epic 1 Two last week, which is a reference to his military call sign, positioning himself as the “underdog”. It has prompted a renewed push of public support for him, largely from sections of the right aligned with One Nation.

“EPIC 1 TWO is forged in adversity. It is for the people who know what it means to be counted out. To have the odds stacked against them,” the brand’s website says. “EPIC 1 TWO is for the underdog who refuses to stay down.”

As part of the agreement between Roberts-Smith and 2GB, Fordham was free to ask Roberts-Smith whatever he wanted. For Roberts-Smith, it is an opportunity to get his side of the story across, at length.

But there is also a risk that a spike in publicity could ultimately lead to the argument there is no possibility of a fair trial, says former Media Watch host and publisher of legal journals Justinian and Gazette of Law and Journalism, Richard Ackland.

“If you can poison the well enough, then they will make a plea to drop the charges against him,” Ackland says. “I think that’s a reality.”

Representatives for Roberts-Smith were approached for comment.

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The Roberts-Smith case has already infiltrated the heart of Australian politics. One Nation has adopted Roberts-Smith as a central figure in the party’s push to be viewed as that of the battler, of veterans and of those punished by the establishment.

One Nation has used Roberts-Smith’s image on campaign material, and he, like the party, enjoys significant support from Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart.

Opening a new apartment block for veterans in Brisbane this past weekend, Rinehart was introduced by Roberts-Smith.

“He’s fighting a fight that most of us don’t realise is a fight against the deep state,” Rinehart said of charges he is facing, according to an opinion piece written by veteran journalist Des Houghton in The Courier Mail.

The piece was republished on Rinehart’s website with the alternative headline Three Aussie Heroes, referring to the billionaire, Roberts-Smith and Daniel Keighran VC, whom the apartments were named after.

While Roberts-Smith’s fashion brand says it is for the underdog, Roberts-Smith was born to wealthy parents, his father being a Supreme Court judge and major general in the Army Reserves. He went to Perth’s oldest boarding school. He towers over most at more than 200 centimetres (six feet, seven inches).

He has been financially backed by one of Australia’s richest people, Kerry Stokes, and enjoys the support of Rinehart and the political party she is a major donor to, One Nation, which is currently preferred by a quarter of Australia’s population.

He has supporters across wide sections of the media at News Corp’s influential news channel News24, has received favourable coverage from outlets controlled by Stokes, including The West Australian newspaper, and is being handed two and half hours on Sydney’s No.1 radio network to tell his side of the story.

Since launching a social media account this week, Roberts-Smith has received support online from News24 presenter Peta Credlin, a former chief of staff to Tony Abbott.

Podcaster Karl Stefanovic has also posted a picture of himself and BRS donning the new merch, and has become a vocal supporter of the former soldier since leaving Nine, owner of this masthead.

There has also been support from One News Australia, a news outlet this masthead revealed was previously a One Nation Supporters Facebook group, as well as The Noticer, a white supremacy-affiliated news outlet.

Tom Malone, chief executive of Tapt Media, which owns 2GB and 3AW, said the interview showcased the company’s digital transformation in its new era owned by pokies and publican billionaire family, the Laundys. Whether it moves the dial for 2GB or Roberts-Smith, will have to wait to see.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/inside-ben-roberts-smith-s-media-campaign-for-support-20261021-p617ep.html

>>25067343

>>25067367

>>25135759

Trump, Albanese to meet for revived Quad security alliance

Jessica Gardner - Oct 21, 2026

Washington | The United States is breathing life back into the Quad security partnership with Australia, Japan and India, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealing the countries’ leaders will meet next month in the Philippines, ending a two-year hiatus.

Paving the way for the next in-person meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump, along with Japan’s Sanae Takaichi and India’s Narendra Modi, Rubio said the meeting will occur on the margins of the ASEAN summit, scheduled for Manila on November 16 and 17.

“We don’t have the specific date yet, but that’s going to happen, and we’re very enthusiastic about it,” he said during a television interview on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) while on a visit to India. “We look forward to being a part of that at ASEAN here in just a few weeks.”

The announcement will soothe foreign policy scholars who had worried that the nearly two-decade-old security pact aimed at keeping China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific in check had withered under Trump.

Although Rubio has had a handful of meetings with the foreign ministers of the Quad, including inviting Australia’s Penny Wong to Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the last meeting of the leaders occurred in September 2024 when Joe Biden was US president.

Rubio, Wong and their Indian and Japanese counterparts will meet later this month on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta.

Trump has shaken up foreign relations with his disdain for long-standing alliances, belief that allies should take more responsibility for their own defences and retreat from decades of US leadership on the global stage.

At the same time, he has nurtured relations with authoritarian states such as Russia and China, even as Beijing in particular has maintained an aggressive posture in the Indo-Pacific region.

At a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers in Washington last July, Rubio expressed some frustration that the Quad delivered a lot of talk but not much action on economic and security co-operation.

On Tuesday, he had changed his tune. “The Quad is not just a process by which we meet and agree to do certain things. You are now starting to see action,” he said, adding that at the leaders’ meeting, “they will be able to actually announce concrete actions, not just simply a nice social gathering.”

The ASEAN meetings have been pushed back two days to accommodate Trump’s attendance.

Relations between Trump and Albanese have been constructive, especially when it comes to the mutual benefit they hope to gain from mining and potentially processing Australia’s critical minerals, in a bid to break Beijing’s stranglehold on the industry.

Irritants in the relationship, however, include a 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian imports, dubious claims about forced labour in supply chains, and an additional threat of trade barriers for lamb. The US, meanwhile, has been frustrated by Canberra’s stiff regulation of technology giants and plans to tax them more.

It is approaching peak summit season, with Albanese and Trump both likely to attend the APEC meeting in China in November, and the G20 leaders meeting in Florida in the US.

The prime minister’s office has been contacted for comment.

https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/trump-albanese-to-meet-for-revived-security-alliance-20261021-p617da

>>25032113

>>25110663

>>25118005

Complainant A's mother tells trial how son's mood changed after visit to Alan Jones's farm

Ethan Rix - 20 October 2026

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A mother has told a trial she trusted Alan Jones as a mentor to her son before the broadcaster allegedly indecently assaulted the 17-year-old schoolboy at his private farm.

One of Mr Jones's five alleged victims, known as Complainant A, alleges the radio host kissed him, put his tongue in his mouth and touched his buttocks when he visited Mr Jones's property in the Southern Highlands as a 17-year-old schoolboy.

The 85-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of indecent assault and sexually touching, relating to several alleged incidents against five males between 2003 and 2020.

The court previously heard the complainant was 13 years old when he sent a letter to the then-2GB radio host, requesting help for his single mother and their serious financial struggles.

Emails read to the court show Mr Jones developed a relationship with the boy over several years, and that the prominent media figure helped wipe $600,000 off the mother's home loan and provided $100,000 to assist with the completion of their home.

Giving evidence at the trial on Tuesday, the boy's mother told the court her son met up with Mr Jones on several occasions including for private breakfasts at his Circular Quay apartment and lunch at a pub, but that she was never invited.

She recalled when her son was 17 and had been invited by Mr Jones to spend two nights at his Fitzroy Falls farm and that she felt "really comfortable" with him going because she "trusted" the radio host.

"I was just so pleased to have an older mentor in [my son's] life that was interesting and interested in lots of different things," the woman said.

"[Someone] who saw that my son was intelligent as he is."

Mother breaks down reading son's note

The woman told the court that when her son returned home from the trip, "his mood was different" and she "knew straight away something was up".

"He wasn't sleeping, he was just staying up," she said.

She said her son wrote her a letter 10 days later, saying "something happened at Fitzroy Falls" and that "someone did something they shouldn't have" but did not go into explicit detail.

The mother broke down several times in the witness box, including when her son's letter was placed in front of her during her testimony.

The woman said after receiving the note she asked her son if he wanted to report what happened to police.

"He [my son] said to me that 'I wasn't raped'," she said.

"[My son said] it probably is not a big thing in the scheme of it, and it will be my word against him and he's [Mr Jones] a powerful man."

(continued)

>>25162958

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Mother tells court of her 'dire' financial situation

The mother told the court that, before the alleged assault that she was in a "dire" situation, with a $1.3 million mortgage hanging over her head and the builder of her unfinished home walking off the job.

The trial heard the woman's partner had also left the country and would often miss child support payments.

The woman said a family friend suggested she reach out to the broadcaster for help because "he's influential and there might be people he knows who can help you".

The mother said she provided information to her son to send to Mr Jones, who replied with an email saying, "you sound a special sort of young man," and asking for additional information.

"When he [my son] told me that, I was incredibly grateful that someone of his stature was interested in what we were doing because we got such a prompt reply," the mother said.

"I was desperate, people who are being served repossession papers are not cruising along in life."

Court told Mr Jones put mother in contact with head of major bank

The woman told the court that Mr Jones organised for the head of the Commonwealth Bank at the time to call her to understand more about her circumstances and try to find a "manageable" situation for the family.

"I was just so overwhelmed by the fact that he [the head of the bank] was willing to assist," she said.

The woman told the court that while the mortgage had been renegotiated, the agreement had not been finalised because the house was still under her estranged partner's name.

The woman said after her son wrote her the letter disclosing the alleged incident, she told him to no longer communicate with Mr Jones.

Prosecutor Georgina Wright SC asked the mother why she continued to have correspondence with Mr Jones after her son had disclosed the alleged assault to her.

"Nothing with the bank was finalised, I was scared that … that as quick as he rang [the head of CBA] that he would ring up and reverse the situation," she said.

"It embarrasses me that I kept in touch with him, but I did."

The woman said she stopped communicating with Mr Jones once a legal matter with her son's father, which the broadcaster was assisting with, was resolved.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-20/complainant-a-mother-gives-evidence-alan-jones-trial-sydney/107287760

>>25071372

>>25071391

>>25087261

>>25110588

Australian government websites go dark after AI finds critical flaw

JARED LYNCH and BEN PACKHAM - 22 October 2026

1/3

An AI-driven cyber emergency of unprecedented scale has crippled critical infrastructure and knocked government portals offline, thrusting the global economy into digital triage as Australia’s biggest companies race to halt mass ‘automated’ cyber attacks.

Labor frontbenchers rushed to assure Australians on Thursday morning the AI-identified flaw in PHP – a web programming language behind 70 per cent of the world’s websites – was “not a breach” but only “a weakness in the system”.

If left exposed, the PHP flaw threatens to fuel machine-driven digital assaults, with hackers able to take over corporate servers in seconds.

As cyber experts confirmed evidence of hackers already seeking exploit the PHP flaw, the nation’s biggest companies worked overnight on Wednesday and into the early hours of Thursday morning to secure their systems in what they said would be “an ongoing process”.

But smaller businesses risked remaining ignorant of their exposure, with experts warning the chaos is a “wake up call” and could take weeks to resolve.

Already, the incident has shut down and disrupted government websites across the globe, including Australia’s main threat intelligence advisory cyber.gov.au.

A researcher from security firm Calif detected the flaw using OpenAI’s advanced GPT-5.6 Sol model. National Cyber Security co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness said the government was working with OpenAI and a patch was made available early Thursday morning.

“Sites that use this software, which are a large number of sites, many that did not feel they could maintain or protect their security, took their sites offline deliberately as a precaution until the patch was available and it could be implemented,” Lieutenant General McGuinness said.

“So the sites that are coming back online have had that patch applies, which closes that cyber security gap or vulnerability.”

Telstra was one of the country’s biggest companies forced to complete the emergency security patch.

“We recognise the seriousness of this matter and are giving it the attention it deserves. Our teams are actively assessing the situation and our cyber security team continues to closely monitor our network and assets and proactively test our systems and processes for vulnerabilities,” the spokesman said.

“We have established processes for responding to security matters, including engaging with government and industry peers where appropriate, and will take any appropriate action as required.”

Software titan Atlassian also completed an urgent investigation and secured its systems online with guidance from the Australian Signals Directorate.

It has so far found no evidence of suspicious behaviour but is continuing to monitor “any new developments out of an abundance of caution”.

Brisbane-based TechnologyOne doesn’t use PHP, but its head of security and compliance Chris Polkinghorne said it was a serious issue for many businesses.

The biggest vulnerability exposed by the PHP flaw is remote code execution. This allows an attacker to effectively take over a server and deeply penetrate an organisation.

“There’ve always been services that scan the internet, looking at who uses what technology. That’s existed for quite some time. Now AI can really rapidly accelerate the ability for attackers to execute these attacks at mass scale,” Mr Polkinghorne said.

“That’s why you see in the guidance from the ACSC that they know it’s going to take time for these patches to get deployed, and their advice is telling people to take services offline.”

(continued)

>>25165577

2/3

The Australian Signals Directorate issued a critical alert on Wednesday afternoon about the PHP flaw, urging organisations and individuals to urgently apply security patches.

But those who clicked on the link to that alert, posted on cyber.gov.au, were faced with a “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” message on Thursday morning.

Mr Polkinghorne said many smaller businesses may not know they were running PHP and should check with their IT vendors to assess their exposure and determine what best actions to take.

Dimitri Vedeneev, executive director of secure AI at Melbourne-based online security firm CyberCX, said hackers were already attempting to exploit the PHP flaw.

“The discovery of this critical PHP vulnerability is a serious exposure which could impact as many as 70 per cent of websites globally,” Mr Vedeneev said.

“Cyber security has always been a race against time, but … the economics of vulnerability discovery and exploitation is becoming cheaper. This underscores a clear, unambiguous reality for cyber security in the AI era: organisations should expect to assess, prioritise and respond to vulnerabilities against all types of systems within hours rather than weeks to reduce cyber exposure risks.”

Industry Minister Tim Ayres stressed the incident was “not a breach” and described the mass shutdown of websites as “a normal response” while patches were being rolled out.

“This is normal for cyber security agencies. It happens all the time,” he told News24.

He said the Medicare breach last month by OpenAi – which the company said demonstrated key vulnerabilities in government systems – “was quite different” to the disruption on Thursday.

“That was an agent of OpenAI conducting unauthorised access in a way that it was not directed to do,” Senator Ayres said.

“And that has meant a much stronger response from OpenAI and much stronger co-operation with the Australian Government. We are going to be dealing with these issues as they come.”

OpenAi seized on the incident and declared the discovery of the flaw “marks a new phase, where AI can find security bugs with internet-scale impact”.

The vulnerability had remained hidden for years, with experts previously believing the software flaw was too complex to exploit.

Former prime ministerial cybersecurity adviser Alastair MacGibbon said the flaw didn’t raise concern over the security of websites themselves, but the databases they interacted with.

“There’s an ability now to essentially take those credentials and then use them to get into all those other things,” he said.

“It’s not just about patching to the new version of PHP. All of the passwords and certificates you have need to be reissued to prevent someone, who may have already touched this site and taken all of those secrets from you, from using them at some later stage.”

As a precautionary measure, and on advice from leading security agencies including the NSA in the US, many administrators took their sites offline.

“Effective Immediately, all organisations using PHP for their systems are advised to be prepared for an update addressing two critical vulnerabilities,” the NSA wrote.

“PHP is widely used for web applications. These vulnerabilities often provide a direct path to the server’s file system or database. If an immediate update is not feasible, it is recommend that organisations take the system offline until it can be fully mitigated. NSA will follow up shortly with more specific guidance.”

(continued)

>>25165580

3/3

Government websites across the world were shut down, including the national digital identity service in the Netherlands, Germany’s federal IT service provider ITZBund, UK local councils and Belgium’s Foreign Ministry, while France’s Interior Ministry suspended local administrative sites, including Paris Police Prefecture.

“We are aware of media reporting about critical vulnerabilities in PHP that may affect all versions from PHP 5 onwards,” the ASD wrote on Elon Musk’s X.

“Organisations and individuals should monitor PHP applications and prepare to update and apply patches.”

Raghu Nandakumara, vice president of industry strategy at cybersecurity firm Illumio said the flaw had revealed an “important paradox”.

“We want AI to move quickly enough to find vulnerabilities humans might miss, while also making sure that increasingly autonomous systems operate within boundaries we understand and control,” he said.

“The faster AI becomes at finding weaknesses, the more important it becomes to think about what happens after those weaknesses are exposed, especially when organisations can’t immediately patch every affected system. The lesson isn’t that AI is inherently dangerous or inherently protective. It’s that speed without control creates a new kind of security problem.”

Don Smith, vice president of threat intelligence on Sophos’s Counter Threat Unit said the “immediate challenge is not simply installing a patch”.

He said companies must find and managed every instance where PHP is running.

“The use of PHP is pervasive, it can sit beneath public websites, content management systems, hosting platforms and third-party products, sometimes without even being obvious to the organisation using it,” Mr Smith said.

“Security teams should prioritise internet-facing systems, confirming which versions are affected as soon as the official advisory is published, and apply the updates without delay. Any vulnerable system that cannot be patched should be isolated from the internet until it can be secured.

“Threat actors move fast, especially with the help of AI and this will likely be a priority target for them over the coming hours and days so it is crucial organisations monitor PHP and web-server processes for unusual processes, command execution or other signs that an attacker may already have gained a foothold.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/australian-government-websites-go-dark-after-ai-finds-critical-flaw/news-story/88840e9964cd81c60ab4df6c00219c54

https://www.cyber.gov.au/alert/critical-vulnerabilities-in-php

>>25032113

>>25110663

>>25118005

>>25162958

Mother of complainant was caught in 'web of dependency' with Alan Jones, court hears

Isobel Roe - 22 October 2026

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The mother of a man who has accused Alan Jones of kissing him when he was a 17-year-old schoolboy has defended keeping in contact with the broadcaster, telling a court she was in a "web of dependency" with him.

The woman has been cross-examined on day 50 of Mr Jones's criminal trial, in which Mr Jones has pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of indecent assault and sexual touching.

Mr Jones is accused of kissing a 17-year-old boy, Complainant A, with his tongue and touching his bottom during a visit to his NSW Southern Highlands property.

The NSW Local Court has heard the boy first contacted Mr Jones when he was 13 years old, asking for help for his struggling single mother, and the pair were in regular email contact while Mr Jones helped the family financially.

His mother, who cannot be identified to protect the complainant, has told the court her son wrote her a note about 10 days after the alleged assault, telling her "something sexual" had happened during his visit to Mr Jones's farmstay.

The court has heard the boy spoke briefly to police about the alleged assault when they turned up at his school in November of that year, but he did not want to make a complaint.

Under questioning from the prosecution, the woman agreed she emailed the broadcaster that same month, seeking advice after her son had "messed up" his university application.

She said Mr Jones "offered" to contact the university, and did so, but that "it came to no avail anyway" because her son's application was not accepted.

"I continued to contact Mr Jones," the woman told the court.

"I was in a web of dependency with Mr Jones… so a crisis would come up, and I would ask for advice."

The trial has previously been told Mr Jones gave about $100,000 of his own money towards the building of the complainant and his mother's home, and used his connection to the then-head of the Commonwealth Bank to have their home loan reduced by $600,000.

Emails handed up to the court show Mr Jones raised concerns with the mother and son about the "enormous cost" of his assistance.

"I recall feeling berated about how much it had cost," the woman told the court.

"[Complainant A and I] had a conversation to suggest that we repay money, that we go on a payment plan to pay for some of these things."

The pair offered to repay Mr Jones, but he declined, the court heard.

"I recall [Complainant A] and I saying to each other, 'well, we've offered… could you take us up on the offer rather than continue to berate us about your generosity?'" the woman said.

(continued)

>>25165594

2/2

Under cross-examination, Complainant A's mother was asked whether she intended to give Mr Jones the impression that emails from her son's account were coming solely from him, when in fact they were at times partly drafted by her.

The mother agreed she did not specify which emails she had contributed to, but asked why anyone would expect a 14-year-old boy to know his mother's mortgage details without her input.

Mr Jones's lawyers also asked why she did not produce the note her son allegedly wrote her in the aftermath of the alleged assault when her son made police statements in 2018 or 2024.

The woman said she found the note in 2025, in a drawer of "stuff" in her bedroom which she had not previously searched because it was "full of emotion".

Mr Jones's counsel Claire O'Neill also asked the woman whether she had "encouraged" her son to make a complaint to police, despite his reluctance to.

"Did you tell him you thought it was a good idea?" Ms O'Neill asked.

"I told him that I would support him in whatever he did," the woman responded.

The boy's statement in 2018 included a request not to pursue the matter further at that time.

Woman emotional during questioning

In the defence's opening address, Mr Jones's lawyers accused the mother of encouraging her son to complain to police about Mr Jones because she was "outraged" that he was going to stop paying her bills.

The woman became emotional under questioning about her motives, telling the court she did not expect Mr Jones to pay her legal bills, but that she had been told by the broadcaster's team "not to worry".

She also defended a decision to travel to New York and Paris with her son at a time when the radio host was assisting her to cover the cost of legal bills in a financial battle with her ex-husband.

"In 2016 you did not need Mr Jones to pay the legal bills, do you agree with that?" Ms O'Neill asked.

"No I don't agree with that … it was financially tight," the woman replied.

"I didn't have the money to go to Paris and New York but my mother, [Complainant A's] nan and a family friend were able to give the money."

The trial heard the mother asked her son not to mention the trip to Mr Jones, and Ms O'Neill accused the woman of hiding it so the defendant would not know she was spending money.

"What rubbish," the woman replied.

"No one knew how we were funding going to New York."

She will continue being cross-examined on Friday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-22/nsw-sydney-alan-jones-mother-web-of-dependency-court/107296702

>>25165604

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Mr Roberts-Smith disputed suggestions the men killed during Australian military operations were innocent civilians, insisting the engagements he was involved in were against members of the Taliban.

He accused journalists of portraying the victims as civilians to generate public outrage.

“I’ve got a real problem with that because that has actually, in no way, ever been proven to be a fact,” he said.

His claims stand in stark contrast to the findings of Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko, who ruled in 2023, on the balance of probabilities, that Mr Roberts-Smith was responsible for four unlawful killings of Afghan detainees.

The former soldier unsuccessfully challenged those findings in the Full Federal Court before the High Court refused to hear a further appeal in September 2025.

Those findings were made under the civil standard of proof, which is lower than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.

The 2GB interview, conducted in Queensland on October 8 and released on Thursday, also provided Mr Roberts-Smith’s most detailed account yet of his dramatic arrest at Sydney Airport on April 7.

He revealed he had been travelling with his twin teenage daughters from his marriage to former wife Emma Roberts-Smith, and his current partner Sarah Matulin, on what was supposed to be a surprise shopping trip to Sydney.

The girls were excited to visit a shop they had discovered on social media and Mr Roberts-Smith had used frequent flyer points to book economy flights for the six-hour day trip.

“We gave them a gift card for this thing. Like, ‘hey, this is a present for you. We’re gonna go down to the shop’,” he recalled.

“So they were ecstatic.

“It was all a day trip, no luggage, definitely no passports.”

But as their plane taxied towards the terminal in Sydney, Mr Roberts-Smith noticed a convoy of black SUVs with flashing lights parked on the tarmac.

He initially assumed police were waiting for a VIP.

“(Sarah) looked at me and was concerned and I looked across and said, ‘That’s not going to be for me. I’m not that important’,” he recalled.

Moments later, Australian Federal Police officers boarded the aircraft and approached him in front of about 200 passengers.

Mr Roberts-Smith described the arrest as “farcical”, claiming he had twice offered - in writing - to surrender voluntarily during the preceding six months.

He recalled walking onto the aerobridge and seeing about 10 more police officers waiting.

“I looked at (the AFP officer) and just said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done this with the kids here’,” he recalled.

“And he looked at me and said, ‘Mate, look, I’m really sorry about that. That wasn’t our call’.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said one of his daughters became hysterical as she realised her father was being taken away.

“I hate it because that’s a memory that will never ever leave them,” he said.

“That’s something that will undoubtedly, no matter what I do to mitigate it, shape their life in some form.”

Mr Roberts-Smith accused authorities of orchestrating a “show arrest” designed to publicly humiliate him and prejudice perceptions of his guilt.

He also questioned whether the decision to arrest him in NSW rather than Queensland was intended to give prosecutors an advantage under different procedural laws.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has since rejected suggestions the location was chosen to secure a legal advantage in NSW.

Mr Roberts-Smith was subsequently taken to Silverwater Prison where he remained until he was released on bail 10 days later.

(continued)

>>25165606

3/4

The April arrest came almost three years after Mr Roberts-Smith’s spectacular defeat in his defamation case against Nine newspapers, a multimillion-dollar legal battle he now admits he was “naive” to launch.

“I accept that I lost the defamation. I’m man enough to sit here and say I didn’t win, but I didn’t win because I didn’t understand that game,” he told Fordham.

“I didn’t lose the defamation because I’m guilty. I can tell you that much.”

Mr Roberts-Smith sued Nine over articles published in 2018 alleging he committed war crimes in Afghanistan, but the legal gamble backfired when Justice Besanko found several of the most serious allegations were substantially true.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he had launched the action because he genuinely believed the allegations were false and could not allow the public accusations to go unchallenged.

Asked whether the defamation action had been one of the “biggest legal mistakes in Australian history”, he questioned what alternative he had.

“I mean, to use the word mistake, what was I going to do?” he said.

“I just thought ‘I know it’s not true, so if I sue these people, they cannot win’.”

Mr Roberts-Smith recalled the proceedings dragging on for years, including a lengthy interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the time Justice Besanko delivered his findings in June 2023, he was on an overseas holiday and decided not to return solely for the judgment.

Mr Roberts-Smith said he was “gutted” when the judge ruled against him.

“To be completely frank, I actually still thought I was going to win,” he said.

Mr Roberts-Smith also revealed the extraordinary financial cost of the failed litigation to former Seven Media Group chairman Kerry Stokes, estimating that his financial support exceeded $30 million.

“Look, I don’t have an exact figure, but I would say that it would have to be upwards of 30 million,” he said.

“That’s because . . . I didn’t win. I said that before. I accept that, which means a cost order went to Channel Nine.”

He described Mr Stokes and his wife Christine as close friends.

“Kerry and Christine Stokes have supported me from day one,” he said.

“He believed in me and all his position has ever been is ‘you deserve the right to fight it. You deserve a fair go’.

“Just their kindness, he and Christine, has always blown me away.

“I mean, how can you ever repay that?”

Mr Roberts-Smith said his decision to remain silent throughout the defamation case was ultimately detrimental.

“I spent over four years getting absolutely decimated in the press with all kinds of narratives, many of them false, and it most certainly shaped public opinion in a negative way,” he said.

He said the earliest allegations against him had nothing to do with war crimes.

“The first thing I ever heard about rumours circulating about me was actually about, you know, I don’t deserve my awards and I’m a bully,” he said.

He recalled his shock when the accusations became more serious.

“The first time I ever heard about it was an email from a journalist who was asking if I would answer questions about the bullying stuff,” he said.

“And the last line of the email said . . . ‘as a side note, I also would like to talk to you about an allegation that you murdered a child in 2006’.

“And I literally, reading that at the end of an email, I was basically in shock.

“It’s not just the allegation of a war crime, but a war crime where you shot a child. I mean, it doesn’t get any worse than that.”

He said that particular allegation was “the start of all of this”.

“That allegation, funnily enough, was one of the ones that was completely disproven during the defamation . . . It was just completely fabricated and false,” he said.

“The stories that I sued on were not the stories that I ended up having to defend in court.”

(continued)

>>25165607

4/4

As for the bullying allegations, Mr Roberts-Smith revealed his nickname within the SAS had been “Front Dagger”, a reference to his blunt approach to dealing with fellow soldiers.

“Because I don’t stab people in the back. I just give it to them straight in the chest,” he explained.

He admitted confronting colleagues whose performance he considered inadequate but insisted maintaining discipline was critical in an elite military unit.

“I didn’t get it all right all the time,” he said. “But I knew I was giving it everything I had.”

Mr Roberts-Smith - who completed six deployments to Afghanistan over six years - became emotional while recalling the 2010 Battle of Tizak, where he risked his life attacking an enemy machine-gun position to protect fellow soldiers. It was the act that earned him the Victoria Cross.

“I can have a crack and stop this or I can not do anything,” he said.

“And if one of them gets hit, how do I go home and face their families if one of them is to get killed?”

Asked how he felt looking back on the men he fought alongside, Mr Roberts-Smith appeared to choke back tears.

“I’m glad they’re alive,” he said.

After a lengthy pause, he added: “You just think that you’re so lucky to be able to help them.”

He became emotional again when discussing the murders of Australian soldiers Robert Poate, Bryce Duffy and Luke Gavin by rogue Afghan soldier Hekmatullah in 2012.

Mr Roberts-Smith said his SAS squadron had spent a month searching for the killer but failed to capture him.

“That would be a regret of mine from Afghanistan, that we actually were never able to capture him,” he said.

“We put a lot of effort into it, but as I’ve had to say to Robert Poate’s dad, you know, we did our best.”

Mr Roberts-Smith then broke down, pausing and taking a sip of water before saying: “We didn’t get him”.

Looking ahead to his criminal trial, Mr Roberts-Smith said he hoped the ordinary Australians serving on the jury would be able to consider the evidence fairly and understand the military circumstances surrounding the allegations.

“Just having 12 normal people gives me hope, mate,” he said.

When Fordham suggested the trial could be five years away, Mr Roberts-Smith replied: “If I’m lucky, if I’m lucky.”

“So let the process play out before you go judging me, because there’s a long way for this to go, and a lot of things that are going to come out that are going to allow people to have a much more informed perspective of my situation,” he said.

“That’s all I’d ask. That’s all I’m asking. Just some perspective . . . and a bit of bloody fairness, mate. That’s it.”

https://thenightly.com.au/australia/ben-roberts-smith-denies-killing-prisoners-reveals-regrets-in-bombshell-interview-c-23056862

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHnqSsvsRw8

>>25087285

>>25165604

2GB listeners ‘eyes leaking’ as everyman BRS gives show of his life

The former soldier and accused war criminal gave his all in a bravura attempt to hit back at allegations against him – while spruiking his new clothing brand.

Janek Drevikovsky - Oct 22, 2026

1/2

Ben Roberts-Smith knows how to pitch himself to an audience. For years, until war crimes allegations came crashing down on him, he was a jobbing public speaker, who made his coin entrancing with tales of bravery.

Then, during his mammoth defamation lawsuit, he spent 11 days in the witness box, suited and controlled, speaking in full, audibly punctuated sentences, crammed with jargon. It was a delight for legal ears.

And on Thursday morning, as his first in-depth interview this decade went to air on Ben Fordham’s 2GB, the gifted speaker, decorated soldier and accused war criminal gave what just might have been the performance of his life.

This was BRS the everyman. He spoke as though he’d been born and bred in his adopted Queensland – slowly, meandering, chatty. He addressed Fordham as “mate”, peppered his speech with “likes” and “ums”.

At least at the start, he was almost shaky – wouldn’t you be nervous addressing the media? “We’re doing all right,” he repeated when Fordham asked how he was. “We’re doing all right.”

For the thousands of people watching on YouTube when the full interview was uploaded Thursday morning, there was a visual dimension, too. The craggy-faced Roberts-Smith sat with his tattooed arm on display, in a white T-shirt – emblazoned, across the chest, with an “Epic 1 Two” slogan, the name of Roberts-Smith’s new fitness wear brand.

Never miss an opportunity.

Of course, a performance like this takes two.

Fordham assured his listeners this was a chance for “difficult questions”, that he’d “only do it” if Roberts-Smith answered the hard stuff. And yes, Fordham confronted the ex-soldier with some of his alleged wrongdoing.

Did he drink from a dead Afghan’s prosthetic leg in an army-camp debauch? Ben Roberts-Smith “had no part” in it. Did he shoot prisoners? “No”.

Did he “dress” corpses with guns to make them seem like lawful targets after the fact? No, although some objects were moved to be photographed together, and this was actually a “directive from the leadership”, not proof of a crime. Did he kill civilians? “I didn’t bloody murder anyone.”

The talkback host also described the storm Roberts-Smith is facing as “madness”. Wondered whether the inside of a plane at Sydney airport was “an appropriate place to arrest” someone. Asked whether the veteran felt like he was “back on the battlefield, outnumbered” by the authorities.

And Fordham gushed about Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross-winning performance at Tizak: “We’re all lucky that you boys were there that day with the mentality that you had, which was to put it all on the line for each other.”

(continued)

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The actual criminal charges against Roberts-Smith were off limits – to avoid prejudicing his upcoming trial for battlefield murder. So why, given that complexity, did the former corporal choose this moment to speak?

When he sued for defamation, Roberts-Smith decided he “wouldn’t talk”. That was a mistake, he now said.

“I spent over four years getting absolutely decimated in the press with all kinds of narratives, many of them false, and it most certainly shaped public opinion in a negative way.”

Of course, it wasn’t all pitchforks from the media. Kerry Stokes, then chairman of Seven West Media, “believed in me from day one.” How much had Stokes spent bankrolling the defamation case, Fordham asked?

“Upwards of $30 million”, Roberts-Smith replied.

Still, the veteran lost his suit. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which meticulously investigated and broke the war crime allegations, were vindicated – and won back their immense legal costs (Their publisher, Nine Entertainment, also owns The Australian Financial Review.)

“I didn’t win because I didn’t understand that game,” Roberts-Smith insisted. “I didn’t lose because I’m guilty, I can tell you that much.”

Nine paid its witnesses, he complained (some Afghan witnesses had their travel and accommodation costs covered). Parts of the trial were in “closed court”. The civil standard of proof made the process “a crap shoot”.

Even when Roberts-Smith lost his appeal, and then a further appeal, to the highest court in the land, the outcome was unthinkable.

So unthinkable that his father, Len Roberts-Smith, a former West Australian judge and army reservist, “lost a bit of faith … in the system”. “He just could not believe that that had happened. It was a shock,” he added.

Many of Fordham’s callers, during the Thursday morning broadcast, shared the sentiment. Labor’s Rudd-era defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon rang in to say “the system” had perpetrated an “absolute disgrace”.

“What an interview, probably one of the best things I’ve heard in my life,” said another caller, Nick. “My eyes are leaking,” Jess texted in.

And the message from Roberts-Smith, the bloke down at the pub, griping that it’s “not acceptable” any more for soldiers to be “a larrikin”, yarning about the system, the authorities, “show arrests” and the media elite?

“I literally just want to put a couple of facts on the table if I can. And people will make their own minds up.”

https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/2gb-listeners-eyes-leaking-as-everyman-brs-gives-show-of-his-life-20261022-p617qw

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Roberts-Smith said in the interview with News Corp that he had contemplated suicide after allegations surfaced in this masthead in 2017. Referring to the investigative reporting that revealed the war crimes allegations, he said, “psychologically, that takes a toll”.

“At that point, which probably played out over about three to six months of thinking about that every day, that’s rock bottom,” he said.

What saved him, he said, was “the kids [and] the fact that if I took my own life, they [his detractors] would win. They would be able to say I did it because I was guilty, and my family would have to live with that shame.”

He also complained about his arrest at Sydney Airport on April 7 on a plane from Brisbane in front of his partner, Sarah Matulin, and his children. He said it had been farcical, and “such a deliberate attempt to sensationalise the arrest”.

Roberts-Smith said he had been wrong to stay silent before and during the defamation case because he “trusted the system”. He also complained about the uneven playing field in Australia, with government funding for defence and prosecution cases in criminal trials.

Even though his defence was being funded by the taxpayer, his lawyers were paid for only six hours a day while “they’ll pay the prosecution lawyers 10 hours a day”, he complained to Fordham. “There is no parity, and that’s not what justice is about.”

“This time I want a spotlight on the proceedings and more transparency,” he told News Corp.

Roberts-Smith also added his voice to Pauline Hanson’s in a complaint about a 2024 change to Australia’s war crimes legislation. The previous law, passed in 2002, said a person was hors de combat (out of action) in a battlefield if they were under control, and had clearly expressed an intention to surrender or was incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and was abstaining from hostile acts and not attempting to escape.

The 2024 change meant that only one of the three conditions needed to be met to establish a war crime if such a person was harmed. The change was made retrospective.

“So, what you’ve actually done is said you drove down the freeway yesterday, doing 100 kilometres an hour, but today we’ve decided that you’re only allowed to do 80 kilometres an hour on the freeway. So we’re going to charge you for speeding over the limit yesterday,” Roberts-Smith told Fordham.

“It does not, in my opinion, pass the pub test.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/i-just-give-it-to-them-straight-in-the-chest-roberts-smith-has-no-regrets-about-his-military-career-20261022-p617uk.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppc2bJnJ4XE

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>>25165604

Ben Roberts-Smith’s 2GB interview fact-checked

Michael Bachelard - October 22, 2026

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Radio host Ben Fordham put a lot of questions to alleged war criminal and former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith during his interview on radio 2GB on Thursday, but he did not challenge any of the answers over the 2½ hours. Here are some of the facts.

On the murder allegations

Roberts-Smith: “One of the things that the media really did well, unfortunately, was try and convince them that civilians had been killed … that has actually, in no way, ever been proven.”

Fact: The judge in the defamation case, Justice Anthony Besanko, did find that one victim in particular, Ali Jan, was a civilian. Ali Jan, the judge found, cultivated crops. He had some cattle and also sold wood. He was married with children. He was not connected to the Taliban. The evidence of Afghan witness Mohammed Hanifa on this was accepted by the judge.

Besanko’s findings explicitly state that Roberts-Smith “murdered an unarmed and defenceless Afghan civilian by kicking him off a cliff and procuring the soldiers under his command to shoot him”.

The other three people Roberts-Smith was found to have murdered were very likely members of the Taliban – a fact acknowledged in the original reporting. The key question was always whether they were unarmed, under control and out of action at the time they were killed, or still posing a threat.

Besanko’s finding, which backed the media reporting, was that three of Roberts-Smith’s victims were what the Australian military called “PUCs”, or Persons Under Control. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention “explicitly prohibits violence to life and person, cruel treatment, torture, and murder of persons who are taking no active part in hostilities, including those placed under detention or control”.

Asked about this during his evidence at the defamation case, Roberts-Smith acknowledged this was a crime. In the 2GB interview, he reiterated it.

“Do you accept that shooting a prisoner is a war crime?” he was asked by Fordham.

“Yes,” he replied.

On the practice of using “throw-downs” to frame victims as combatants.

“We were told to put weapons on the bodies for the photographs because they wanted it all in one photo, so we could send it back. So moving things around … it was actually a directive from the leadership.”

Fact: Roberts-Smith is portraying the practice as simply rearranging the scene to put everything in one photo frame. This was the order from above to make sure they could get their reports right, he said.

The actual allegation, made in the investigation by the inspector-general of the Australian Defence Force, in the media, and by many SAS witnesses during the defamation case, is much more sinister. They gave evidence that some soldiers carried items in their packs so they could posthumously frame dead civilians as soldiers.

This carries the implication of premeditated murder, and a posthumous cover-up.

Throw-down items included folding-stock AK-47s, Russian grenades, spare webbing and handheld radios.

As for being orders from “leadership”, two witnesses at the defamation trial testified that it was Roberts-Smith himself who instructed people in the practice.

During 2012 pre-deployment rehearsal, they say, the towering lance corporal explained how to put a throw-down weapon or equipment on a body to photograph to make the action appear legitimate when it actually was not.

On the defamation case

“The stories that I sued on were not the stories that I ended up having to defend in court … the same basic story, but we’re talking about things that would evolve to meet what needed to be proved.”

Fact: The implication from Ben Roberts-Smith here is that whenever he successfully defended an allegation in the reporting, the story would just morph to fit a new narrative.

The stories he sued over, and a number of the accusations in the court case, were the same. All the original allegations in the reporting were successfully defended by the newspapers, and particularly the murders at Darwan and Whiskey 108.

It was only because Roberts-Smith sued for defamation that journalists from this masthead were able to use the legal process he’d initiated to subpoena new information, including new witnesses. That allowed them to introduce additional evidence and ultimately allege Roberts-Smith had been involved in seven murders, six of which they proceeded with in the case itself.

Without him taking the legal action, a number of those allegations would probably never have emerged. In the end, Besanko found four murders substantially true, including those included in the original reporting.

(continued)

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On legal procedure

“You don’t have to prove that it’s true”. It was enough “to prove that they believe it, or that it might have happened”.

Fact: This gives the impression the defamation judgment was based on thin evidence. That is simply false.

Defamation is a civil procedure, and the threshold for proof is on the “balance of probabilities”, which essentially means it’s more likely than not that something happened. But in cases of this seriousness – where murder is being alleged – the “Briginshaw principle” applies.

This means “inexact proofs, indefinite testimony, or indirect inferences” are not enough, and that, for grave findings – such as murder or criminal conduct – the court requires clear, cogent, and strict proof, actual persuasion, and proper weight given to the presumption of innocence.

In his judgment, Besanko applied the principle vigorously to find the murders at Whiskey 108, Darwan and Chinartu, as well as Roberts-Smith’s campaign of bullying and unlawful assaults, were proven. Other allegations, he said, did not meet the threshold.

The newspapers’ evidence included eyewitnesses, physical or photographic evidence and contemporaneous records that meant, Besanko wrote, “I am satisfied that the proof is clear and cogent.”

It’s also worth noting, without breaching the presumption of innocence, that after an exhaustive, five-year criminal investigation led by one of Australia’s most eminent jurists, Mark Weinberg, KC, the Federal Office of the Special Investigator believes it has enough hard evidence to charge Roberts-Smith with five counts of war crimes – murder, under the criminal standard.

On the newspapers’ witnesses

“I was so naive in terms of the civil system. I just had no idea how it plays out … I didn’t understand that game. Witnesses were paid to give evidence and others paid not to give evidence.”

Fact: Roberts-Smith was advised and represented by the best lawyers Kerry Stokes’ money could buy, including Australia’s most aggressive defamation lawyer, Mark O’Brien, and a brace of SCs. It cost Stokes “upwards of $30 million”, the former soldier told Fordham.

As for paying witnesses, the only allegation Roberts-Smith’s team made related to three poor Afghan farmers who were taken out of their remote villages to Kabul and put up in a hotel and fed while they waited for the court’s time.

Besanko found this was not a motive for them to be dishonest. Routine travel and living assistance for people travelling to give evidence did not undermine their credibility, the judge found.

On the other hand, Besanko made significant adverse credit findings regarding Ben Roberts-Smith paying the legal fees of his own key witnesses. He found the Seven Network paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for witnesses, Persons 5, 11, and 35 – a bill that was added to Roberts-Smith’s personal loan facility with Seven Network. Roberts-Smith, the court found, tried to hide this fact, perhaps because, as Besanko found, it created an obvious potential for the witnesses to feel obliged to co-operate or maintain a particular narrative.

Roberts-Smith also tried to induce others to either give evidence, or avoid doing so. This included typing up threatening letters and arranging for a private investigator to have them delivered to potential witnesses.

He also called one man to pass on a message to another, saying, “You tell that c*nt, he’d better not say anything, otherwise I’ll get him charged for war crimes.”

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-s-2gb-interview-fact-checked-20261022-p617q0.html

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>>25165604

OPINION: Ben Roberts-Smith’s big publicity blitz is aimed at an audience of 12

Hugh Riminton - October 22, 2026

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Ben Roberts-Smith is shaping the battlefield. Or as he sees it, he’s reshaping it. No one should be surprised. It’s what soldiers are trained to do.

First this week was the launch of his merchandise brand, Epic 1 Two. Now, today, the release of interviews with 2GB’s Ben Fordham and News Corp outlets – all of them vetted by the veteran’s legal team before release.

Fordham teased his interview as Roberts-Smith “breaking his silence, (telling) his side of the story (in) the fight to clear his name”.

It is far from the first time the Victoria Cross recipient and accused war criminal has told his side of the story. He told it under oath when he sued the Nine newspapers, unsuccessfully, for defamation. So what’s he up to now?

The answer lies in lectures delivered at military academies from Duntroon to West Point. ADF doctrine explicitly states that “if you control the opponent’s information environments through co-ordinated and integrated influence operations … then you control your opponent.”

Technically, as he faces five counts of the war crime of murder, Roberts-Smith’s opponent is the Crown. But that’s not his target. Ultimately, it is the 12 as-yet unselected members of the jury. There are skirmishes, there are battles, but that trial will decide the outcome of the war.

Conviction requires a unanimous verdict.

A dozen Australians. Roberts-Smith’s war is won if even one among them has formed a view that our most decorated living hero should not be sent to jail.

Acquittal is the goal, but a hung jury voids the trial. BRS retains the presumption of innocence. It would take heroic determination for the Commonwealth DPP to order up another trial.

Roberts-Smith has always denied the charges. “I didn’t bloody murder anyone,” he told Fordham. He says he is the victim of a hostile law enforcement PR campaign, pointing to his arrest at Sydney airport in front of his partner, his teenage daughters, 200 passengers and cameras.

“It was such a deliberate attempt to sensationalise the arrest,” said Roberts-Smith today. Being charged in NSW, rather than Queensland where he lives, he says was “100 per cent” designed to get a jurisdictional advantage when the trial begins. In Queensland, he said, he had offered to hand himself in.

Intriguingly, Roberts-Smith himself uses the verb “shape”. He says remaining silent throughout his defamation campaign was a mistake.

“It was to my detriment because I just spent four years being absolutely slaughtered in the press and that absolutely shaped public opinion in a very detrimental way.” Losing that case was “gut-wrenching.” He told Fordham, “I found out in the civil game (they) don’t have to prove it’s true, they just have to prove they believed it. Or it might have happened.”

That is not a true reflection of the law. An outlet simply “believing” it’s telling the truth has no defence in defamation. The judge found to the civil test of the balance of probabilities, Roberts-Smith did murder prisoners who were under control, or directed others to do so. A full bench appeal unanimously upheld that verdict and the High Court refused to hear an appeal on the basis that it had no prospect of success.

(continued)

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Roberts-Smith’s public “shaping” campaign this week is not limited to today’s splashy interviews.

His new merchandise outlet, Epic 1 Two (simplified to E12 on the “No Quit” tank-top and the $50 “Desert Vintage Camo Trucker” hat) states his brand is “for the underdog who refuses to stay down”.

Epic 1 Two was Roberts-Smith’s call-sign in the fight for Tizak in the wider Battle of Shah Wali Kot. Hugely outnumbered, grievously exposed, Roberts-Smith led a push against a well-protected Taliban position. As the official citation records it: “demonstrating extreme devotion to duty and the most conspicuous gallantry, Corporal Roberts-Smith, with a total disregard for his own safety, stormed the enemy position”.

It was for this that he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

His new brand presents Roberts-Smith not just as a war hero, but as a stand-in for every Australian battler. The marketing blurb says Epic 1 Two is “for the people who know what it means to be counted out. To have the odds stacked against them.” It is for those who have been “treated unfairly.”

Because everyone at some stage has been treated unfairly.

The marketing site does not mention that soldiers in that fight with him in Tizak have been witnesses against him. It makes no reference to the war crimes charges. It makes no mention of the allegation that he murdered prisoners.

You wouldn’t expect it to. It’s an exercise in shaping. When Roberts-Smith finally fronts court, expect to see his supporters wearing their E12 kit. Because the coming war crimes trial is not simply a matter of law. It is a question of what a nation chooses to value.

The defining battle of Ben Roberts-Smith’s life will not be the one he fought at Tizak. It will be in that courtroom. Everything in his life will come down to that jury.

You could call them the Epic-12. In his head – and certainly that of his team – is this question: in any randomly selected group of 12 Australians, would at least two or three baulk at convicting a war hero? It only needs one.

The battle is huge. The shaping is under way. It is being shaped for that one.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-s-big-publicity-blitz-is-aimed-at-an-audience-of-12-20261022-p617il.html

https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/strategy/star-shots/information-warfare