Ben Roberts-Smith
Benjamin Roberts-Smith, is an Australian businessman, former Australian Army soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for Australia, the highest award in the Australian honours system. Roberts-Smith was awarded the VC for his actions during a helicopter assault into Tizak on 11 June 2010 as part of an offensive in the Shah Wali Kot region while serving with the Special Air Service Regiment in Afghanistan. The medal, together with his Medal for Gallantry awarded during a tour of Afghanistan in 2006, made Roberts-Smith the most highly decorated serving member of the Australian Defence Force. He was presented with the VC by the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, at a ceremony in Perth on 23 January 2011. He was also later awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service for his leadership as a patrol commander during a 2012 tour of Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith left the full-time army in 2013 to study business at the University of Queensland. In 2014 he was appointed chair of the National Australia Day Council and made deputy general manager of the regional television network Seven Queensland. He has subsequently been promoted to general manager of the rural network and of metropolitan station Seven Brisbane.
In 2017, Roberts-Smith's actions in Afghanistan came under scrutiny in light of a quasi-judicial inquiry into breaches of the laws of armed conflict by Australia's Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan. Following the publication of allegations that he was involved in the unlawful treatment and execution of detainees, Roberts-Smith, with assistance from a legal team hired by Seven Network owner Kerry Stokes, sued Fairfax Media for defamation. Since June 2018, Roberts-Smith has been the subject of a war crimes investigation by the Australian Federal Police.
Military career
Roberts-Smith joined the Australian Army in 1996. After completing his initial training at Lone Pine Barracks in Singleton, New South Wales, he was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. Initially part of a rifle company, he subsequently became section commander in the Direct Fire Support Weapons Platoon.With 3 RAR, Roberts-Smith was deployed to East Timor twice, the first time as part of the International Force East Timor in 1999.
After completing the Special Air Service Regiment selection course in 2003, and completing the SASR reinforcement cycle, Roberts-Smith was initially posted to 3 Squadron. In 2009, after completing junior leadership training, he was posted to 2 Squadron as a patrol 2IC and later as a patrol commander. He was a member of training and assistance teams throughout South-East Asia, and also took part in operations off Fiji in 2004. He was also part of personal security detachments in Iraq throughout 2005 and 2006. Roberts-Smith was deployed to Afghanistan on six occasions, in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
Citations
The following are extracts from the citations of the Department of Defence for Roberts-Smith's two awards for gallantry.Medal for Gallantry
Victoria Cross for Australia
On receiving the award, Roberts-Smith said he was honoured and humbled:Roberts-Smith noted that he—and the ADF—expected him to be able to continue to fight as a frontline patrol commander following the receipt of the Victoria Cross. He said that "nce you reach patrol commander, that is the pinnacle for an SAS operator. You are now the man."
War crimes allegations
Following an investigation by journalist Chris Masters for his book No Front Line, Roberts-Smith's activities in Afghanistan came under scrutiny. One notable controversy concerned the killing of an alleged Taliban spotter during the Chora Pass contact. According to Masters, two members of the patrol had witnessed a lone Afghan teenager approaching the patrol observation post, leaving shortly thereafter. Although the two operators had decided it was not necessary to engage the Afghan, when Roberts-Smith and patrol 2IC Matthew Locke arrived on-scene they pursued and killed the teenager.Although the patrol report had identified only a single Afghan unarmed "spotter", Roberts-Smith later said that two armed insurgents had approached the position in an oral account provided to the Australian War Memorial. When the inconsistency was raised, Roberts-Smith claimed to have remembered incorrectly.
Following the publication of No Front Line in October 2017, Fairfax Media's Nick McKenzie and the ABC's Dan Oakes covered the story—linking the case to an ongoing Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force inquiry into criminal misconduct on the battlefield by Australian special forces. Responding to the coverage in an interview with The Australian, Roberts-Smith described the scrutiny as "un-Australian".
In June 2018, a joint ABC-Fairfax investigation detailed an assault on the Afghan village of Darwan in September 2012 during which a handcuffed man was allegedly kicked off a cliff by an Australian special forces soldier codenamed "Leonidas".
On 6 July 2018, Fairfax Media reported that Roberts-Smith was "one of a small number of soldiers subject to investigation by a quasi-judicial inquiry looking into the actions of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan." In August 2018, Fairfax Media also reported allegations that Roberts-Smith had bullied several soldiers and committed an act of domestic violence in Australia. Roberts-Smith has denied these allegations. In response to this article series, Roberts-Smith commenced defamation proceedings against Fairfax. In its truth defence, Fairfax defended its reporting as "substantially true", detailing a series of six unlawful killings alleged to have been carried out by Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan, including those in Darwan.
Post-military
In October 2013, Roberts-Smith formally announced that he was leaving the full-time Army for a career in business, but will continue to serve in the Army Reserve. In a press conference, Roberts-Smith stated that he was studying a Master of Business Administration at the University of Queensland, and intended to pursue a corporate career.On 26 January 2014, Roberts-Smith was awarded the Commendation for Distinguished Service as part of the 2014 Australia Day Honours. The award arose from a 2012 tour of Afghanistan, in which Roberts-Smith "distinguished himself as an outstanding junior leader on more than 50 high risk" operations.
In April 2015, Ben Roberts-Smith was appointed deputy general manager of regional television network, Seven Queensland. He was offered the job when Neil Mooney, general manager of Seven Queensland, saw his potential while he was undertaking leadership seminars for the station. In July that year he was promoted to general manager. In April 2016 Seven Brisbane was added to his responsibilities after the retirement of the long time General Manager.
From 2014 to 2017 he was chair of the National Australia Day Council, an Australian Government-owned social enterprise.
In 2015, Roberts-Smith recorded "Lest We Forget" with Lee Kernaghan for his album Spirit of the Anzacs.
Personal life
Roberts-Smith is the son of retired Major General Len Roberts-Smith, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and a former commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia, and Sue Roberts-Smith. He was born in Perth and attended Hale School.Roberts-Smith is married to Emma and they have twin daughters. His brother, Sam, is an opera singer who graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and from 2015 to 2017 sang with the Ten Tenors.
Roberts-Smith was named the number-one ticket holder of the "Fremantle Dockers" football club in March 2012.
Honours and awards
Roberts-Smith was named Australian Father of the Year in 2013.| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| Victoria Cross for Australia | For most conspicuous gallantry in action in circumstances of extreme peril on 11 June 2010, while deployed on Operation SLIPPER, Afghanistan. | |
| Medal for Gallantry | For gallantry in action in hazardous circumstances as a patrol sniper while deployed on Operation SLIPPER, Afghanistan, May–September 2006. | |
| Commendation for Distinguished Service | For distinguished performance of duty in warlike operations as a patrol commander with the Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER. | |
| Australian Active Service Medal | with clasps for EAST TIMOR, ICAT and IRAQ 2003 | |
| International Force East Timor Medal | ||
| Afghanistan Medal | Operation SLIPPER | |
| Iraq Medal | Operation CATALYST | |
| Australian Service Medal | with clasp for CT/SR | |
| Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | 2012 | |
| Defence Long Service Medal | For 15 Years' Service | |
| Australian Defence Medal | ||
| United Nations Medal | with UNAMET ribbon for active service in Timor-Leste | |
| NATO Medal for the Non-Article 5 ISAF Operation in Afghanistan | with ISAF clasp | |
| Unit Citation for Gallantry with Federation Star | ||
| Meritorious Unit Citation with Federation Star | Special Operations Task Group | |
| Infantry Combat Badge |