What Ben Roberts-Smith lacks in moral clarity, he makes up in persistence. The war criminal and murderer recently filed the paperwork to the High Court to try to overturn the defamation decisions against him. The Federal Court vindicated the reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of some of Roberts-Smith’s military conduct in 2018. Those mastheads and this one are owned by Nine Entertainment.

Roberts-Smith lost his claim in 2023 and his first appeal in May this year. His final chance to fetch his helmet is getting an audience in the nation’s top court, for which he’s retained barrister Arthur Moses, who certainly doesn’t come cheap. For the first tilt at the defamation claim, Seven West media mogul (and Victoria Cross collector) Kerry Stokes was covering Roberts-Smith’s legal bills. For his efforts, he was ordered to also pay the newspapers’ costs. But for the appeal and this final push, there’s even deeper pockets rumoured to be involved.