Matthew Benns: Why ABC reporting on SAS only tells one side of the story

The national broadcaster presented a very narrow set of claims from a narrow range of sources in its latest attempt to paint our military as lawless yobbos, writes Matthew Benns.

For the wives, widows and family of Australia’s silenced SAS soldiers, the ABC’s 7.30 piece Crossing the Line was the final insulting straw.

“My mum, Craig’s partner and other wives got together and asked me if I would say something,” Keegan Locke, the son of fallen SAS hero Matthew Locke, said in response to the ABC’s piece.

The ABC story last Wednesday night had taken something very precious to the SAS community and, in Keegan Locke’s words, “trashed it”.

It quoted a medic, Dusty Miller, who spent a short deployment with the SAS in Afghanistan, claiming SAS soldiers singing lyrics to the song Getting Away With It by British band James were “like a tap of the nose, a nod” and had “sinister” overtones.

An unidentified female support staff member said: “It’s highly probable that they were talking about getting away with murder in Afghanistan when they were singing that song.”

Except they weren’t.

Keegan Locke, whose father was killed in Afghanistan and who spoke out against the ABC report. Picture: Simon Santi

Viewers of the ABC were not given the chance to hear the actual origin of the song or its symbolism to the men and families of the SAS.

“I guess it doesn’t fit their narrative,” said Keegan, who remembers the song being played at his father’s funeral after he was killed by Taliban small arms fire in 2007.

The song was first introduced to the regiment by Sgt Craig Linacre, who used to sing it with his father-in-law. His band played the song regularly and when he and two other soldiers died in a car crash in 2007 it was played at his funeral.

“This song was played at the funeral of two honourable Australians and has become a song with very special meaning to the families of the regiment,” Keegan said.

The ABC report focused on the lyrics “Getting away with it. All messed up. That’s the living,” rather than its meaning as a story of redemption for a man who saves a woman from drowning.

“The ABC report just grabbed the parts of the lyrics that suited the story and has not spoken to anyone who can explain their true significance,” Keegan said. “There is no balance to the story.”

Sgt Matthew Locke, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2007.

But according to the ABC it is The Daily Telegraph’s front page giving voice to family members explaining the other side of their story that has done “a deep disservice to members of the SAS, to readers of The Daily Telegraph and to trustworthy journalism”.

It said the report, which sought to expose an SAS drinking culture at an off-base pub called The Gratto in Perth and link that to war crimes, was based on reporter Mark Willacy’s interviews with dozens of SAS members, support staff, wives and partners.

Despite only putting one side of the story, a statement from the ABC disingenuously said: “They also deserve to have their views and stories acknowledged and treated with respect.”

But so do the wives and family members the ABC did not speak to who are so hurt by the trashing of their song and their memories that they reached out to The Daily ­Telegraph to put the record straight.

The SAS soldier’s wife who made an impassioned plea to correct the facts regarding the ABC story on social media said her attempts to add her comments to the ABC’s site were blocked.

“For four years we have endured a trial by certain sections of the media with no one speaking up in defence,” she said. “Where is the Chief of the Defence Force when his soldiers and family are being destroyed publicly?”

Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Angus Campbell. Picture: AAP Image

Defence chief Angus Campbell’s only public apology has been to the people of Afghanistan after the ­Brereton Report came out. Then-defence minister Linda Reynolds accused the SAS of “cold blooded murder”.

There has been no trial and last week Defence Minister Peter Dutton publicly apologised to 13 SAS soldiers who have quietly had their dismissal notices withdrawn by Defence because of “insufficient information” about alleged war crimes.

That is the narrative that does not fit with the ABC’s story and Willacy’s new book Rogue Soldiers, which is credited at the foot of the ABC story. At best the ABC version can be described as a blinkered view.

The 7.30 report points to games of naked Twister with strippers and wild drinking sessions at The Gratto. Photographs taken at the wake of Keegan’s father Matthew Locke at The Fat Ladies Arms in Afghanistan showed how the SAS “thought they could get away with breaking other rules like the laws of war.”

But video and photographs of soldiers coming back from yet another deployment in a war zone and partying or blowing off steam after the death of a colleague only paint part of the story.

The ABC has Australian SAS soldiers in their crosshairs.

“Soldiers’ kids have had their 21st birthdays at The Gratto, wives have had milestone birthdays there, there’s been engagement parties there. Memorials have been held there with loved ones of the fallen,” wrote the SAS wife.

“It’s an important place for SASR families to gather to celebrate, remember, get a little silly from time to time but ultimately, to enjoy seeing each other.”

Another regiment wife said: “That’s the thing I loved as a mum, I could go up there (The Gratto) on a Friday, walking distance from home, with my kids and relax and be with the guys and wives and talk about how I was feeling about my deployed husband.”

The Gratto was many things to many people. The naked Twister games with strippers did happen but it was an isolated event and, importantly, not illegal or in breach of any rules. ABC viewers have not been given the opportunity to weigh the balance.

Distraught families have reached out because the public broadcaster did not give them a voice. They have become crusaders rather than journalists.

To paraphrase their own words, The ABC and Willacy’s 7.30 report does a deep disservice to members of the SAS, to viewers of the ABC and to trustworthy journalism.