Ben Roberts-Smith‘s secret five year legal bid over Defence Department diaries
Ben Roberts-Smith is behind a five-year legal bid to unseal Defence Department diaries about meetings with a writer.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Ben Roberts-Smith wants a tribunal to unseal diary entries about meetings between war crime investigators and a writer with The Daily Telegraph able to reveal the Victoria Cross recipient‘s latest legal bid has been running for five years.
Ben Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists saying they defamed him in 2018 articles that alleged he committed war crimes in Afghanistan - he denies their allegations totally.
Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko has yet to hand down a verdict but this week it was revealed Mr Roberts-Smith was also behind a separate legal case before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The case before the AAT began last month but can be traced back to 2017 when the decorated soldier requested information from the Department of Defence.
Mr Roberts-Smith, a judgment reveals, issued a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in October 2017 seeking Defence Department diary entries about meetings with a writer who was working on a book.
The case before the AAT began last month but can be traced back to 2017 when the decorated soldier requested information from the Department of Defence.
Mr Roberts-Smith, a judgment reveals, issued a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in October 2017 seeking Defence Department diary entries about meetings with a writer who was working on a book.
The author and the book are not identified in the judgment, and Mr Roberts-Smith is referred to with a pseudonym.
The Army released part of the book deed and two documents in full, the judgment says.
But, the judgment notes, the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force refused to hand over diary entries.
The IGADF took a central role in the defamation trial when it emerged many witnesses to Mr Roberts-Smith‘s alleged war crimes had testified before the clandestine inquiry.
Meanwhile Mr Roberts-Smith and Defence have been waiting for the Information Commissioner to rule on the FOI.
In August this year, almost five years after Mr Roberts-Smith‘s first request, the commissioner ordered Defence to hand over the book deed.
But the commissioner refused to do the same with the diary entries so Mr Roberts-Smith has turned to the AAT.
The case would have had its first public hearing on Thursday - until it was delayed until 23 November.
Top cop’s secret weapon hits out at misogyny in the ranks
One of NSW’s most respected former police officers has revealed his secret friendship with Commissioner Karen Webb – and hit out at the ‘misogynistic’ attacks she has been subjected to.
Read more
Moment journalist was caught up in brazen theft
Masked, hooded and unpredictable. This is the moment Canberra’s youth crime crisis unfolded in front of this Daily Telegraph reporter’s eyes by way of a brazen bottle-o theft. See the shocking footage.
Read more