Ben Roberts-Smith arrives in court ahead of retrial hearing

The disgraced war veteran has made his first public appearance since his defamation retrial bid began.

Former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith and investigative reporter Nick McKenzie have arrived in the Federal Court ahead of a hearing into the war veteran’s bid for a defamation retrial.

Roberts-Smith failed in his bid to sue Nine Newspapers in 2023 for a series of articles alleging that he had committed war crimes, with the Federal Court instead finding, on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that the allegations were true.

Former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith is claiming a miscarriage of justice in his failed defamation case against Fairfax Media. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

Mr Roberts-Smith’s appearance was his first since his defamation retrial bid began. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

The Victoria Cross recipient is claiming a miscarriage of justice in his failed defamation case against Fairfax Media after recordings surfaced last month of McKenzie allegedly admitting to accessing information relating to the veteran’s legal strategy before the trial.

While his defamation retrial bid has been in and out of the courts over the past few weeks Roberts-Smith is yet to make a public appearance, however, his parents Sue and Len Roberts-Smith have appeared on several occasions in support of their son.

Roberts-Smith is contending that his ex-wife Emma Roberts had access to his email account and that she and her friend Emma Scott passed his privileged messages on to McKenzie.

Arthur Moses is again representing Mr Roberts-Smith in his retrial bid. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

Mr Roberts-Smith’s mother Sue has been a vocal supporter of her son. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Roberts-Smith is seeking to reopen his appeal, led by “fresh evidence” – a recording of McKenzie made public last month.

In the bombshell recording, McKenzie tells a witness that he was given the information by Ms Roberts and Ms Scott, and that he is breaching his ethics by divulging the information.

“They’ve actively like briefing us on his legal strategy, in respect of you,” he says in the recording.

“We anticipated most of it, one or two things now we know which is helpful.

“I’ve just breached my f**king ethics in doing that, like this has put me in a sh*t position now, like if Dean (Nine lawyer Dean Levitan) knew that and Peter (Nine lawyer Peter Bartlett) knew that, I’d get my arse f**king handed to me on a platter.”

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any lawyers in Nine’s legal team acting on the case.