WA governor hosts Ben Roberts-Smith as he receives medal from the King

Disgraced former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has been welcomed into Western Australia’s Government House to receive a special honour from King Charles III, a year after a federal court judge concluded the ex-corporal had executed and brutalised Afghan prisoners and disgraced the nation’s military.

Roberts-Smith’s decision to attend Government House in person to receive a medal that King Charles has bestowed on all of Australia’s living Victoria Cross recipients, along with the move by the palace to recognise the ex-soldier, is likely to stir controversy given Justice Anthony Besanko’s damning judgment last June and the fact that Roberts-Smith remains the subject of multiple ongoing war crime investigations.

Ben Roberts-Smith at Government House in Perth on Thursday.Credit: Nine News

A military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was open to Roberts-Smith to decline or not receive the medal in person, recognising the controversy it could cause after Besanko’s finding.

The judge ruled to the civil standard that Roberts-Smith had kicked an Afghan prisoner off a cliff in September 2012, ordered the execution of the wounded man and was implicated in three other executions of unarmed prisoners.

Roberts-Smith was pictured with his parents, including his father, retired major general and former supreme court judge Len Roberts-Smith, attending government house on Thursday.

Governor Chris Dawson refused to comment or answer repeated questions about the event at government house. It is not clear whether he was personally involved in Thursday’s event at Government House.

Queensland Governor Jeannette Young publicly announced the presentation of a King Charles III coronation medal to that state’s recipients.

She said this was in “keeping with His Majesty the King’s wish for living Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross, Victoria Cross for Australia, George Cross and Cross of Valour to receive it”.

Roberts-Smith is the only recipient of the Victoria Cross to face war crime allegations.

The ex-soldier was awarded the coveted valour medal after his actions in the 2010 battle of Tezak.

But in the defamation case Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully launched against this masthead, the Federal Court heard evidence there was disquiet from fellow soldiers about the award.

During the trial, Roberts-Smith’s lawyers accused multiple SAS soldiers who implicated him in war crimes of being motivated by jealousy over Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross. This was wholly rejected in Justice Besanko’s judgment.

The judge instead concluded that during missions in 2012 and 2009, Roberts-Smith had broken the moral and legal rules of military engagement, ordered executions and was therefore a criminal.

Besanko also declared Roberts-Smith had disgraced his country and the army by his conduct in Afghanistan.

The Office of the Special Investigator, an elite policing agency probing war crimes, has a dedicated taskforce gathering evidence about Roberts-Smith’s involvement in summary executions in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.

A spokesman for Governor-General David Hurley, a former chief of the Defence Force, said in a statement that he had no role in determining recipients of the medal.

A second well-placed source, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said the decision to award the medal was taken in the United Kingdom.

Roberts-Smith’s appearance at Government House also highlights the military’s failure to move to rescind individual honours bestowed on soldiers who have been implicated in war crimes. Instead, Defence has chosen to await the outcome of future criminal trials.

The Office of the Special Investigator has charged only one ex-SAS soldier, but is investigating several others.

Roberts-Smith controversially attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 2022, before Justice Besanko’s scathing judgment but despite reservations from the Australian government that it would not be appropriate.

Roberts-Smith has appealed against Besanko’s findings, with hearings held in February and a judgment expected imminently.

Buckingham Palace was contacted for comment.

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