Former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty gives up Order of Australia

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Keelty has given up his Order of Australia, almost four years after this masthead revealed he passed on confidential information obtained by police to disgraced war hero Ben Roberts-Smith.

Notification of Keelty giving up his Order was published in December 2023 in the Commonwealth Gazette, after the former commissioner received his award in 2011. His return of the award has only come to light now, after a report by Guardian Australia.

Ben Roberts-Smith (main) and former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty.Credit: Andrew Meares, Alex Ellinghausen

Keelty joined the Australian Capital Territory Police in 1974. In 1995, he became an assistant commissioner of the AFP and deputy commissioner in 1998. He was appointed commissioner in 2001 and retired in 2009 after 35 years in the police force.

An investigation by this masthead revealed Keelty passed on the secret information to Roberts-Smith just days after the AFP had launched what was supposed to be covert inquiries into the Afghan veteran and Victoria Cross recipient in early June 2018.

At the time, the police watchdog, the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, confirmed Keelty’s actions resulted in an inquiry into “a potential corruption issue relating to the alleged release of information by an unknown AFP member to Mr Ben Roberts-Smith about an investigation into Mr Roberts-Smith”.

Keelty defended his actions at the time, telling this masthead he had only ever acted out of concern for Roberts-Smith’s welfare. He also said he did not know the former soldier when he met him twice to give him welfare support in June 2018.

Roberts-Smith launched a defamation case in 2018 against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, owned by Nine, and The Canberra Times, now under separate ownership, and the trial concluded in July 2022 after 110 days, 41 witnesses and more than $25 million in legal costs.

In June 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko found the newspapers had proven Roberts-Smith was a war criminal who unlawfully killed and assaulted unarmed Afghan prisoners. Besanko also found the Victoria Cross recipient had bullied a fellow soldier.

The decorated soldier launched an appeal which ran for 10 days in February. The appeal court will deliver its decision at a later date.

The official secretary to the governor-general has been contacted for comment.

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, declined to comment.

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