Ben Roberts-Smith: War hero ‘lost $475k income after claims’

Ben Roberts-Smith’s public speaking work ‘evaporated’ after war crime allegations, a court has heard, as details of Quentin Bryce’s support emerge.

Quentin Bryce, right, with Ben Roberts- Smith in 2011. Picture: AAP

Ben Roberts-Smith lost almost half a million dollars in earnings after Nine newspapers “smashed and destroyed” his reputation by publishing a series of alleged defamatory reports in 2018 accusing the former SAS soldier of committing murder during deployments in Afghanistan, a court has heard.

On Tuesday, Bruce McClintock SC, for Mr Roberts-Smith, told the Federal Court that former governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce – who pinned the Victoria Cross to the war hero’s chest in 2011 – had “never withdrawn her support” for the veteran after he was accused by Nine of committing war crimes from 2009 to 2012.

In his opening address on ­Tuesday, Mr McClintock said the decorated soldier’s income had “evaporated” after The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times, which is now under separate ownership, published articles accusing Mr Roberts-Smith of committing war crimes as well as an act of dom­estic violence.

“In 2018, when this material was published, there could not have been a former soldier better known or more highly respected than my client,” he said. “These are not trivial attacks, these are allegations of murder and war crimes and there really can be nothing more serious than that.”

Quentin Bryce, then governor-general, awards the Victoria Cross for Australia to Ben Roberts-Smith in 2011. Picture: Department of Defence

Mr Roberts-Smith is seeking damages, including aggravated and compensatory damages, as well as damages for past and future economic loss.

On the second day of the defamation hearing, Mr McClintock said the war hero had lost an estimated $475,000 in income and his earning capacity had dwindled to “none”.

He told judge Anthony Besanko that Nine’s “maintenance of unjustifiable allegations of murder”, including a now abandoned allegation that he swum across the Helmand River in 2012 and unlawfully killed an unarmed Afghan male, had been made in “bad faith” and without any evidence.

One allegation of murder that involved the execution of a teenage boy in 2012 had been sustained for almost two years despite a “complete absence” of evidence.

Chris Masters, who is being sued alongside journalists Nick McKenzie and David Wroe, was aware that Mr Roberts-Smith had been on a “completely different operation in a completely different part of Afghanistan” when the ­alleged killing occurred, Mr Mc­Clintock said.

On Tuesday, the court heard that Dame Quentin Bryce had outlined her “support” for Mr Roberts-Smith in a letter dated March 27, 2019, but would be unable to vouch for his reputation in court because of “personal reasons”.

“Ms Bryce would like to advise that despite media reports to the contrary, at no stage has she withdrawn her support as provided in the letter to Mr Roberts-Smith in March 2019,” a June 7 email, obtained by The Australian, reads.

Ben Roberts-Smith. Picture: Getty Images

“Ms Bryce declines however to appear as a witness at this hearing for personal reasons.”

Barrister Nicholas Owens SC, appearing for Nine, objected to the tender of the document and said he wouldn’t be able to test the ­assertions made in the letter by questioning the former governor-general in court.

“In broad terms, it would be that this is tendered as a representation from her excellency which I am not in a position to test,” Mr Owens said. “The tender of that document really makes the whole thing much more complicated.”

The newspapers are seeking to prove that Mr Roberts-Smith committed six murders, and will defend the defamation claim using the truth defence.

Mr McClintock told the court that Mr Roberts-Smith had been “engaged in a profitable public speaking” career, earning an income of $320,000 in the 2018 ­financial year alone.

Mr Roberts-Smith is expected to give evidence on Wednesday.