{"id":595312,"date":"2026-04-09T09:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595312\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:03:09","slug":"ben-roberts-smith-entitled-to-presumption-of-innocence-but-none-of-us-are-above-the-law-andrew-hastie-says-ben-roberts-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595312\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Roberts-Smith entitled to presumption of innocence but \u2018none of us are above the law\u2019, Andrew Hastie says | Ben Roberts-Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Liberal MP, Andrew Hastie, says Ben Roberts-Smith<\/a> is entitled to the presumption of innocence but \u201cnone of us are above the law\u201d in his first public comments since Australia\u2019s most decorated living soldier was charged with war crimes.<\/p>\n

Hastie served alongside Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan and was among the 21 Special Air Service (SAS) who gave evidence in the defamation case he brought against the Nine newspapers.<\/p>\n

Appearing under subpoena by the newspapers, Hastie, who was then the assistant defence minister, told the federal court <\/a>in 2022 that it was a \u201cfairly well-established rumour\u201d that Roberts-Smith had kicked an unarmed \u201cPUC\u201d (a \u201cperson under control\u201d in military parlance) off a cliff in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

Hastie also told court that there was a \u201cwidespread view\u201d<\/a> within the SAS that Roberts-Smith was a bully, and that he was no longer \u201cproud\u201d of a soldier who he once held in high regard.<\/p>\n

The court ruled in the newspapers\u2019 favour in June 2023, finding that Roberts-Smith had, on the balance of probabilities, committed war crimes in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The Liberal frontbencher had not commented publicly since Roberts-Smith\u2019s arrest at Sydney airport on Tuesday, as other Coalition MPs, as well as Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter, publicly criticised his treatment and the process that resulted in the five charges of \u201cwar crime \u2013 murder\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking with 2GB on Thursday, Hastie said the arrest was a \u201cvery sad and sobering day for the country and for many Australians\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Ben Roberts-Smith is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He\u2019s entitled to a fair trial, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m very circumspect about making comment, because the last thing we want is for his trial to be prejudiced by political commentary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a broader message to veterans, Hastie said: \u201cWe all had a mission to serve our country, and 99% of us did our job with honour, and we did it in a war that was incredibly frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who was at the pointy end doing combat operations in Afghanistan knows that things never go right, and we often had to make very difficult decisions in difficult circumstances. I have first-hand experience myself. And that doesn\u2019t change, though, that we stand in this amazing tradition of Anzac. I think one of the risks that we make over time is that we pretend that Anzacs in the past weren\u2019t humans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re all humans, we\u2019re all imperfect, and none of us are above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Liberal prime minister John Howard made a similar point in a statement on Wednesday night, which argued that fundamental to the operation of the rule of law was that \u201cno man or woman is above or beyond its reach\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some supporters of Roberts-Smith, including family members, have harboured resentment toward Hastie and believed he contributed to the Victoria Cross recipient\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n

Last year, Guardian Australia revealed Roberts-Smith\u2019s mother had emailed<\/a> Coalition MPs to warn that Hastie was \u201cnot fit\u201d to lead the Liberal party as speculation swirled about his political aspirations.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Hastie said he didn\u2019t have a problem, or a relationship, with Roberts-Smith, emphasising that he was subpoenaed to give evidence in the defamation trial.<\/p>\n

The comments came as Katter, the independent MP for Kennedy, announced he would introduce a bill when parliament returns next month to protect the identity of veterans charged with crimes related to deployments in war.<\/p>\n

The legislation would also mean such cases were heard by a jury made up of combat soldiers, who would judge the accused using \u201cwartime standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil he is proven guilty, I will stand 100% behind Ben just as I stand in solidarity with any person who has worn the uniform \u2013 anyone who has risked their life to defend Australia,\u201d Katter said.<\/p>\n

Support for veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms<\/a> on 1800 011 046 and Safe Zone Support<\/a> on 1800 142 072. Hayat Line<\/a> is a free and confidential crisis support line for Muslims on 1300 993 398<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Liberal MP, Andrew Hastie, says Ben Roberts-Smith is entitled to the presumption of innocence but \u201cnone of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-595312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}