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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Pauline Hanson has questioned whether authorities ranked above accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith will face trial as she addressed a \u2018Justice for Ben\u2019 community barbecue in Brisbane\u2019s south-west on Sunday.<\/p>\n The One Nation leader arrived to cheers and claps at the event in Seventeen Mile Rocks, before being surrounded by her own supporters. Nearby was a \u2018Ben for PM\u2019 sign.<\/p>\n Hanson threw her support behind the former soldier at the event, held in a local park in the Oxley electorate where the populist leader first entered parliament as an independent MP after initially running for the Liberal Party.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNone of us can judge Ben. But what I can judge is the man has now been charged with a crime 17 years after the fact,\u201d she told a crowd, who had showed up to the \u2018Friends of Ben\u2019 community barbecue.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s wrong. I also question about the authorities above Ben. He was corporal at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has happened to those people? Are they actually going to be on trial as well?\u201d<\/p>\n Roberts-Smith, who was charged earlier this year over allegations he murdered unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan, did not appear for the event.<\/p>\n He was charged with five counts of war crime murder related to his deployment in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. He faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for each charge.<\/p>\n Roberts-Smith has previously rejected the charges, saying \u201cI categorically deny all of these allegations\u201d.<\/p>\n Several of the alleged crimes were canvassed in the defamation case that Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully brought against this masthead.<\/p>\n That case saw the war crimes allegations tested against civil test of the balance of probabilities. Prosecutors will need to prove beyond reasonable doubt, a higher standard of proof, in the looming criminal case.<\/p>\n Hanson assured the crowd, of about 100 people, that she would let Roberts-Smith know of the support at the event.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Ben, and I\u2019ve also spoken to his parents. They\u2019re devastated, but when I spoke to Ben, I said, \u2018Ben, don\u2019t give up, you have so many Australians that are behind you, supporting you, encouraging you, respect you.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cHe said \u2018Pauline, I know\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanson said Roberts-Smith\u2019s public arrest in front of the media,<\/a> was put out there for a show.<\/p>\n \u201cI know, because I\u2019ve had it done to me as well when I was charged \u2013 out in the middle of nowhere, and I had the media in tow to take those initial photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I understand what he went through, and it should never have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has since said anyone who leaked details of the arrest to the media in advance should face consequences.<\/p>\n When asked by journalists whether she had considered asking Roberts-Smith to run for One Nation, she said she would not ask him.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019d be fair to Ben to put that pressure on him … I can\u2019t stress it enough, I have worn his shoes, I\u2019ve faced a criminal trial … you do not put that on to anyone \u2018will you be a member of parliament?\u2019, I haven\u2019t even asked him that. Let him get through this, what he\u2019s facing. \u201d<\/p>\n Hanson again referred to herself on trial, saying it was a distressing time.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially when you know you\u2019re innocent, and I think that Ben needs to know that people are supportive of him, that not everyone is against him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The prosecution of Roberts-Smith has divided the conservative side of politics with senior Liberal Party figure Andrew Hastie tipped to give evidence against the highly-decorated soldier.<\/p>\n Last week shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash defended a senior staffer who authored an opinion piece defending Roberts-Smith<\/a> at the same time as billionaires Kerry Stokes and Gina Rinehart, a significant donor to One Nation, have also criticised the prosecution.<\/p>\n The event on Sunday comes against a backdrop of a rise in polls for One Nation. Hanson has put that growing support down to people being fed up with the two major political parties, and other issues, such as migration.<\/a><\/p>\n One Nation\u2019s primary vote grew from 6.4 per cent at the election in May to about 15 per cent before the Bondi massacre. In recent YouGov and Redbridge polls, the party is up to about 30 per cent.<\/p>\n This masthead\u2019s Resolve Political Monitor has One Nation at 24 per cent.<\/a><\/p>\n Many at the event on Sunday greeted Hanson warmly, asking for photos. One woman, Tammy Hickey, had travelled from Cunnamulla in south-west Queensland, a more than 12 hour bus trip.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very important to support Ben because it\u2019s just a travesty what he\u2019s been put through.<\/p>\n Hickey said her father had served in World War II and would be \u201chorrified at what Ben\u2019s been put through\u201d.<\/p>\n She said she was very passionate about it, and would not care where she had to come from to attend.<\/p>\n Some at the event questioned how the media were reporting the Roberts-Smith case, and organisers took photos of journalists identification cards, despite it being a public park.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/993d93c2243fd6103721f94e383992cbe903df71f3e538b34fa804ea79662799.jpeg\")
Supporters of Ben Roberts-Smith hold up a \u2018Ben for PM\u2019 sign.Cloe Read<\/p>\n![\"Hanson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5cd935cb193c517622d69f271d03cf30d952ebd4cdce7b8828f6d91f1a3b348c.jpeg\")
Hanson addresses the Justice for Ben event in Seventeen Mile Rocks in Brisbane.Cloe Read<\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/49ddac29c56bf9a48877a2a98438d46e4bd2d6cb.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Supporter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0b7d1c34da1cdc0eb842e0e930853a5be14be2cc27522a831579411d71e54b9f.jpeg\")
Supporter Tammy Hickey made the trek from the outback Queensland town of Cunnamulla attend the event.Cloe Read<\/p>\n![\"Cloe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/63969d041ab3e8b95716f2891ac29aa30b718b6a4b95c1da7abad8d66abff796.png\")
Cloe Read<\/a> is the crime and court reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-721263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721263","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=721263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}