{"id":379319,"date":"2026-04-07T09:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379319\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T09:51:09","slug":"australian-war-memorial-to-review-ben-roberts-smith-display-following-war-crimes-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379319\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian War Memorial to review Ben Roberts-Smith display following war crimes charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian War Memorial will review its Ben Roberts-Smith display following war crimes charges being laid against him.<\/p>\n

Mr Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport this morning before being charged with five counts of committing the war crime of murder.<\/p>\n

The War Memorial has a display commemorating Ben Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross in its Hall of Valour, which recognises all 102 Australian Victoria Cross recipients.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Roberts-Smith has been arrested and is expected to be charged with the war crime of murder.\u00a0 (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

The display, which includes the uniform Mr Robert-Smith wore in combat, was previously altered to reflect his loss in a defamation case brought against Nine Newspapers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A panel alongside the display previously acknowledged the federal court decision, but ended with a statement that Mr Roberts-Smith had “not been charged with any offence under criminal law”.<\/p>\n

IA spokesperson for the war memorial said the display would be reviewed again.<\/p>\n

“The Memorial acknowledges media reports of the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG,” they said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“Accordingly, the Memorial will review the wording of the interpretive panel associated with his display. The display of his uniform, equipment and medals remains in place.<\/p>\n

“The Memorial will continue to monitor developments and consider updates as appropriate.”\"A<\/p>\n

The Australian War Memorial has a display commemorating Ben Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross. (AAP: Alan Porritt)<\/p>\n

Two portraits of Mr Roberts-Smith were removed from the memorial as part of its $500-million redevelopment, including large portrait by Michael Zavros entitled Pistol Grip.<\/p>\n

An exhibition on Australian involvement in the war in Afghanistan is due to open in June and is expected to touch on the findings of the Brereton inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Politicians weigh in on charges<\/p>\n

Earlier on Tuesday Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to comment on the arrest of Mr Roberts-Smith.<\/p>\n

He declined to say whether the government was consulted before the charges were laid.<\/p>\n

“I have no intention of commenting on a matter that’s clearly before the courts,” Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Angus Taylor also declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said the charges should not shift broader views on the Australian military.<\/p>\n

“The developments we’re seeing should not detract from the respect and gratitude we hold for the men and women who serve this nation in some of the most difficult and dangerous circumstances imaginable,” he said.<\/p>\n

Other political leaders have been more willing to comment, including offering Mr Roberts-Smith support.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pauline Hanson says her support for Ben Roberts-Smith is unwavering. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)<\/p>\n

“I remain steadfast in my support of Ben Roberts-Smith despite news of his arrest today,” One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said on social media.<\/p>\n

“Ben, his immediate and broader defence family need the Australian people’s support right now and I will not abandon him like so many other politicians.”<\/p>\n

Former prime minister Tony Abbott questioned the timing of the charges.<\/p>\n

“After doing their best to serve our country, dozens of former special forces soldiers should not still be in limbo years later because of ongoing investigations that have only resulted in charges in two cases,” he said on social media.<\/p>\n

“Justice delayed is justice denied. If evidence is clear, and cases are strong, they should be brought and concluded without delay.<\/p>\n

“Otherwise, people should be cleared to get on with their lives lest the process itself become the punishment.”<\/p>\n

Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over war crimes allegations <\/a><\/p>\n

One of Australia’s most decorated soldiers, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.<\/p>\n

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie aired similar concerns, saying the arrest was a “tragedy”.<\/p>\n

“Our SAS warriors do a thankless task on our behalf and you do have to question why this has taken so long to come to light,” she said.<\/p>\n

Greens Senator David Shoebridge said the arrest was a “moment of accountability”, but that there should be more scrutiny of military leaders involved in the war.<\/p>\n

“If justice is to be fully delivered there must be further and closer attention paid to the role of senior officers who directed and oversaw Australia’s deployment in Afghanistan,” he said.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Defence declined to comment while the matter was before the courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian War Memorial will review its Ben Roberts-Smith display following war crimes charges being laid against him.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[181644,181642,181465,85,46,181645,181646,141,145,181643],"class_list":{"0":"post-379319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-australian-war-memorial","9":"tag-ben-roberts-smith-charged","10":"tag-ben-roberts-smith","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-michael-zavros","14":"tag-pistol-grip-ben-roberts-smith","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-space","17":"tag-war-crimes-charges"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}