Australia must admit “mistakes” in Afghanistan while also respecting the rule of law following the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith, says shadow defense minister and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie.
Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated soldier, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with five counts of war crimes for alleged murders committed during his deployment to Afghanistan.
At the time of the arrest, it was described by the BBC as “one of the most important events in Australian military history”, Roberts-Smith was escorted from the plane to the tarmac at Sydney Airport and taken into custody.
The Victoria Cross recipient – whose legal fees in the failed defamation case against the gentleman were signed by billionaire Kerry Stokes – will face a bail hearing on April 17.
Roberts-Smith has denied the allegations against him.
Hastie, who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, said Thursday that he may be called to testify against his former colleague. In information posted on its websiteHastie noted that he was one of 21 SAS veterans called as a witness in Roberts-Smith’s defamation action.
“I gave testimony under oath, as required by law,” he said. “Mr Roberts-Smith is now facing criminal charges in connection with this operational mission, so it is possible that I will be called as a witness in this case.”
Speaking earlier on Thursday to 2GB radio, Hastie warned that political views must not be allowed to influence the process ahead.
“Ben Roberts-Smith has the right to be presumed innocent,” he said. “He has a right to a fair hearing, and that’s why I’m very concerned about commenting, because the last thing we want is for his case to be influenced by political opinion.”
Hastie said Tuesday was a “sad and heartbreaking day” for many Australians, but that the law must be followed to ensure the ex-soldier gets a fair trial.
In the Roberts-Smith scandal, the Federal Court found that, on the balance of probabilities, Roberts-Smith was a war criminal.
Hastie said it was “hard to escape the reality” of wrongdoing within the elite army following the handover. Brereton reports on war crimes in 2020. “(It found) mistakes were made,” he said. “There were mistakes that seemed credible… part of us moving forward as a country is admitting where we have done well and doing well, and also admitting where we have gone wrong.”
Member of Parliament for Western Australia, he is often mentioned as a possible future leader of the Unionhe said that while “things are not going well” at the “meaningful end” of the fighting, the actions of a few did not define the whole.
“I want to tell them (veterans) that we all had a mission to serve our country, and 99 percent of us did our job honorably, and we did it in a war that was very disappointing,” he said.
