Billionaire Gina Rinehart says ‘I don’t understand’ arrest of Ben Robert-Smith over alleged war crimes | Ben Roberts-Smith
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, says “I don’t understand” the rationale for Ben Roberts-Smith’s trial for alleged war crimes, as high-profile support groups emerge for the Victoria Cross recipient.
Roberts-Smith was arrested in Sydney on Tuesday and charged with five counts of “war crimes – murder” in relation to crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012. He has not yet entered a plea but is expected to defend the charges.
The arrest sparked a flood of comments divided along political lines, with conservative and right-wing figures, including a former prime minister, voicing their support for Australia’s most decorated living soldier. A three-year-old petition seeking clemency for Roberts-Smith garnered thousands of new signatures on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mining billionaire Rinehart issued his own statement in which he continued his support for the SAS veteran.
“I do not see how spending more than $300 million over many years to direct SAS veterans who served our country to criminal proceedings and most recently Ben’s arrest can be justified,” Rinehart said.
“As recently reported, Brigadier General George Mansford put it succinctly: ‘The oath to serve your country contained no contract for the normal luxuries and comforts enjoyed within our society. On the contrary, it implied hardship, loyalty and devotion to duty.’
“As we face uncertain times in our inadequately defended country, have we overlooked the fact that the morale of our defense force has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning, the number of defense personnel is insufficient and personnel recruitment is problematic?
“Like many Australians, I hope that the compassion and Australian spirit extends to Ben and his family, and that his duty to our country during the hardships of war is never forgotten.”
Billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the social platform, responded to a post on X supporting Roberts-Smith, saying: “This sounds crazy.”
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott also made a statement, stating that he continued to have “instinctive sympathy” for the special forces soldiers who “fought bravely and well for a just cause” in the Afghanistan operation.
“I’m very sorry that some of them have been subjected to some form of persecution by the country they serve.”
He said they mostly fought under “highly restrictive rules of engagement” and that “it is wrong to judge the actions of men in deadly combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life.”
National party leader Matt Canavan said on Wednesday: “I feel extremely uncomfortable making any judgments about someone who risked his life for our country.”
“Obviously we are a country with high standards and they need to be implemented,” Canavan told ABC’s Radio National.
“I’m not entirely sure it’s wise to subject military personnel to the civilian court process.”
Much of the support for Roberts-Smith emerged along existing cultural fault lines, particularly among prominent Christian nationalists and other right-wing groups. International commentators, especially the USA, also focused on the case.
