Former SAS captain and Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has expressed his relief at Ben Roberts-Smith losing his defamation trial, saying the courage of former colleagues in giving evidence against the Victoria Cross winner had "rescued" the elite regiment.
Key points:
- Andrew Hastie says the SAS should not be disbanded in light of the Brereton report
- The former SAS captain has defended the need for an ethical 'warrior culture' in the regiment
- Mr Hastie has suggested a new defence committee be established to allow ADF officials to be questioned
Earlier this month, Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko found Nine newspapers had established substantial or contextual truth on the balance of probabilities to allegations that Mr Roberts-Smith murdered unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.
Mr Hastie, who served in the SAS for more than five years, said Justice Besanko had validated the "cold, hard truth" that has burdened many SAS officers for years.
"They've shown moral courage. They've been brave," Mr Hastie told the ABC.
"They've not won anything out of this. It's been very tough for them. And I honour their work, because it's they who have demonstrated that the regiment has a moral pulse, that the regiment can self-correct. And it's they who have repudiated the toxic culture and behaviour."
'Cold hard truth'
He said his response to Justice Besanko's ruling was one of sadness and relief.
"Sadness for the Afghan lives lost and the families who are hurt, sadness for the relationships severed and sadness for the reputations destroyed, both individually and at the institutional level with the SASR particularly," he said.
"Relief, though, that the cold hard truth that many of the regiment have been carrying inside them for many years, is now out in the public domain and it has been validated by a Federal Court Justice."
Mr Hastie said the former and current SAS officers who gave evidence against Mr Roberts-Smith were "some of the hardest and toughest characters I met at SASR."
"They've seen a lot of combat. They fight tough, but they fight fair. They are people who are larger-than-life characters.
"Two of them were my combat dive instructors. So I spent long hours underwater at a depth of four to six metres by night in sharky waters, diving with them where a mistake can cost your life. And so for some of them, I know them very well. I've had to trust my life in to them and they to mine as dive buddies."
Asked when he first became concerned about allegations against Ben Roberts-Smith, Mr Hastie said: "There were whispers for some time, and you can read my evidence in the (court) transcripts, but there were obviously rumours and chatter about some of the things that were proven to be true in the Federal Court."
SAS disbanded?
The actions of the SAS regiment during the Afghanistan conflict came under particular scrutiny by war crimes investigator Paul Brereton who in 2020 found credible evidence supporting the murder of 39 Afghan civilians.
But Mr Hastie said the SAS should not be disbanded, revealing to the ABC that one senior Labor MP who is now in Anthony Albanese's Cabinet had told him he believed the regiment should be folded.
"The men who stood up and have given evidence about this behaviour, this toxic culture and the crimes that were committed, they have, in a sense, rescued the regiment," Mr Hastie said.
"There's a lot of politicisation of what's happened in the Brereton report and in this court case.
"This is not about left or right. It's not about woke or unwoke. It's not about one media corporation versus another. It's not about toxic masculinity or any other gendered take.
"In the end, it's a simple question of morality.
"It's right versus wrong. It's the rule of law versus the rule of the jungle. And to put it very simply, Australian soldiers do not execute non-combatants who have been taken as prisoners."
'Warrior culture'
Mr Hastie said governments of every political stripe needed elite combat soldiers.
"We need a warrior culture. We need men who are prepared to run to the sound of the guns and prepare to die fighting in the toughest, most demanding missions," he said.
"But it all depends on what culture is built and on what values that culture is built. So courage, boldness, initiative, yes, but also integrity, transparency and accountability — and trust. And that's the thing the SAS needs to rebuild with the Australian people going forward."
Mr Hastie remains critical of the Defence Force for the way it sanitised the war in Afghanistan.
"Defence ran a very controlled information operation, which I think didn't allow for transparency that the media would have brought to the conflict," he said.
"The media is an important and informal part of our governance system. We have a lot of government institutions, sometimes they fail. And it's the role of the media to ask questions and bring into the light things that are shrouded in darkness.
"Whether (greater media access) would have prevented war crimes is a question we'll never know, but I think increased transparency is something we must look towards going forward if we find ourselves in another war."
Parliamentary oversight
Mr Hastie has called on the government to consider establishing a joint committee on defence to allow MPs to question ADF officials, sometimes in private classified hearings, in the same way the powerful joint intelligence committee can probe spy agencies.
"Ironically, members of parliament have a closer relationship with the directors-general of ASIS, ASIO and ASD than they do the CDF and SecDef (Defence Secretary) and I think that's a problem," he said.
"We should be able to ask questions of military strategy, military operations in a classified protected environment, and be able to put our hands on hearts to the Australian people and say, 'We've asked the hard questions of the government', especially if we're losing troops in the field and they're conducting combat operations."
Fresh probe launched
A lengthy Australian Federal Police investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith's alleged involvement in the execution of Afghan captives has been quietly abandoned with a fresh probe launched several weeks ago.
In March the Commonwealth DPP informed the AFP it would not pursue the alleged war crimes that was based on evidence gathered by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force's coercive powers.
Instead, the matters allegedly involving Mr Roberts-Smith and the execution of Afghan prisoners are now subject to a new investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) as well a fresh team of AFP officers.
"The AFP has acted in good faith and professionally at all times during some of the most complex investigations the AFP has ever undertaken," an AFP spokesperson has told the ABC.
"Now the IGADF (Inspector General Australian Defence Force) Inquiry is finalised the joint OSI/AFP investigation (Operation Emerald) is the appropriate framework to investigate these matters."
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2023-06-14 06:33:45Z
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