PM supports Ben Roberts-Smith amid investigation
Scott Morrison respects the contribution Ben Roberts-Smith has made, but also observes AFP process.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has publicly lent support to Australia’s most decorated former soldier, and General Manager of Seven Brisbane, Ben Roberts-Smith.
Australian Federal Police have launch a major investigation into a number of men over allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan.
“I absolutely, like all Australians, respect the enormous contribution that Ben Roberts-Smith has made to his country, as I do for all Australian servicemen and women,” Scott Morrison said today.
“Where there are formal processes that are under way then I’ll respect those processes, as I’m sure all Australians would.”
Roberts-Smith is currently pursuing legal action against Fairfax newspapers over unrelated allegations it published earlier this year.
“The article published about me in Fairfax newspapers today contains a catalogue of lies, fabrications and misrepresentations. It is the culmination of many months of malicious and highly damaging allegations, all of which will be vigorously defended,” he said in a statement in August.
“I do want to say today that I unequivocally deny any physical abuse of any woman at any time ever, and that I have not at any stage been interviewed by Police about any purported complaint by any woman.”
Roberts-Smith, 2013 Australian Father of the Year, was recruited to Seven in 2015, later becoming General Manager of Seven Queensland then General Manager of Seven Brisbane.