Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith owns no assets, has 'significantly depleted' savings, and his only source of income is a military service pension of $4,500 a fortnight. Roberts-Smith has been unable to find stable employment since he lost a Federal Court defamation case against Nine newspapers in June 2023 and quit his high-paying corporate job.
Before Nine published a series of stories accusing Roberts-Smith of war crimes in 2018, he earned a gross annual income of $320,000 from speaking engagements alone. At the time, the nation's most decorated living soldier was also the general manager of the Seven Network's television operations in Queensland.
Roberts-Smith's then employer, Perth billionaire Kerry Stokes, paid for his defamation action through the Seven West Media chairman's private company, Australian Capital Equity. It is estimated both sides spent a total sum of more than $30 million on the trial. Mr Stokes was eventually ordered to pay $13.5 million of Nine's legal costs.
Roberts-Smith and his family funded an unsuccessful appeal heard before three Federal Court judges, with his parents Len and Sue providing more than $400,000. Len Roberts-Smith is a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and Army Reserve major general who was once judge advocate general of the Australian Defence Force.
Details of Roberts-Smith's financial circumstances were outlined in an affidavit the 47-year-old swore as part of a bail application on April 17 in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court. Roberts-Smith is charged with five counts of 'war crime - murder' allegedly committed while serving with the Special Air Service Regiment in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
The father-of-two, who has denied all allegations, stood down as general manager of Seven Queensland in April 2021 to concentrate on his defamation action and resigned in June 2023, when he lost. 'My family and I personally funded the defamation appeal proceedings,' Roberts-Smith said in his affidavit. 'In order to do this I liquidated all my assets which I had retained after my divorce. My parents have contributed over $400,000 to my legal fees. I have no assets and my personal savings are significantly depleted. As a veteran I am currently the recipient of a Service Pension. I currently receive $4,500 per fortnight. I have no other source of income.'
Military pensions - to which defence force members contribute during their service - are generally taxable, with the rate dependent on an individual's circumstances.
Roberts-Smith was arrested on April 7 in front of his partner Sarah Matulin and twin 15-year-old daughters when their Qantas flight from Brisbane touched down at Sydney Airport. He had been taking the girls on a shopping day trip for the Easter school holidays and spent 10 nights in custody before being granted bail to live at a property on the Gold Coast.
The Daily Mail previously revealed Roberts-Smith will have his future legal costs met by the commonwealth-funded Afghanistan Inquiry Legal Assistance Scheme (AILAS). It had been speculated billionaire mining magnate and fierce Roberts-Smith supporter Gina Rinehart would bankroll his case, but taxpayers will pick up the tab to both defend and prosecute him. The criminal case is expected to drag on for years and the final bill for both sides, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the AILAS, will likely be many millions of dollars.
Roberts-Smith, who joined the Army as an 18-year-old in 1996 and retired in 2013, has already had his ability to earn an income destroyed by the war crimes allegations against him. He was twice sent to East Timor as a member of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and his service with the SAS included operational deployments to Fiji, the Middle East and six tours of duty in Afghanistan.
On his first tour of Afghanistan in 2006, Roberts-Smith received Australia's third highest bravery award, the Medal for Gallantry. He received the Victoria Cross for actions performed on his fifth tour in 2010. Upon retirement, Roberts-Smith continued to discharge his public responsibilities as a holder of the Victoria Cross and founded a speaking business focusing on leadership, motivation and management.
In 2015, Roberts-Smith was made deputy general manager of Seven Queensland, covering regional network operations in that state, and was subsequently promoted to general manager. In 2016, Roberts-Smith then became general manager of Seven Brisbane in addition to his existing role, with added responsibility for the Queensland metropolitan market. Roberts-Smith attained a Master of Business Administration from the University of Queensland that same year and was chair of the National Australia Day Council from 2014 to 2017.
Among his voluntary and philanthropic positions, Roberts-Smith was deputy chair of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Veteran's Mental Health and a national ambassador for Legacy Australia. He was patron of the White Cloud Foundation, supporting sufferers of depression, and the Wandering Warriors organisation, assisting ex-servicemen and women into the post-military workforce.
During Roberts-Smith's defamation trial in June 2021, barrister Bruce McClintock SC said: 'In 2018 there could not have been a former soldier better known or more highly respected than my client. That all changed after August 2018 when The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times first accused Roberts-Smith of war crimes.' Between those allegations being made and the start of his trial, Roberts-Smith had lost $475,000 in earnings from speaking engagements, Mr McClintock told the Federal Court.
Whereas Roberts-Smith had once been much in demand as a public speaker, even invitations to Anzac Day ceremonies dried up. The former corporal had been offered a partnership in a big accounting firm on a salary higher than he was earning at Seven West Media but pulled out of that job.
Roberts-Smith and his wife Emma separated in January 2020, sold their Gold Coast marital home for $2.16 million in December that year and divorced in February 2021. For the past five-and-a-half years Roberts-Smith has been in a relationship with Ms Matulin, a marketing and media specialist who explained his limited work prospects in her own affidavit.
'Ben has been unable to secure stable employment since leaving Seven Network after the defamation judgment was published in June 2023,' the 34-year-old wrote. 'The media coverage of the proceedings both before, during and after the defamation trial, made it untenable for Ben to be able to secure stable, long-term employment.' Roberts-Smith and Ms Matulin were on the verge of moving to Spain to pursue business opportunities in the fitness and wellness industry when he was charged.
'Several years ago, Ben and I started discussing the possibility of us moving overseas to try to create some normalcy in our lives,' Ms Matulin wrote. 'Ben and I had agreed that neither his life, nor mine, could continue to remain on pause in Australia waiting for the Office of the Special Investigator to charge him. Our family and friends encouraged us to continue to live our lives.'
Roberts-Smith's solicitor Karen Espiner revealed in her own affidavit that her client had informed her in February this year he and Ms Matulin would be relocating to Europe. 'He told me that after considering it for some time he and Sarah had decided to move to Spain to pursue some business opportunities and that some of his former special forces colleagues lived there and enjoyed it,' she wrote. Ms Espiner said that Roberts-Smith would have been willing to return to Australia if he was going to be charged with war crimes. 'He told me that he had absolutely no difficulty doing this and that he would immediately return to Australia without hesitation, but said he could not continue to put his life on hold, living in limbo, just sitting around waiting to be charged.'
Roberts-Smith has been excused from appearing in court when his case is next mentioned on June 2.
