The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says it was not a government decision to award Ben Roberts-Smith a coronation medal from King Charles.
The ex-SAS soldier was welcomed into Western Australia’s Government House this week to receive the special honour – which is given to all Victoria Cross recipients.
Last year, Roberts-Smith, a recipient of the Victoria Cross, failed in a defamation case against three newspapers that he alleged defamed him as a war criminal.
Justice Anthony Besanko found that the newspapers successfully proved – to the civil standard of balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed civilians while serving in the SAS in Afghanistan, as well as bullying and threatening colleagues, and intimidating a woman with whom he was having an affair.
Roberts-Smith, who has consistently denied all wrongdoing, has appealed that decision.
Appearing on the Nine Network’s Weekend Today on Saturday, the prime minister said the decision to award Roberts-Smith a coronation medal was made by King Charles, not by the Australian government.
“This was the decision of the Palace to give all Victoria Cross recipients a further award,” Albanese said.
“There’s ongoing legal action on these issues so given the government’s engagement, it’s important that there not be interference in that.
“But it certainly wasn’t a government decision.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Roberts-Smith was photographed with his parents attending the event last Thursday. Both the governor of WA, Chris Dawson, and Buckingham Palace have been contacted for comment.
Roberts-Smith took the Sydney Morning Herald to court last year over a number of news stories it published that contained the allegations of war crimes.
After the 110-day trial, Justice Besanko found the newspaper had proven the allegations that Roberts-Smith was involved in the four murders during his deployment.
