Some say it might even result in an even more radical restructure – even a renaming – of the regiment. Sources insist it could even result in the SAS headquarters being moved to the east coast from Swanbourne outside Perth, where it has been since the 1957 establishment of its first company – far from the gaze of Special Operations Command at Bungendore, a continent’s width away just outside Canberra. Indeed, some former and serving members of the SAS believe the Brereton inquiry and the police investigations could inspire a special forces restructure, with a focus on the SAS. It is, in the words of one source close to the SAS, “potentially existential” for the regiment based on the British Special Air Service, with which it shares the motto “Who Dares Wins” and the winged dagger emblem. But it will face immense pressure to release the Brereton report which, by its very necessity, implies the need for dramatic reform of the special forces, which include the SAS and two commando regiments. The government may be inclined to keep the inquiry’s findings secret. The alleged misconduct – which includes SAS members flying the US Confederate flag (with its racist/white supremacist connotations) while on operation – has been exposed in a series of reports over several years by ABC and Nine newspapers journalists. While Roberts-Smith is the highest profile member of Australian special forces in question, allegations of unnecessarily brutal behaviour by other serving and former SAS and commando soldiers in Afghanistan are also being investigated – including for summarily executing, and otherwise abusing, unarmed suspected militants and civilians. Roberts-Smith’s defamation lawyer, Mark O’Brien, told the Guardian: “My client’s position has not changed. He has previously rejected the allegations of misconduct as malicious and deeply troubling. He is also suing former Fairfax newspapers over a series of 2018 articles that he claims defamed him because they portrayed him as someone who “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement”. Roberts-Smith has vehemently denied the allegations, reportedly claiming his anonymous accusers were motivated by professional jealousy and personal vendettas. It has been reported Roberts-Smith is being investigated by Australian Federal Police in relation to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The empty war memorial on Anzac Day 2020. Roberts-Smith, now employed as a manager in Queensland for Kerry Stokes’s Seven Network, features in the inspector general’s investigations. The defence minister, Linda Reynolds, said the regiments had undertaken “a significant amount of self-reflection on how some of these reported circumstances could have happened, and what needs to happen structurally and culturally to make sure that these events do not happen again”.Ī first step towards an expected major restructure has already been taken with the appointment of former commando Paul Kenny as the new special operations commander – a role usually filled by an ex-SAS officer. The government is managing expectations ahead of the release of the Brereton report, warning that it will make for “uncomfortable reading” and could lead to significant structural reform of the special forces. Brereton – who is reported to have interviewed some 250 former and serving special forces soldiers – is due to imminently report to the federal government. Since 2016 Paul Brereton, the Australian defence force inspector general, has been conducting an inquiry into allegations of war crimes by a small number of special forces troops in Afghanistan. Just as this larger-than-life image of Roberts-Smith looms over the war memorial, the nation’s secular shrine to Anzac, so, too, do investigations into him and other exceptional soldiers cast ominous shadows over Australia’s special forces, including the Special Air Service, the regiment the VC winner served in until 2013 including during six tours of Afghanistan in as many years.
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