Brendan Nelson ‘cautioned’ over association with Ben Roberts-Smith

“If it’s helpful to the court I would be happy for the name to be known. But the person that I would so name is serving in a very senior position in government, and I don’t think the national interest would be served for the purpose of this case of my divulging the name of that person … so I don’t do so,” Dr Nelson said.

Mr McClintock said he would not take the matter further.

Dr Nelson gave evidence that he contacted Mr Roberts-Smith following the publication of reports in August 2018. Mr Roberts-Smith alleges he is identifiable in an earlier series of articles published in June 2018, where he is not named.

Reassurance of support

“I rang him to again reassure him of my support for him, belief in him, and that of the overwhelming majority of everyday Australians. And I also called him to inquire of his own mental health,” Dr Nelson said.

“I was very concerned about him because I had noticed from the publication of the earlier stories that he had become despondent, he had become anxious, introspective, much less willing to engage in public events, which he had willingly given of himself to previously, and the invitations to do so had declined.”

The former special forces soldier, meanwhile, has denied he spoke to person 11 about testimony given to the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) inquiry.

Mr Owens asked Mr Roberts-Smith about a dinner on June 13, 2018 with person 11 and person 29, which took place the night after person 11’s second interview with the IGADF. Mr Roberts-Smith said he did not discuss person 11’s interview with him.

Letters of complaint

He was then shown an email where Mr Roberts-Smith wrote “person 11 will also be filing a letter of complaint”. The former soldier gave evidence last week that person 5 sent him a letter of complaint, which he sent on to his lawyers, and he saw it as his friend being upset and seeking his views.

“Do you agree that it’s at least the case that at this dinner you had a discussion with person 11 which enabled you to know that person 11 was planning on writing a letter of complaint about his treatment by the IGADF?” Mr Owens asked.

“It is my recollection that I knew well before that that he would be writing a letter of complaint,” Mr Roberts-Smith responded.

Mr Owens later continued to push on the letter and the purpose of the dinner, alleging it was to discuss person 11’s IGADF interview. Mr Roberts-Smith denied this.

“And do you say on oath that during those previous conversations he told you that he would be writing a letter of complaint, but didn’t tell you anything about what had in fact occurred in the interviews?” Mr Owens asked.

“He didn’t talk to me about his interview at all in terms of the substance of the interview, and the only time he mentioned a complaint to me was effectively in passing, saying, ‘I’m thinking about writing a complaint’. Or words to that effect.”

Section 21 of the IGADF regulation allows the Inspector-General to restrict disclosure of evidence given to the inquiry.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times (now under different ownership) and three journalists for defamation over reports in 2018 that allege he committed murder on deployments to Afghanistan, and that he punched in the face a woman with whom he was having an affair.

He denies the allegations and says the reports are defamatory and portray him as a criminal. The newspapers are defending the defamation case on the basis of truth.

The hearing faces a potential adjournment due to quarantine restrictions facing witnesses coming into Sydney. On Saturday, Sydney was put into a two-week lockdown as cases from the COVID-19 Bondi cluster continued to grow. Justice Anthony Besanko will consider the matter and give his decision on Tuesday morning.

The hearing, which was originally only viewable in court, was moved online on Monday for observers, although the parties remain in the Federal Court.