Shadow attorney-general defends decision to allow staffer to write article praising Roberts-Smith

A senior Coalition frontbencher has defended her decision to allow a senior adviser to write a newspaper article urging Australians not to “walk away” from Ben Roberts-Smith, exposing tensions inside the opposition over how to respond to the Victoria Cross recipient’s looming war crimes trial.

The article by former West Australian editor Brett McCarthy, now a senior adviser to shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash, praised Roberts-Smith’s battlefield heroism and called on Australians to continue supporting the decorated soldier despite him facing charges of war crime murder.

Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has fiercely denied the allegations.

The intervention has laid bare divisions within Coalition ranks, in which leaders have sought to maintain a disciplined position centred on the rule of law and the presumption of innocence while avoiding criticism of prosecutors or the criminal justice process.

Cash’s shadow cabinet colleague Andrew Hastie, a former SAS member, has been subjected to fierce online attacks for giving evidence against Roberts-Smith in a defamation case along with 20 other soldiers.

While staff members are not contractually prohibited from expressing views on social media or through traditional media, it is highly unconventional for a senior staff member to publish opinion pieces in metropolitan mastheads. This masthead confirmed the office of Opposition Leader Angus Taylor was not informed before its publication.

Cash has also led the Coalition’s response to the case through her role as shadow first legal officer and probed public officials about the investigation at Senate estimates last week.

In a statement, a spokesman for Cash said McCarthy, who oversees her media inquiries, wrote the article “in a personal capacity” and that it made clear the matter should be determined by the courts.

“Nothing in the article seeks to interfere with the administration of justice or influence the outcome of the proceedings,” the spokesman said. “Senator Cash has consistently supported the independence of Australia’s courts, the rule of law and the presumption of innocence.”

McCarthy, who edited the West Australian from 2009 until late 2018, argued Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross and Medal for Gallantry represented “documented, verified, irrefutable” acts of bravery that should not be overshadowed by the criminal proceedings.

“When allegations against him were raised, I took a strong stance as the editor of The West that he deserved to be supported,” he wrote. “So I have long-held views about these matters and the