Anthony Albanese was confronted by a highly familiar face in the crowd at Sunday’s Afghanistan commemoration, one that undoubtedly sent a chill through the PM’s spine.
Sitting in the front row was war hero and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts Smith, whom the Albanese government has spent an estimated $300 million in taxpayer funds attempting to prosecute for alleged war crimes for killing Taliban fighters “the wrong way”
The tension in Canberra reached a boiling point during a dramatic front row stare
down between Roberts Smith and SAS informant turned politician, Andrew Hastie, who sat directly behind the former prime ministers.
While Albanese gave a speech marking 25 years since the start of Australia’s longest war, acknowledging that “threats came from without, and sometimes devastatingly from within” the real battle lines were drawn right in front of the podium.
Hastie reportedly flinched first and broke the stare, handing Roberts Smith a psychological victory.
The man who took the fight to the Taliban sat in the front row. The man whose government is trying to put him away stood at the podium.
And Hastie watched from behind the former prime ministers.
Some faces in the crowd don’t need a speech to make their point.
