Patriotic Australians are set to hold a demonstration in Melbourne against the controversial arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, following an outpouring of public support for the SAS hero.
The Free Ben Roberts-Smith rally, organised by nationalist community group the National Workers Alliance (NWA), will be held at 12pm outside Parliament House in Melbourne on April 19.
A flyer for the protest, which has already gone viral on social media, states “Australian flags only”, and includes a quote saying “justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are”.
MELBOURNE RALLY
Free Ben Robert’s-Smith
12pm- Sunday 19th April 2026
Parliament House
STAND WITH OUR VETS pic.twitter.com/asyOmzj2DI
— Lozzy B
𝕏 (@TruthFairy131) April 9, 2026
NWA founder Matt Trihey, who regularly holds pro-Australia demonstrations in Melbourne and campaigns against mass immigration, told Noticer News he decided to hold the rally to show the government how angry and betrayed the average Australian feels about the way Roberts-Smith has been treated.
Roberts-Smith was arrested on Tuesday after landing in Sydney from Brisbane with his teenage daughters, charged with five counts of “war crime – murder”, and refused police bail.
His legal team did not apply for bail on Wednesday, and he will remain behind bars until at least April 17 when he is set to appear in court again for a bail review. He faces life imprisonment if found guilty.
The arrest has sparked a huge backlash from everyday Australians, veterans and former AFP officers, and raised questions about why police ignored Roberts-Smiths’ offers to present himself if charges were to be laid, and why Nine Newspapers, which has led a years-long campaign against the war hero, appeared to have been tipped off in advance.
Petitions demanding Roberts-Smith be freed have also been signed by tens of thousands of Australians, including one by anti-Communist commentator Drew Pavlou that he says gained 10,000 signatures in the first 24 hours, and another by campaign group Revive Australia that has attracted thousands more.
We are in the midst of a cultural revolution. You may not like it, but it is a fact.
The witch hunt against BRS is just one part of the war being fought. Fight back. Stand with BRS. https://t.co/0Fq25wMsld https://t.co/AZE7p3I6EO
— Aussie Revivalist (@BrianTaxpayers) April 7, 2026
Ben Roberts-Smith is innocent.
For American friends, this is the equivalent to a Democrat arresting a Medal of Honour recipient on bogus war crimes charges. Our most decorated Afghan War veteran, thrown to the wolves.
Sign my petition in support of him here:… pic.twitter.com/UU7HjR64oO
— Drew Pavlou
(@DrewPavlou) April 8, 2026
Revive Australia’s Brian Marlow told Noticer News they were working on getting the petition tabled in parliament by MPs who support Roberts-Smith.
“We are in the middle of a cultural revolution in this country. It is happening in real time. The situation with Ben Roberts-Smith is part of a broader conflict over institutional power and the direction Australia is heading,” he said.
“For many Australians, what is happening to a Victoria Cross recipient who risked his life for this country has become a flashpoint. Seeing him arrested in front of his daughters has forced people to confront what this moment represents.
“Establishment conservatives are not taking this seriously enough. The scale of what is unfolding is becoming clearer by the day, yet the response has not matched the moment.”
Roberts-Smith was first accused of war crimes by by leftist journalists from corporate media giant Nine Entertainment in 2017. They were aided by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, who gave evidence against his former SASR comrade during his defamation trial.
In 2023 he lost his lawsuit against Fairfax Media and journalists Nick McKenzie, Chris Masters and David Wroe after the Federal Court found allegations against him were “substantially true” on the balance of probabilities – a lower threshold than the “beyond reasonable doubt” required in a criminal trial. He then lost an appeal, and had an application to appeal again to the High Court rejected last year.
Earlier this year it was revealed that Nine paid $700,000 in hush money to Roberts-Smith’s mistress in a secret settlement after she threatened to sue over allegations McKenzie had broken a promise not to subpoena her to give evidence or reveal her as a source in the trial.
Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism in a battle in Tizak in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province in 2010 where he risked his life to kill two Taliban machine gun teams.
Header image: Left, Ben Roberts-Smith. Right, the protest flyer (NWA).
The post Patriotic Aussies to hold ‘Free Ben Roberts-Smith’ protest in Melbourne first appeared on The Noticer.
The NoticerRead More
R1
T1
