The recent high-profile arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated current veteran accused of multiple war crimes, has sparked an extraordinary wave of disillusionment among former Australian service members, with dozens of veterans handing back their service medals in protest against what they describe as government betrayal and systemic failure of the nation’s support for military personnel.
Queensland Liberal National Party MP Phillip Thompson, a veteran who served in East Timor and Afghanistan and was injured by an improvised explosive device during his deployment, has publicly opened up about the gut-wrenching moment he received a collection of returned medals from at least two separate veterans. In a raw, emotional social media post shared with his constituents, Thompson said his “heart is bloody breaking into a thousand pieces” over the gesture, which lays bare the deep-seated anger and hurt roiling Australia’s veteran community in the wake of Roberts-Smith’s arrest.
Last week, Australian federal police formally charged Roberts-Smith with five counts of murder for alleged war crimes committed during his deployment to Afghanistan. The charges include one count of joint commission of murder and three counts of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring murder. The arrest comes nearly four years after major Australian outlets first published the war crime allegations, and capped off a failed 2021 defamation lawsuit Roberts-Smith brought against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times over their reporting.
What makes the return of medals so striking is what the gesture represents for the veteran community. Thompson stressed that the medals handed to him are far more than decorative metal and ribbon. “They are years of service, sacrifice, mateship & moments most will never fully understand,” Thompson wrote. “They represent those who answered the call, who carried the weight of this country on their shoulders & who lived with the consequences long after the uniform came off. These are not political talking points. This is human. This is real. This is the hurt being carried by people who gave everything & are now left wondering where they stand in the country they served.”
A handwritten note accompanying one set of medals, shared publicly by Thompson on his social media channels, laid bare the depth of the veterans’ broken trust. The note author, who is a second-generation veteran, wrote that they had lost “any trust I had in my government” and added, “I feel my service and my father’s service was for nothing.” Thompson noted that the pain woven into these notes has shaken him, saying the accounts highlight a widespread collapse of confidence and a pervasive “sense of betrayal” across the veteran community.
This wave of medal returns is not isolated to Thompson. Another Queensland MP, Bob Katter, also received a request from a serving member to return his own set of medals to Canberra, according to a separate social media post. The short, blunt letter read: “Bob, give my medals back to Canberra. I no longer want them after seeing the way they treat veterans.” The returned medals sent to Katter included five distinct honors: an Australian Active Service Medal, the Defence Force Service Medal, the International Force East Timor Medal, the National Medal and an Australian Defence Medal. It remains unclear whether the letter was signed by the sender.
As Roberts-Smith prepares to face court over the war crime charges, the protest gesture from veterans has drawn national attention to the unresolved grievances that continue to divide the Australian public and the veteran community over how military service, wartime accountability, and veteran welfare are addressed by the federal government.