00:00A desperate attempt from one of Australia's most decorated soldiers to clear his name.
00:09Today, it was dismissed.
00:11How's your client feeling about this decision?
00:13Ben Robert Smith was a no-show at Federal Court this morning,
00:17where a bid to overturn his defamation loss against nine newspapers was unanimously thrown out.
00:24The Victoria Cross recipient argued the primary judge in the mammoth civil trial made several legal errors
00:31when he found the former SAS corporal complicit in war crimes while deployed to Afghanistan.
00:39But the full bench of the Federal Court did not agree.
00:43The evidence was sufficiently cogent to support the findings that the appellant murdered four Afghan men.
00:51There's a small, there's a small sample, does it?
00:54The small says it all. Thanks, guys.
00:55Mr Robert Smith's last-minute attempt to reopen his appeal,
01:00with the inclusion of a secret recording of investigative journalist Nick McKenzie speaking to a witness,
01:06was also dismissed.
01:08The veteran has been ordered to pay Nines' legal costs.
01:12Mr McKenzie, who wrote the articles, called the ruling an emphatic win
01:16and branded Mr Robert Smith a war criminal.
01:19Is this the end of the road for Ben Robert Smith?
01:21According to him, it isn't.
01:24Mr Robert Smith said he will immediately seek to challenge both decisions in the High Court
01:30and continues to deny what he describes as spiteful allegations.
01:35The court's reasons for its decision today haven't been published yet.
01:49Parts of it will never be released due to national security concerns.
01:54And as far for the rest, the Commonwealth has been given until Tuesday next week
01:58to review it and decide whether more needs to be redacted.
02:02While one side breathes a sigh of relief.
02:05Any celebrations planned for later tonight?
02:08The other prepares to soldier on in this costly legal war.
02:12Any
02:27Boat
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