Justice Nye Perram withheld the reasons for the decision, saying there were national security implications the Government must consider before they are released.
A published summary said there was sufficient evidence to support findings Roberts-Smith had “murdered four Afghan men”.
Roberts-Smith argued in his appeal that the judge “erred” in the way he assessed some of the evidence.
Perth-born Roberts-Smith had been Australia’s most famous and distinguished living soldier. He won the Victoria Cross – Australia’s highest military honour – for “conspicuous gallantry” in Afghanistan while on the hunt for a senior Taliban commander.
The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times shredded this reputation with a series of reports in 2018.
The papers reported Roberts-Smith had kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff and ordered subordinates to shoot him.
He was also said to have taken part in the machine-gunning of a man with a prosthetic leg, which was later brought back to an army bar and used as a drinking vessel.
The 2023 court ruling ultimately implicated Roberts-Smith in the murder of four unarmed Afghan prisoners.
Civil court matters such as defamation have a lower standard of proof than criminal trials. Roberts-Smith has not faced criminal charges.
Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US and Nato-led operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.
A 2020 military investigation found special forces personnel “unlawfully killed” 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners, revealing allegations of summary executions, body count competitions and torture by Australian forces.
- Agence France-Presse
