HEADLINES: Decorated Aussie Soldier Arrested & Sia’s Staggering Child Support Payments

0:00Your listing, too, I'm on the media podcast. Good afternoon, I'm Claire Murphy with the latest from the Quickie Newsroom Tuesday, April 7. Former Special Forces soldier Ben Robert Smith has been arrested. The arrest comes after a five-year investigation into claims the decorated soldier committed war crimes while serving in Afghanistan. Robert Smith taken into custody, met by officers at Sydney Airport after arriving on a flight from Brisbane. No, criminal charges have been laid at this time, they're expected to come later this afternoon. But if the allegations are proven to be true, Robert Smith could be stripped of his medals and jowed for life. He's accused of kicking an Afghan civilian off a cliff and then directing a subordinate to execute him, executing a prisoner with a prosthetic leg and directing another subordinate to execute another detainee. The leg was then later used by Australian soldiers to drink out of the base bar. He's also accused of ordering a junior SAS soldier to execute an unarmed detainee in what is referred to as a ritual blooding. The allegations were initially reported by nine newspapers back in 2018.

1:04Robert Smith then took them and the journalists who wrote the stories to court in a defamation claim, which he lost in June 2023. The Federal Court of Australia Judgment by Justice Anthony Buzanko found on the balance of probabilities the civil standard of proof Ben Robert Smith was involved in or complicit in the unlawful killing of four Afghan men. Robert Smith appealed the judgment, which was dismissed last year. The Office of the Special Investigator Director of Investigations, Ross Bynett, spoke to the media earlier today, saying the case has taken many years to come together due to the logistical complications of where they occurred. Unlike a conventional investigation that's conducted in Australia, the other side has been tasked with investigating literally dozens of murders alleged who have been committed in the middle of a war zone in a country 9,000 kilometres from Australia that we can no longer access. We don't have access to the crime scene, so we don't have photographs, sight plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things

2:06we would normally get out of crime scene. They were unable to confirm if the families of those who died had been contacted about the arrest or if there would be any further arrests at this time, but said the investigation was ongoing. A former Sydney Nani will be extradited to Chile to face court over kidnapping allegations after losing her seven-year battle to remain in Australia. Adriana Riva is emigrated to Australia in the late 1970s and worked as a Nani in Bondi before she was arrested by the New South Wales Police in 2019 at the request of the Chilean government. She has been in custody for the past seven years, resisting attempts to extradite her to the South American nation to face trial for seven counts of aggravated kidnapping. Riva is known her 70s as accused of participating in the disappearance of seven people, including a woman who was five months pregnant while working for Augusto Pinochet's secret police force. Tens of thousands of Chileans came to Australia after the dictator violently overthrew the nation's elected socialist government in a coup in 1973.

3:08About 40,000 people were killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons before the end of his reign in 1990. Riva is accused of playing a role in a brigade that physically and psychologically tortured members of the Communist Party who opposed Pinochet's regime. Adriana Navarro, who represents the family, said more than 1100 Chileans are still not been found and that they're still working to ensure that those who are responsible are brought to justice. The Chilean community is very grateful that they were found refuge in Australia. But nonetheless, we don't want those who have committed violations of human rights to be here. Families of Chileans who vanished or who were killed during Pinochet's rule had packed the courtroom during her two-day hearing, but were not able to be in the courtroom for the decision. Parents know that getting a kid's vaccinated can be an emotional role the coaster, but for New South Wales children, one will now be painless and needle-free. As governments across the country attempt to curb falling vaccine rates, New South Wales has become the latest state to offer a nasal spray flu vaccine to children for free, following

4:09Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia's lead. The needless vaccine is applied with one spray into each nostril, making it a gentle and painless option that could make it easier for parents to get their children vaccinated. Each state has a slightly different availability with New South Wales and SA, funding the free treatment for children aged 2, 3 and 4, Queensland offering it to those between and including the ages of 2 and 5, and WA funding it for kids between and including the ages of 2 and 11. Aussie singer Seah has agreed to pay her ex-Daniel Bernard $42,000 a month in child support. The pair share custody of their son, Somersault Wonder Bernard, who the singer welcomed back in 2024. The payments begin this month and will continue until Somersault turns 18. Seah will also cover private school tuition, any agreed on extracurricular activities, any uninsured health care costs, and she will maintain health insurance premiums for her son. She is also required to maintain her $5 million dollar life insurance policy, which names her son as beneficiary, or establish a trust in his name to take care of him if she were

5:10to pass away. Seah filed four divorce from Bernard in March last year, then in October he filed a request seeking sole legal and physical custody of Somersault, alleging Seah was an unfit and unreliable parent who struggled with substance abuse and addiction. Seah filed the next day stating she'd been sober for more than six months and was in a recovery program. The judge denied Bernard's request for sole custody. He also applied for spousal support of $250,000 a month, which was finalized back in December. That's your latest news headlines. Tomorrow on The Quickie, we answer your questions about the war in Iran as it continues to unfold, impacting us here in Australia too. Listen to The Quickie or Evie Getcher podcasts. Mama Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded on.