Before the Dawn Service, there was this

Spectator Australia · Ky Wilson · Saturday 18 April 2026

Before the Dawn Service, there was this

The staged arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith, just weeks before Anzac Day, is not just bad optics. It is a signal… The post Before the Dawn Service, there was this appeared first on The Spectator Australia. What to read next: One Nation, the Liberal collapse, and Australia’s populist reckoning | The judicial invention of freedom: A bridge too far? | Sisters are doing it for themselves | Private health insurance: time for a reset?

Staging a Roberts-Smith arrest three weeks before Anzac Day is the sort of choreography that makes you wonder who's directing. The Spectator reckons it's a signal — mate, it's a dog whistle played on a foghorn. Courts run on evidence; timing runs on theatre. When the calendar does the prosecuting, the verdict's already been filed.

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Spectator Australia
Spectator Australia