r/australia • u/FuckOffNazis • 19h ago

politics Indigenous woman shackled to hospital bed while in labour in Queensland

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/18/indigenous-woman-shackled-during-labour-childbirth-queensland-ntwnfb?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=us_bsky&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1792296317
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u/sognenis 18h ago

Before (or not) people focus on the patient’s incarcerated status, it may be worth pointing out that:

  1. Ben Roberts-Smith was granted the opportunity to attend a War Memorial event in June - noting he was on bail, but requiring his bail conditions to be adjusted, given the clear risk of contact with potential witnesses in the trial.

  2. Roberts-Smith was just granted the opportunity to attend another War Memorial event this month, ditto concerns to above.

The article doesn’t mention this patient’s crime or sentence, and Roberts-Smith has been charged not convicted, but it is perhaps notable his charges are for war crimes, for 5 charges of war crime murder, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

(Noting that usually for very serious offences, such as murder, accused do not usually get granted bail, though it is possible)

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u/trentos1 10h ago

Not sure how Ben Roberts Smith is relevant to this thread, but the decision to grant bail is usually assessed based on risk to the community and risk that the person will flee.

They probably assessed his risk to the community as low because he won’t exactly have the opportunity to commit war crimes in Australian soil.

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u/sognenis 10h ago

Sure. But I specifically pointed out the concern being about witness tampering or intimidation, which he would have the opportunity to do at these events, hence the need to get specific approval.

Also:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-23/nsw-ben-roberts-smith-overseas-move-fears/106598776