Media Confirms War Crime Trial Will Be Treated As Left v Right Issue Rather Than A Legal One

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

The nation's media class moved swiftly today to confirm that charges laid against a decorated former soldier, five counts of war crime murder relating to the alleged killing of unarmed civilians, would be handled as a matter of political identity rather than law.

The charges, filed by the Australian Federal Police following a years-long investigation, carry a maximum penalty of life. They relate to specific allegations that unarmed, detained civilians were killed in circumstances that constitute war crimes under the Commonwealth Criminal Code. This information was available to all outlets at time of publication.

It did not slow anyone down.

By midday, the matter had been successfully absorbed into the existing framework of domestic culture war, with opinion pages, social media accounts and Austar panels moving in formation to establish which tribe a person belonged to based on their response to the charges. The legal question, whether the alleged killings occurred and whether they constitute murder, was noted briefly and set aside.

Former prime ministers weighed in. Influencers with large followings confirmed their positions. A prominent international technology billionaire called the arrest insane. The civilians at the centre of the charges remained, as they have throughout this saga, largely beside the point.

There is something almost elegant about it. A machine so perfectly calibrated to convert human suffering into content, moral complexity into team selection and legal proceedings into ratings, operating at full capacity without a single moment of self-reflection.

The AFP confirmed the investigation had been thorough, complex and conducted meticulously over several years.

The media confirmed it had taken just today.

More to come.