Federal MP and former elite soldier Andrew Hastie has told a Sydney court he "pities" war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith, whose defamation trial he described as "terrible" for the SAS and the country.
Mr Hastie, the Assistant Minister for Defence, was called as a witness by Nine Entertainment, the publisher of newspapers the war veteran is suing over a series of articles from 2018.
Mr Roberts-Smith claims they contained false allegations of unlawful killings, bullying and domestic violence.
Mr Hastie was a captain in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) for five-and-a-half-years prior to entering politics, including on deployment in Afghanistan with Mr Roberts-Smith.
He's told the Federal Court there was a "widespread" view that Mr Roberts-Smith was a bully, particularly towards a fellow soldier codenamed Person 1.
On Friday under cross-examination by the veteran's barrister, Arthur Moses SC, Mr Hastie denied he disliked Mr Roberts-Smith.
"I pity Mr Roberts-Smith," Mr Hastie said.
"I pity this whole process. I don't want to be here. I was subpoenaed for this."
Mr Hastie said it was "terrible" for the country and the SAS and had "touched a lot of lives".
"But until we deal with it, we can't move forward."
One of the central allegations in the stories involved an Afghan detainee being kicked over a cliff during a mission in the village of Darwan in 2012, which Mr Roberts-Smith denies.
Mr Hastie has recalled a 2014 pastoral meeting he had with another soldier, Person 7, and the troop sergeant.
Mr Hastie said Person 7 was "greatly vexed" that concerns he had raised about "certain incidents overseas" involving Mr Roberts-Smith were not being dealt with by the chain of command.
"He mentioned swimming over a river away from the rest of the troop, he mentioned shooting an already deceased person on the battlefield, and he also expressed concern about the Victoria Cross citation," Mr Hastie said.
The witness said Person 7 said words to the effect that Mr Roberts-Smith was "father of the year" and was enjoying a high profile in the community.
He described soldiers as "oral historians" and said he heard the cliff allegation from "multiple people".
Under questioning from Mr Moses, Mr Hastie agreed he'd spoken with journalists Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie, who are both respondents in the case, including off-the-record conversations.
He described a "symbiotic relationship" between politicians and the media.
Mr Hastie rejected a suggestion from Mr Moses that he had used his relationship with Mr Masters to promote himself as a politician by "feeding" him information about Mr Roberts-Smith he presumed the journalist wanted to hear.
He denied the same proposition with respect to Mr McKenzie.
The witness said he had a high regard for Mr McKenzie and a relationship of trust, but said that relationship may "fall by the wayside" for a good enough story.
"Friends in this game, as you'd know Mr Moses, are hard to keep," Mr Hastie said.
"I'm sure if there was a story on me he could write, he might well write it."
Mr Hastie said he had a love for the regiment and an ambition to preserve the SAS, which could only be achieved by coming clean about some of the "mistakes" over the last 15 years.
Mr Hastie has told the court journalists other than Mr McKenzie and Mr Masters had previously approached him with questions about allegations related to Afghanistan.
"I became the person, the public figure, in the Parliament, who'd been in the SAS, and questions were put to me," he said.
But Mr Hastie denied he "made himself that person".
"You held yourself out there as the expert in order to make a profile for yourself, didn't you?" Mr Moses asked.
"That's a cynical view, but it's incorrect," Mr Hastie replied.
Mr Hastie has recalled a comment a troop sergeant made to him in 2013, which he said he "distinctly remembered".
He told the court that person said to him: "I'm not going to Afghanistan to put dirt farmers on their knees and shoot them in the back of the head."
Mr Hastie said the comment came after they had been discussing "rumours" or allegations about the way operations had been conducted and left him "greatly relieved I had a man who saw eye to eye with me".
He said he wanted to make sure they were "on the same page" and were speaking about "expectations".
Mr Hastie said there was "a lot of intuition" involved in the discussion and the colleague's statement, but he thought Mr Roberts-Smith's name had potentially "popped up" as part of the context.
He's also told the court he raised concerns with a superior in 2012 about a "catch and release" policy in Afghanistan, when he suggested the system "incentivises killing rather than capturing".
The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, continues.
