'Parasites': Australian Story accused of prying into war hero’s love life

The ABC's Australian Story has been accused of trying to ‘expose’ ­details of a dead war hero’s private life, The Australian has exclusively reported.

Australian Special Forces veteran Eddie Robertson detailed the allegations to former army infantry paratrooper Sam Bamford in an online podcast last week. They concern Robertson's friend, deceased commando Cameron Baird. 

Robertson recalled accusing Australian Story’s producers of invasion of privacy while he was working with them on a story about Baird.

Baird died while on deployment in Afghanistan in 2013, and received the Medal of Gallantry for recovering a wounded teammate while under fire in November 2007. He was also posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Robertson told Bamford last week that claimed that the program’s producers relentlessly pushed for sensitive information. 

“The ABC wanted to do an Australian Story episode. It was a two-part story on him, and his life growing up, and his career in the military, and what got him to the point of laying down his life for the country, and being awarded the VC,” Robertson told Bamford on his 2 Worlds Collide podcast. 

“Now, he was my best friend, you know, my daughter’s godfather. And the family asked me, they said, ‘Would you be involved in this project?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, look, I’d be happy to.’ 

“Part of doing that was I gave up my protected identity status, you know, because my name, my face, were out there, but I wanted to give it authenticity. There was one caveat: that they weren’t to go into Cam’s personal life."

Robertson further explained, “He’d been married to an older lady. He met her when he was young. She was … quite a bit older than him, but they loved each other. They lived together, and then the marriage fell apart not long before he was killed. 

“The family said, ‘Look, out of respect for her – but also because it’s his personal life – we really don’t want to go into it.’ They could mention that he was married, but just leave it at that.” 

But that's not how it turned out, Robertson reports.

“These ABC parasites, man, they just kept picking and picking and because I was, I guess, kind of the easy person to go to – like I’m not family, but I’m linked to the family – the producer kept contacting me saying, ‘Oh, you know, look, we really need to cover a little bit about his marriage and his personal life and his girlfriend.’

“I said, ‘Look, it’s a no-go. I’m not going to go to the family and ask because it’s a clear line in the sand.’ They could mention that he was married but just leave it at that. 

“And you know what? Australian Story … said, ‘If we don’t report anything about Cameron Baird’s personal life, the public might come to the assumption that he was gay’.” 

It was a comment that infuriated Robertson.

“It’s just been a year since his death. The family have basically opened up their personal family albums and stories about him to share this story with the Australian people about this man. And you’re more concerned about this smutty kind (of angle). 

“And, look, he wasn’t gay, but if he was gay, who gives a f..k? 

“He was an outstanding soldier and Australian. I thought, you know, this ABC, what’s their f..king go? Pushing this sort of thing. I just thought it was insidious, man.” 

The ABC told The Australian that Baird's “parents were pleased” with the documentary.