Sky News host Chris Smith says The Australian War Memorial’s statement free reign will be given to address Australia’s “dark chapter truthfully” in its exhibitions following the Brereton Report is a “complete betrayal of all these men and women”.

“I’m convinced that the public is far more understanding and forgiving when it comes to these allegations of murder in the ranks of our Special Forces,” Mr Smith said.

“The public wants to see the evidence and the witnesses given a proper going-over in a court of law before we keep piling-on.

“And this idea of stripping all SAS units of what they have rightly achieved, which should now be historically cancelled, is facing a huge backlash.

“Truthfully? Which truth? Paul Brereton’s truth? The truth tempered with explanations from the accused? That truth? Or the truth that survives, after the courts finish with the allegations and whoever might be prepared to stand in public as a witness,” Mr Smith said.

“Meanwhile, I won’t spend too much time on the artist, writer and non-binary, queer, youth worker, Bobuq Sayed. This thankless poser has made cretinous statements in the university-funded magazine Meanjin, which is edited by an ABC presenter by the way.

“He says, perhaps these war crimes in Afghanistan are not an ­exceptional lapse in judgment, but the very character of Australia on display in full focus.

“How about you thank the vast majority of Australian soldiers, who went to Afghanistan to save the backsides of law-abiding citizens there, from the torturous Taliban regime? They not only risked their lives doing so, many of them, lost their lives.”