A legal dispute between war hero Ben Roberts-Smith and his ex-wife Emma Roberts has been adjourned until next week after potentially "embarrassing" media reports were raised in court.
Mr Roberts-Smith is pursuing a defamation action against three newspapers owned by Nine over media reports from 2018 related to his SAS deployments in Afghanistan, arguing they depicted him as a war criminal who breached the moral and legal rules of military engagement.
He denies all the claims made against him, while the publishers are running a truth defence.
In a separate action, Mr Roberts-Smith has launched proceedings his former wife Ms Roberts and that matter progressed to a Federal Court case management hearing on Wednesday morning.
In the brief hearing, the court heard Justice Robert Bromwich had become aware of media reports of "rumour and innuendo" related to Mr Roberts-Smith and whether another person, not named in court, was in a personal relationship with the applicant.
Justice Bromwich told the court he wasn't aware of "any of this" until coming across the media reports himself.
"This is something I should have been told about," Justice Bromwich told the court.
"I'm surprised this wasn't raised directly with me.
"It does affect where I go from here."
The court heard that the issue related to a potentially "embarrassing" situation and concerned whether a "purely professional relationship" existed.
It heard that the matter had implications for the deposition of an affidavit related to the case and whether that affidavit was made in good faith.
"I've got to have an explanation as to what's happened," Justice Bromwich said.
"I don't want to make too much of it but I don't want to make too little of it."
Counsel for Mr Roberts Smith, Arthur Moses, told the court the affidavit could be relied on and that he was not sure how the disclosure of media reports "attends to the issue".
Separately, the court heard Justice Bromwich had a past interaction with the Victoria Cross recipient's father, raising questions about whether he would need to recuse himself from the case.
"I see no reason why I should disqualify myself," he said.
Justice Bromwich adjourned the matter for further case management on Tuesday.
Australian Associated Press
