Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the governing council of the Australian War Memorial after its members effectively overturned a judging panel’s decision to give a major literary award to a book on war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith.

The judges chose veteran journalist Chris Masters’ Flawed Hero: Truth, Lies and War Crimes as the 2024 winner of the memorial’s Les Carlyon Literary Prize in December that year.

But six months later, on the basis there were inconsistencies between different versions of the criteria for the award, the council reinstated a rule that the prize could only be won by first-time authors, disqualifying Masters.

Asked on Sunday whether he still had faith in the council, which includes former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, medical entrepreneur Glenn Keys

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