VC hero speaks out

Australian war hero Ben Roberts-Smith will speak for the first time about the action in Afghanistan for which he won the Victoria Cross.

The WA father-of-two, who was awarded the VC for firefight against the Taliban in June 2010, speaks to Mike Willesee, on Sunday Night.

"I wasn't going to sit there and watch my mates die," he says.

He earned a Victoria Cross, Australia's highest military honour, after storming a machinegun position during an ambush in Afghanistan, putting himself in harm's way, all concerns for personal safety put aside to protect his comrades.

He did it, he said, because he knew his mates would have done the same for him.