Andrew Hastie has sharply escalated his feud with Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce, accusing the pair of being “lying cowards” after they rejected claims they had branded the Liberal frontbencher a traitor.
The clash follows Hastie’s warning to supporters that he would no longer accept what he described as “any more slander” from One Nation over his evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case.
Speaking in Canberra on Wednesday, Hastie challenged Hanson to either stand by or remove a social media post he says repeatedly depicted him as disloyal to Australia.
“Yesterday, I said that Pauline Hanson and One Nation had called me a traitor to my own country,” Hastie told reporters.
“Today, Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson both denied it… I’m calling them lying cowards,” he said.
Hastie maintained that his accusation was supported by evidence, directing attention to an instalment of Hanson’s animated political series, Please Explain.
“I have the receipts here. On July 23, Pauline Hanson posted and pinned to her X account a cartoon which, eight times, calls me a traitor,” he said.
The episode includes animated versions of Hastie and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discussing the online criticism directed at the Liberal MP.
Andrew Hastie (pictured) labelled One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce ‘cowards’
Pauline Hanson (right) and One Nation are targeting Hastie’s Canning seat in the next election
At one point, the animated Hastie character says: ‘All I did was testify against Ben Roberts-Smith and support your evil hate speech legislation after promising not to.’
Cartoon Albanese replies: ‘Yeah right. That is pretty traitorous, actually.’
The cartoon later shows the Hastie character calling himself a ‘stupid traitor’, while another character adds: ‘I feel bad for the traitor.’
In one of the video’s final lines, a character claims: ‘Hastie’s a paranoid traitor. He’ll believe anything.’
Mr Hastie said One Nation had politicised the ongoing case, in which Mr Roberts-Smith faces five charges of the war crime of murder, ‘to the detriment of everyone involved, including Ben Roberts Smith’.
The former SAS officer said the accusation was deeply offensive given his military service and the service of other veterans.
‘I’m proud of my service in uniform and in this Parliament. It’s a slur on me. It’s a slur on other veterans who have given evidence under oath in the Federal Court,’ he said.
Hastie then issued a direct challenge to Hanson and Joyce.
‘I’m calling on Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce: don’t be weak, don’t be cowards. Own it and explain why I’m a traitor, and why other veterans are traitors, or delete it. Your choice.
‘Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce are trashing my service record, they called me a traitor to my own country.
‘But it’s not just about me, it’s about other veterans. Are they saying the same thing of the other 26 combat veterans who gave evidence under oath in the federal court – are they also traitors to their country.
‘I’m calling on Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce to own this cartoon. Step into the house or outside the house, I don’t really care, use parliamentary privilege or don’t, explain why I and other veterans and indeed serving members of the ADF who think war crimes are wrong are traitors to their country.
‘I stand with a lot of Australians who believe in the rule of law, who believe that Australian soldiers should be held to high standards of battlefield conduct.
‘And Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce, who never ever served a day in our uniform overseas on operations, they don’t get to define ANZAC day or ANZAC or the values that underpin our defence force.
‘I won’t stand by while my name is slandered by One Nation, or my family’s name is slandered; while veterans who are struggling with moral trauma and thousands of other ADF service members are also slandered by connection with this.’
One Nation are targeting Hastie’s Canning seat in the next election.
