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Why Liberal progressives want conservative commando Andrew Hastie to lead · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, November eighteen, twenty twenty five. Australia has no
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  Speaker 1: choice but to work with China, and that means we
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  Speaker 1: need to build our defenses against potential Chinese disinformation, interference
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  Speaker 1: and cyber attacks. That's the read from Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
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  Speaker 1: Wong says China is seeking to reshape our region according
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  Speaker 1: to its own interests, but is not sabotaging or destabilizing
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  Speaker 1: like Russia, Iran or North Korea. Is Susan Lee about
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  Speaker 1: to lose the Liberal leadership? And if she does, would
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Hasty be the man to replace her? He's a
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  Speaker 1: conservative now being supported by more and more moderates. So
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  Speaker 1: should they be careful what they wish for? And what
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  Speaker 1: should voters know about this? Ex M Mando, who's famous
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  Speaker 1: for going his own way. That's today's episode. In October,
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  Speaker 1: Andrew Hasty, one of the most intriguing and bright talents
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  Speaker 1: of the Liberal Party, quit the front bench, and if
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  Speaker 1: you observe politics, you'll know that's often the precursor to
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  Speaker 1: a tilt at the leadership, retreating to the back bench
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  Speaker 1: for a little while to gather your forces. Jeff Chambers
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  Speaker 1: is The Australian's political editor. Andrew Hasty is a military man,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm very interested in his tactics. But I wonder
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  Speaker 1: if that's too simplistic a read of what happened to
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  Speaker 1: him in October twenty twenty five. Why did he quit
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  Speaker 1: the front bench.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think immediately after such a devastating defeat suffered
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  Speaker 2: at the May three election, there's a lot of soul
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  Speaker 2: searching that was going on Susan Lee. It's pretty obvious
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  Speaker 2: now before polling day had sort of already started making
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  Speaker 2: her moves and as the deputy leader, was always going
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  Speaker 2: to be in a bit of an ascended position. So
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  Speaker 2: it was no great surprise that you had a divided
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  Speaker 2: Conservative faction. So you were left with a really young
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  Speaker 2: rump of Conservatives who are trying to find their way.
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  Speaker 2: And Andrew Hasty certainly didn't rule out that he had
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  Speaker 2: very strong leadership ambitions. Now I reported at the time,
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  Speaker 2: and I think this was a mistake that Susan Lee
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  Speaker 2: has made that's been proven now to be a fatal mistake.
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Hasty was harboring ambition to have a serious economic
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  Speaker 2: or social portfolio. He's seen that Peter Dutton had been
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  Speaker 2: typecast as a hard man, someone that just talks about security,
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  Speaker 2: and he was desperate to get out of that.
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  Speaker 3: I believe that net zero is going to be a
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  Speaker 3: tragedy for our country. I believe that ned Eberse's migration
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  Speaker 3: is far too high, slocking young strains out of the
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  Speaker 3: howdy market. I believe that families they are doing it
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  Speaker 3: too tough at the moment. So something's going to change.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm simply during this policy development phase, building principal
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  Speaker 3: positions where I think we should go.
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  Speaker 2: So what did they do? They decided to give him
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  Speaker 2: the Home Affairs portfolio. And not only did they do that,
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  Speaker 2: they put Paul Scarr, a moderate backer of Susan Lee,
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  Speaker 2: in his immigration and the tipping point for Andrew Hasty
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  Speaker 2: was when he realized that when it came to the
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  Speaker 2: formation of immigration policy, which is key, that he would
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  Speaker 2: not have the say despite being notionally the senior shadow
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  Speaker 2: minister as Home Affairs shadow spokesperson, So that was a
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  Speaker 2: real driving point for him. He's obviously got people in
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  Speaker 2: his ear, both MPs and serious Conservative campaigners outside the
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  Speaker 2: building who believe that him and Just Enterprise are the
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  Speaker 2: future of the party. I don't think it's adie surprise
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  Speaker 2: to Susan Lee and her team that Andrew Hasty is
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  Speaker 2: now emerging as a very likely successor to her.
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  Speaker 1: Susan Lee appears to be digging in at the moment.
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  Speaker 1: Is Andrew Hasty the kind of person who would mount
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  Speaker 1: a challenge or is he going to sit back and
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  Speaker 1: wait for something to happen.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Andrew Hasty understands that he still has a bit
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  Speaker 2: of work to do on the policy front and explaining
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  Speaker 2: to Australians where he sits on really key areas. Now,
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  Speaker 2: he was a big driver to dump net zero. They
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  Speaker 2: got to that point last week him and Angus Taylor
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  Speaker 2: marched into the party room side by side with Just
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  Speaker 2: Enterprice on the other side. Now, both Andrew Hasty and
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  Speaker 2: Angus Taylor's positions are that that's a big result for
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  Speaker 2: the Conservatives. It sort of shows that they're flexing their
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  Speaker 2: muscle again, that they have the numbers and they want
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  Speaker 2: to give Susan Lee genuinely some time to sell this policy.
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  Speaker 2: And Susan Lee is not going to die wondering she's
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  Speaker 2: out there doing dozens of interviews, press conferences. Now you've
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  Speaker 2: got Susan Lee out there very heavily promoting what was
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  Speaker 2: really a conservative led push to dump net zero. That
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  Speaker 2: means she's abandoned the people that gave her the job,
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  Speaker 2: the moderates and the center right faction. So I think
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  Speaker 2: ultimately both Andrew and Angus, who are the national Conservative
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  Speaker 2: candidates who have the numbers behind them, their ideal outcome
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  Speaker 2: is that Susan Lee is given the summer to try
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  Speaker 2: and sell net zero, but also to land a strong position,
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  Speaker 2: a clear position on immigration and where those migration numbers
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  Speaker 2: should be. And for Andrew Hasty, he actually sees immigration
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  Speaker 2: as being a much bigger issue out there in the
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  Speaker 2: electorate than net zero.
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  Speaker 4: I'm Australian and I want to channel what a lot
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  Speaker 4: of regular Austrains are thinking out there, and we're just
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  Speaker 4: sick and tired of seeing these ancient hatreds spill out
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  Speaker 4: on to our streets. This is Australia, all of us,
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  Speaker 4: who our citizens, have obligations to our country, to our values,
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  Speaker 4: and we don't want to see these hatreds imported to
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  Speaker 4: our country.
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  Speaker 2: So I think that whoever does take the coalition to
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  Speaker 2: the next selection. Wants to have these platforms laid down
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  Speaker 2: very early so they can go out and sell.
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  Speaker 1: It's an interesting choice for moderates. Of course, you can
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  Speaker 1: tell just by listening to Andrew Hasty that he's a
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  Speaker 1: highly intelligent, good looking, respectable war hero. Any party would
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  Speaker 1: want him in a senior position. But he does have
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  Speaker 1: views that those moderates who are worried about the future
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  Speaker 1: of the Liberal Party thanks to the erosion of votes
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  Speaker 1: to the Tiel candidates, would not agree with. He's extremely
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  Speaker 1: skeptical about high levels of immigration. He's got concerns about abortion.
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  Speaker 1: He was an opponent of same sex marriage. Do you
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  Speaker 1: think the moderates who are supporting hase to accept those
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  Speaker 1: views and understand that the party needs to be more
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  Speaker 1: centrist or what is he just the better the devil
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  Speaker 1: they know?
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  Speaker 4: So.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of games being played, some
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  Speaker 2: nefarious plots, and there is a lot of emotion at
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  Speaker 2: the moment for the moderates. They've come to the realization
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  Speaker 2: that the leader they elevated has abandoned them, that they
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  Speaker 2: don't have the numbers now in the party room, so
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  Speaker 2: they have to lick their wounds. I think what we're
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  Speaker 2: seeing is a small number of moderates privately briefing out
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  Speaker 2: that Hasty would probably be their preferred option. And I
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  Speaker 2: think there's two trains of thoughts. One is it's signaling
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  Speaker 2: to say they don't one Angus Taylor. The other one
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  Speaker 2: is that they're trying to go Andrew Hasty into going
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  Speaker 2: trying to spill the leadership and take it on, maybe prematurely,
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  Speaker 2: and that if things don't go well, then they might
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  Speaker 2: have an alternative. My understanding would be that Ethan the
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  Speaker 2: Alberinezi and he's seeing your team, would look at Angus
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  Speaker 2: Taylor and say we've got his measure. They already know
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  Speaker 2: that they have Susan Lee's measure, and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: if Tim Wilson pops up as a potential compromise candidate,
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  Speaker 2: I think they believe that have his measure. So I
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  Speaker 2: think Andrew Hasty sort of looms as this wild card
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  Speaker 2: figure which could go spectacularly wrong. It could go okay,
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  Speaker 2: or it could go very right.
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  Speaker 1: The Albanezy government's just been re elected with a huge mandate.
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  Speaker 1: It is a difficult road to tread for anyone who
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  Speaker 1: is trying to lead an opposition against that government. Is
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  Speaker 1: this the right time do you think for Andrew Hasty
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  Speaker 1: to try and take the leadership if he's someone who
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  Speaker 1: does ultimately want to be Prime minister and win elections.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I don't think that anyone believed it would go
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  Speaker 2: this badly for Susan Lee this quickly. When you look
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  Speaker 2: at the polling in News poll the Coalition down to
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  Speaker 2: a record low of twenty four percent in terms of
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  Speaker 2: primary vote. One nation is surging. So it's sort of
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  Speaker 2: proper come on a bit sooner than someone like Andrew
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  Speaker 2: Hasty would have wanted it to come on. And then
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  Speaker 2: he's got the other issue that him and his supporters
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  Speaker 2: would have to resolve, which is to unite the conservative
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  Speaker 2: faction behind him. So there has been talked that could
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  Speaker 2: this be a three leader scenario. Could it be Susan
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  Speaker 2: Lee Angus Taylor than Andrew Hasty. I think at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, if the opportunity is there, he
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  Speaker 2: will go for it. He certainly doesn't want to do
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  Speaker 2: this in some sort of dirty deal with the Moderates.
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  Speaker 2: He wants his own faction that have the numbers to
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  Speaker 2: get in hard behind.
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  Speaker 1: Him coming up. So who is Andrew Hasty? Let's talk
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  Speaker 1: about who Andrew Hasty is and what he believes in.
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  Speaker 1: He was born in Wangaratta in Victoria. Mum was a teacher,
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  Speaker 1: dad was a pastor, Presbyterian pastor. He went to Scott's
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  Speaker 1: College in Sydney, a famous Presbyterian school, and then after
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  Speaker 1: starting an arts degree, quickly decided that his future lay
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  Speaker 1: in the Defense Force. What motivated that change for him.
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  Speaker 2: At the age of nineteen while he was at university
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  Speaker 2: after the September eleventh terror attacks in America that motivated
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  Speaker 2: a young Andrew Hasty to commit himself to service with
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  Speaker 2: the ADF and he joined the SAS and then obviously
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  Speaker 2: did several tours of duty over in the Middle East.
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  Speaker 2: So the Christian upbringing, very very devout Christian upbringing type
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  Speaker 2: family unit and then entering the Defense Force at a
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  Speaker 2: young age very much has built the core values for
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Hasty. Then he came in at the twenty fifteen
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  Speaker 2: Canning by election as a young family guy and you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's got a few young kids and that's a juggle.
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  Speaker 2: It's always really hard for a Perth or Western Australian
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  Speaker 2: based parliamentarian to lead a party. So I think that
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  Speaker 2: in a way has probably potentially held him back, but
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  Speaker 2: he's still only forty three. It's a really young age.
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  Speaker 2: But in politics, ambition is everything, and you've got to
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  Speaker 2: think that potentially you don't have all the time in
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  Speaker 2: the world. So I think that's a real motivator for
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  Speaker 2: Andrew Hasty.
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  Speaker 1: In talking about his political philosophy, I think maybe you
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  Speaker 1: could sum it up as common sense. Andrew Hasty has
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  Speaker 1: said that he believes that the liberals need to stop
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  Speaker 1: talking about factions and philosophies and neoliberalism or traditional conservatism
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  Speaker 1: and just start offering common sense solutions to Australians who
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  Speaker 1: want to raise their families and have sustainable jobs. He's
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  Speaker 1: sometimes dismissed, I think as a populist, but he seems
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  Speaker 1: to also take lines on issues that are not necessarily popular.
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  Speaker 1: For example, he spoke out about the Ben Robert Smith
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  Speaker 1: defamation case, another commando who had been accused of committing
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  Speaker 1: war crimes and deformation action. Andrew Hasty gave evidence essentially
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  Speaker 1: against Ben Robert Smith and then spoke out after the
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  Speaker 1: trial saying that he was in support of the other
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  Speaker 1: military officers who had given evidence against Robert Smith. He
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  Speaker 1: said that Australia needed a warrior culture, but soldiers also
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  Speaker 1: needed to not commit murder.
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  Speaker 4: This is not about left or right. It's not about
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  Speaker 4: woke or unwoke. It's not about one media corporation versus another.
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  Speaker 4: It's not about toxic masculinity or any other gender take.
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  Speaker 4: In the end, it's a simple question of morality. It's
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  Speaker 4: versus wrong. It's the rule of law versus the rule
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  Speaker 4: of the jungle. And to put it very simply, Australian
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  Speaker 4: soldiers do not execute non combatants who have been taken
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  Speaker 4: as prisoners.
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  Speaker 1: It would have been a lot easier for him just
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  Speaker 1: to stay quiet about that because there are powerful people
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  Speaker 1: in WA who supported Ben Robert Smith and continue to
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  Speaker 1: do so. What do you think is his philosophy, Jeff,
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  Speaker 1: what guides in?
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  Speaker 2: I think that his philosophy is still evolving. He takes
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  Speaker 2: some interesting positions and this is why some of the
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  Speaker 2: labor think tanks are interested in him, because he's got
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  Speaker 2: a lot of AWU members in his electorate and he's
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  Speaker 2: actually stood up beside them, fighting on the same issues
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  Speaker 2: that they are fighting for. So that makes him a
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  Speaker 2: bit of a wild card in that sense. He's very
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  Speaker 2: black and white in some of his views which is
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  Speaker 2: not a bad thing in politics because the criticism of
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  Speaker 2: many recent leaders and politicians is that they flip flop
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  Speaker 2: depending on what the polling says or the focus group says.
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  Speaker 2: There's plenty of people that says, well, it's time for
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  Speaker 2: generational change, and there's a lot of support for Andrew
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  Speaker 2: Hasty and just into Price out there amongst conservatives, and
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  Speaker 2: those Conservatives are just currently splittered across a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: different minor parties or one nation. So could he be
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  Speaker 2: with Jainda Price and others the future of a Conservative
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  Speaker 2: Liberal party.
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Chambers is The Australian's Political editor. You can read
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  Speaker 1: all his reporting and analysis, plus all the latest from
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  Speaker 1: Canberra right now at the Australian dot com dot au