THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH PETA CREDLIN, SKY NEWS

MONDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2025

Topics: Chinese warships off Australia’s coast, Prime Minister’s weakness on national security, Ukraine, Victorian RSL funding shortfall.

PETA CREDLIN: Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie. Andrew, welcome. Are you satisfied with the Prime Minister's response there to the Chinese naval warship exercises?

ANDREW HASTIE: Afternoon, Peta. No, I'm not satisfied. The Prime Minister has shown weakness, and he has failed to stand up for the Australian national interest and insist on mutual respect from the Chinese government. The larger frame is really important here. China is undergoing the biggest peacetime military build-up since 1945. They've built a blue-water navy, which is a navy that can project around the globe, and they have sent it all the way through Philippine waters, the Coral Sea, down past Sydney and now into the Tasman Sea, where they've conducted two live fire exercises and disrupted our commercial flight path. The message from the Chinese is very clear: 'we are a global power, and we're testing you,' and Anthony Albanese has failed the test. If this was a game of cricket, what we've seen over the last few days is what Steve Waugh would have called mental disintegration. But it's not cricket, it’s geopolitics, and the stakes are very high for our country.

PETA CREDLIN: We've had our divers injured, we've had those near misses with our aviators and the lasers, we've got this happening now at sea. I mean, China's drawing red lines all over the world's chess board, they're crossing those red lines, and yet we're doing nothing.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right, Peta. They keep moving further and further towards us and pushing our limits. The Prime Minister's job as the leader of our country is to stand up for the boundaries that govern international relations – our sovereignty, our security and mutual respect. China always talks about mutual respect. Well, if we did the same sort of thing in the South China Sea and disrupted the Chinese commercial flight paths, we'd have hell to pay as a country. They've done it in our backyard, and the Prime Minister has been at pains to explain it away. He's justified this behaviour, and I think that shows that he's not fit to lead this country, he's a weak leader, and he's not across the national security brief.

PETA CREDLIN: You often say, and I quote you, that weakness is provocative. Explain that to people at home.

ANDREW HASTIE: It's simple schoolyard politics. If you get pushed around and you don't push back, well, then it'll keep coming. My father always taught me to deal with bullies by taking them on – smack him in the nose or build friendships and alliances. And you've got to insist on standards, that's the principle here. Weakness is provocative. If you keep caving and you keep allowing people to treat you like a doormat, well, they'll keep doing it. Now, what the Prime Minister should do is just insist on basic standards here, basic communication – we weren't even notified of this live fire event – and insist on mutual respect. That's what he should be doing. We have called on him multiple times to pick up the phone, peer to peer, man to man, and insist that mutual respect be shown our Defence Force as they do their work in the region and also insist on respect in our own backyard.

PETA CREDLIN: Let's go to Ukraine. We've had word today that Volodymyr Zelensky is offering to step down if it meant that Ukraine could be admitted to NATO. Have a listen.

*EXCERPT PLAYS*

PETA CREDLIN: I've just come back from the UK, Andrew, and a lot of concern about comments made from the US regarding Ukraine and the sense that it's being settled, in the absence of Ukraine being at the table, between President Putin and President Trump. Give me your take on what you see happening at the moment.

ANDREW HASTIE: The simple fact of the matter is that Russia raised the sword against the Ukrainian people back in 2022. Vladimir Putin flew to Beijing, met with Xi Jinping during the Winter Olympics all the way back in January of 2022, entered into a No Limits security partnership, and all the while, massed his army, his armour, his soldiers on the Ukrainian border and then went over the border and started the war. That's the simple fact. So any peace settlement that is made in coming weeks and months must uphold Ukrainian sovereignty. It's as simple as that. I think that's really important, particularly for countries like Australia, because if we don't stand for the sovereignty of other countries, who will stand for ours if we ever faced a similar circumstance?

PETA CREDLIN: Just before we go, Andrew, the Victorian RSL. This is shameful – they have been forced to launch a special fundraising appeal in order that they can run our commemorative events on Anzac Day. Now the cost is about a million dollars. A million dollars. In Defence terms that's a rounding error. Richard Marles spends three times that every year flying himself around the country on his RAAF jet, yet we are, as a country, making the RSL rattle the tin to pay for our dawn services. How on earth is this allowed?

ANDREW HASTIE: Look it's shameful. It's a simple question for the Australian people, what do we celebrate? What do we remember? What makes us distinctive as a country? And Anzac Day is a day where we remember sacrifice. It shouldn't be up to the RSLs to rattle the tin to fund these things. Local governments should pull in behind the RSLs, state governments should do the same, as well as federal governments. And there should be adequate funding for a day where we remember more than 100,000 Australian men and women who have given their lives for our country. If we forget their sacrifice, then then shame on us. So we should actually be backing the RSL and supporting them.

PETA CREDLIN: And we know too, Andrew, the Shrine in Melbourne, it's been forced to consider hospitality events. This is at the Shrine. I mean, it's a venerated, very sombre place, but it will be serving booze and canapes, again, because there's a funding shortfall.

ANDREW HASTIE: Again, Dan Andrews and the Labor Government down there spent big, they're running massive deficits. They could have spent some of that money making sure that our places of remembrance for our fallen are upheld and in good order and they could be funding Victorian RSL. So I think it's shameful that the Victorian RSL is having a fundraise, and that they're having to, at the Shrine, use hospitality to fund their activities. This is a real problem, and the Victorian Government should be looking at getting behind it.

PETA CREDLIN: You could be the defence minister in a matter of weeks. Can I get a commitment from you that you'll have a look at this if you are elected?

ANDREW HASTIE: Absolutely. We're going to finish fix the recruiting crisis, we're going to fix the retention crisis, we're going to fix the readiness crisis, and we're going to make sure that the traditions of this country are upheld and supported with adequate resourcing.

PETA CREDLIN: Thank you, Andrew.

[ENDS]