THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT, NEWS24

Wednesday 9 September 2026

Topics:  One Nation; artificial intelligence.

E&OE……………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT: Joining me live is the Shadow Industry and Sovereign Capability Minister, Andrew Hastie. Thanks for your time. They say they never called you a traitor.

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I would say that Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce are lying cowards. I'll say it again so there's no ambiguity – they are lying cowards. On July 23, at the top of her X account, she posted a cartoon – it's still there – and in that cartoon, I'm called a traitor eight times, along with gutless maggot. That I don't really care about. But when you start calling me a traitor to my own country, then we have a big, big problem.

KIERAN GILBERT: You've called them lying cowards today. You said they picked a fight with the wrong veteran. How do you see this moment, not just your political career, but your life as you're pushing back against some of these campaigns against you?

ANDREW HASTIE: Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce are trashing my service record. They've called me a traitor to my own country. But it's not just about me, it's about the other veterans. Are they saying the same thing of the other 20 SAS combat veterans who gave evidence under oath in the federal court? Are they also traitors to their country? And so, I'm calling on Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce to own this cartoon. Step out into the House or outside the House – I don't really care – use parliamentary privilege or don't, and explain why I and other veterans, and indeed serving members of the ADF who think war crimes are wrong, are traitors to their country. And if not, then they should delete the cartoon.

KIERAN GILBERT: Yeah, because I mean, people will say it's just a cartoon. It is political propaganda, though, isn't it? And as you say, it's pinned to the top of her X account.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right. Words have meaning. I love my country. I've served my country proudly. I've risked my life for my country, as have thousands of other veterans, and if I'm a traitor, then she should be calling them traitors too, because 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.

KIERAN GILBERT: You gave quite a lengthy and passionate post late yesterday. In fact, that's what prompted me. I thought we need to talk about this because this is a lengthy defence, both of your Defence record of your character, but also saying to others who might criticise you: look at the record. You were subpoenaed.

ANDREW HASTIE: Yes.

KIERAN GILBERT: You were subpoenaed by the court, and you had to give evidence after swearing on the Bible. 

ANDREW HASTIE: Swearing an oath, as a Christian, before God, I did that. I took that very seriously, as did other witnesses as well. There's a legal proceeding underfoot, and they have politicised that to the detriment of everyone involved, including Ben Roberts-Smith. How are we ever going to have a fair trial with this sort of politicisation of an issue so central to who we are as a country? I stand for the rule of law, as does the Coalition. One Nation either needs to own this cartoon and defend it, or they need to delete it.

KIERAN GILBERT: Well, you're saying they're lying cowards. Is that because they're not admitting what they've accused you of?

ANDREW HASTIE: Pauline Hanson came out today and she said that she never called me a traitor. Barnaby Joyce backed her in. They're both on the hook, and I brought the receipts so you can see them for yourself.

KIERAN GILBERT: Yeah. Okay. So either take it down. Would you like a statement though, separate to that?

ANDREW HASTIE: No, just take it down. I'm not interested in legal action. I'm putting my whole career on the line here. I will go all the way with One Nation to the next election. Happy to go all the way, make it a very painful process if they want to take me on. Not interested in legal action. I'm calling on them – because I've called them lying cowards – if they do have moral courage, they delete the cartoon or they own it. Own it. Stop being so weak.

KIERAN GILBERT: Given your defence of your service in our Defence Force – two operations in Afghanistan, nearly 13 years in the ADF – do you sometimes think why are you facing the sort of pushback that you are, not just from One Nation but others in WA, particularly?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm sure there's all sorts of reasons. I can only control what I do, and I'm going to keep doing my duty to my country. I did it in uniform, I'm doing it in the Parliament – imperfectly, like everyone does. You've got to use your judgment as best as you can. But I won't stand by while my name is slandered by One Nation, or my family's name is slandered, and while veterans who are struggling with moral trauma and thousands of other ADF service members are also slandered by a connection with this.

KIERAN GILBERT: Do you believe that you can beat One Nation?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yes, I do. Absolutely.

KIERAN GILBERT: What's at the core of that do you think

ANDREW HASTIE: We have a plan with the Coalition. We actually have a plan to lower taxes. We have a plan to deliver cheaper power, get out of Net Zero. We have a plan to cut immigration. One Nation are all over the place on immigration – one figure one day, another figure the next. We have a plan to peg it to housing completions, and we have a plan to put Australians first with our Future Generations Fund, where we're going to use windfall profits to build a sovereign wealth fund for nation building projects.

KIERAN GILBERT: One of, I guess in politics but in life, it's the ability to be able to sleep at night, to be comfortable with who you are. Do you feel happy with where you are right now?

ANDREW HASTIE: I'm comfortable in my own skin. I was quiet for quite some months as all this was going on, but I'm drawing a line under it, I'm locked in and I'm focused, and I'm going to do everything I can to win Canning, to defeat One Nation. And if they want to keep going, hey, one thing I know about the ADF, it taught me to be tough, to take pain, but also how to fight. So, I'm going to fight really hard.

KIERAN GILBERT: This is the rearguard?

ANDREW HASTIE: You betcha.

KIERAN GILBERT: Okay. I want to ask you as well. You delivered a speech on sovereign AI, last week. A lot of people are looking at AI and the developments. As a national security expert yourself, do you worry that there was a group of AI agents that basically went rogue on OpenAI and hacked another business? Is that a concern to you?

ANDREW HASTIE: It is. There's lots of concerns with AI. There are rogue AI agents hacking systems, and they could hack all parts of our national infrastructure – government banks, all those sort of critical parts of our economy. But the one concern I have right now is that we have no sovereign AI. We're connected to the United States through submarine cables. That's where our AI comes from at the moment. And if those cables are cut, or if the US cuts us off – like they did with Anthropic back in June – we won't have a capability, and that leaves us very vulnerable as a country.

KIERAN GILBERT: Is there an argument, as Bernie Sanders says, to pause all AI at the moment?

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't think we should pause, but I think that's why we called on the government to start this Joint Select Committee on AI. Glad they have. We're going to work over the next two months to build a framework for AI, which I think is the start of a new political and economic settlement for the Australian people. Because this is going to change everything. It's coming, we have to deal with it, and we have to make it work for Australians.

KIERAN GILBERT: And to build that sovereign capability as people, you believe. Is that like an Australian lab?

ANDREW HASTIE: An Australian lab with the tech, with the talent and the data, and I think that the through line to a sovereign AI capability is striking a deal with a US hyperscaler, bringing them onto our red earth here in Australia, and making sure that they act under our laws in our interests.

KIERAN GILBERT: The Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability. Thanks so much, Andrew Hastie. Appreciate it.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Kieran.

[ENDS]