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

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT, NEWS24

Wednesday 21 October 2026

Topics: Helen Haines; Jacqui Lambie. 

E&OE……………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Hastie, thanks for your time. I know that the head of ASIO, the head of Home Affairs, have been meeting with MPs about safety and security, given the horrific events in Wangaratta this week, and Helen Haines, your friend who remains in in hospital. It goes to the just how difficult it is given Helen Haines herself, if you had to say the least likely or divisive or hated politician, it would probably be her. I mean, she'd be in the mix, wouldn't she, for that title? So, how do you protect everyone, as tragic as it is?

ANDREW HASTIE: Good question. Good afternoon, Kieran. You're absolutely right – Helen Haines is one of the kindest, gentlest MPs you'll meet in the House and she was targeted. I think it is very hard to secure all senators and members. You have to start with high office holders like the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, and other ministers, and then of course high-profile MPs. There are things that you can do – you can put in systems around offices and homes to deter people who might be planning some sort of attack, detect them, delay them, and then allow time for authorities to intervene. But as we saw with Helen Haines' attacker, we had a person just weaponise a car at very short notice. We don't know whether it was targeted or opportunistic. But I think the reason why I keep coming back to this idea that we all need to be better stewards of our democracy, we all need to model more civil engagement is because if we create an atmosphere or a climate where things are very overheated, you can have people at the margins who are unstable, who feel empowered to attack our elected officials.

KIERAN GILBERT: There needs to be a line between robust debate and inciting violence. I mean, that's got to be the line.

ANDREW HASTIE: It has to be the line. And I want to make clear that the Westminster system of government is adversarial – we ask hard questions. To use the AFL metaphor, there's a lot of hip and shoulders. That's okay, but where the line has to be drawn is that we don't demonise our opponents. We don't attack they’re their character, their standing, so that someone might feel justified in using violence against them. That's why words that we use really do matter and I think restraint is really key here.

KIERAN GILBERT: The PM was on the program earlier, and I was discussing a similar issue, similar themes with him, and he said, "Angus Taylor, Matt Canavan, they love Australia as much as I do", and I think it's a reminder that you probably need to say across the board that yeah, that the Members of Parliament love this country. I mean, you all do.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right. Why else would you serve in the Parliament? We love our country, and we want to be involved in resolving the big public policy questions of our time. That involves robust debate. It involves negotiation. It involves compromise. It's really important that we do those things with a spirit of openness, and also, we give our opponents the benefit of the doubt, which is why it's important to say, yes, everyone who is in the Parliament loves their country.

KIERAN GILBERT: I know obviously you don't want to make it about yourself, given what happened on Monday, but I do need to ask you because you've copped death threats, haven't you? What's behind that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Look, part of being a Parliamentarian is that sometimes there are tough issues that you need to take a position on. I took a position on allegations of war crimes, and for the last six months, I've been a target for people online who take a differing view. I don't think that's a good thing. I didn't ask for it, I didn't seek it, but I've been identified for additional security. That's just the nature of our politics at the moment. That's why I keep coming back to the call for action involves everyone – not just sitting MPs like me, but also members of the public – to take it down a notch, to think about what they post, to think about what they like, how they react, and just remember that we're all humans in the end.

KIERAN GILBERT: Yes, and it's something that you vowed to push through that it won't defeat you, that sort of threat. But it's easier said than done, isn't it? I know there's a lot of apprehension, even a lot of MPs scared right now.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right, and I think the thing that makes Australian democracy successful is that there is close contact between our elected Members of Parliament and the people they serve. And this sort of violence, this sort of overheated rhetoric, which we're seeing on social media, erodes social capital. It erodes trust, and without trust, democracy can't function. So, this has big implications for the way our country operates going forward as a democracy, and that's why we've got to work at this. It's a bit like a garden, right? You've got to nourish the garden. You've also got to pull weeds, and we've got a lot of weeds growing up at the moment.

KIERAN GILBERT: On the "Please Explain" videos, Pauline Hanson was on the program yesterday with me, and she said she was going to have that Jacqui Lambie clip edited – that it wasn't in good taste and that she hadn't seen it and she was going to instruct them to change that. Is that a good step from her?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's a good step from her. I'd say she's being a little bit tricky here, though, because on Monday she said, take a chill pill; it's just satire. Then yesterday, she changed her position and said, we'll edit it. I think that's more a question of electoral arithmetic than anything else for her. Making fun of Jacqui Lambie's vaginal prolapse in that way is deeply offensive to Jacqui, but it's offensive to a lot of people across Australia, including a lot of women who would have seen that. And so, she's got a standard, but she's not applying it evenly, of course, because her position on me is unchanged. But I priced that in. I don't really care. We're moving forward. What's important is that we raise the standard of debate and dialog in the House of Parliament and the Senate, and that's what I'm committed to.

KIERAN GILBERT: The News24 opinion survey out today, the News24 Pulse, powered by YouGov, has the Labor primary at 24 and the Coalition, 50-50 on a two-party basis. Can you win the next election in your view?

ANDREW HASTIE: We can win. We absolutely can win. I think what we're learning across the West is that democratic politics is very volatile – it can change very quickly. Angus Taylor has a plan. I'm part of his intimate team; we're working through a whole range of policies at the moment. You've seen our tax plan. You've seen our plan to lower power bills. You've seen our plan to reduce immigration, to ensure integrity to our immigration system, and to build more homes. We've got a lot of policies coming out, and we're just going to hold our nerve, keep working away, and when it comes time for the people to make a choice, we're going to offer a very strong choice for prosperity and security going forward.

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Hastie, thanks as always. We'll see you next week when Parliament is back.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Kieran.

[ENDS]