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

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH KIERAN GILBERT, NEWS24

Wednesday 11 November 2026

Topics: Remembrance Day; Iran War; higher power prices.

E&OE……………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Hastie, a poignant element to a very important day in this country with 11 soldiers identified all these years on from World War One. How do you respond and react to that?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's a very moving story from the Acting Prime Minister. Lieutenant Andrew Anderson, who has finally been identified along with 10 other soldiers – it's a reminder that our nation doesn't forget our fallen. We continue to work to identify those who are missing in action or lost, and I think it's a wonderful story, particularly for the Marles family, given he is Richard Marles' great uncle. It also reminds us today of the 60,000 young Australians who died in the First World War – 60,000. We were a much smaller nation back then, and they were the best of us. They were those local leaders from the cities and across the country, and in all the little towns you find a cenotaph. Our nation was touched by this war, and 60,000 people didn't come home.

KIERAN GILBERT: Yeah, and those elements as well of the history of having the approval signed by the parents because Andrew Anderson you spoke about – his great uncle who died at Menin Road, age 23, having served in some major battles in the war prior to that. But to have that note found as well from his parents giving him approval to enlist.

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, incredible. It just reminds us of how young they were. So many young Australians killed and badly wounded ahead of time. Those who did come home with wounds often didn't live that long afterwards in the peace. It's just a reminder that we all have to be prepared to sacrifice ourselves in order to honour them – hopefully, not in the future. But if history is a guide, we should always be prepared to defend our nation. Which is why, again, our eyes turn from the fallen to those who are currently in uniform defending Australia.

KIERAN GILBERT: Indeed, and an important day in that sense as well for those still serving, those who have recently served, Andrew, and for their families.

ANDREW HASTIE: You bet. Remembrance Day is as equally as important as Anzac Day. I'm about to head down to the Mandurah War Memorial. We're three hours behind you, of course, in Perth. Senator Jacqui Lambie has come all the way to Canning to join me. I'm looking forward to remembering our fallen and remembering those who are serving us today with Senator Lambie.

KIERAN GILBERT: I want to ask you about some more current news in terms of developments overnight. We saw the Secretary of War; he had a reprieve. Republicans foiled that impeachment attempt against him. I just wonder how do you reflect on where things are in the wake of the midterms? Particularly, I'm asking you this as a military person yourself. Can you see any clear off-ramps out of the Iran War – a permanent resolution to that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, Secretary Hegseth survived the impeachment vote – the Republicans defended him. I think it was Congressman Massie who moved the impeachment articles – a Republican who's since lost his seat. But look, as for an off-ramp, I'm not briefed in on where the war is at. Suffice to say, I've been sceptical of the war for a number of reasons. Largely because the objectives have changed over time, and there's been an economic consequence which has been visited upon a lot of allies, including Australia with higher fuel prices. I guess one thing I would say is looking at the commodity prices, Brent crude has dropped significantly over the last week since the midterms. So, I assume the market is pricing in and expects some sort of off-ramp in the near future. But who knows? President Trump is famous for being unpredictable. So, we'll wait and see.

KIERAN GILBERT: We will wait and see. The other modelling out today is on our own energy prices. Doesn't make for good reading. Do we basically just need to keep coal operating for longer – coal-fired power stations? Is that the answer?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, we're the world's second largest exporter of coal behind Indonesia, so we're sending it to nations across the world to burn off to power their economies. They're enjoying the benefit of lower power prices – reliable power as well – whilst we're denying it to the Australian people. What we're seeing through that modelling is that Australians are paying the price for Labor's Net Zero transition. Power prices have gone up 40 per cent since Labor came to power in 2022, and this modelling signals that it's going to get much worse. Why? Because they're paying the price for Anthony Albanese's and Chris Bowen's green Net Zero obsession. I believe that we should have an abundance of energy. We have it in this country – we've got coal, gas, uranium. We should be energy agnostic, and we should be making it our objective to bring on the cheapest, most reliable form of power to the Australian people.

KIERAN GILBERT: The government's adamant – and keeps saying it – the evidence isn't there as yet, but renewable is the cheapest form. Do they get to a tipping point where finally that does start to make sense?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's not the cheapest form - that's the point. Australians are paying for the transition costs – all the poles and wires, and the solar farms and the wind farms – which are not economic. They don't make sense. The only reason why they're being built out is because of the subsidies that are being paid to those who are building them through the Capacity Investment Scheme and through other handouts from this government. So, we're out of Net Zero – the Coalition – we're putting a broom through the green grift and the corporate welfare and everything else that we're doing. We're going to stop importing all this stuff from overseas and focus on delivering cheap baseload power for the Australian people using our coal, our gas, and long-term, we hope, nuclear power once we remove the moratorium.

KIERAN GILBERT: Andrew Hastie, thanks for your time. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks, Kieran.

[ENDS]