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

WEDNESDAY 23 APRIL 2025

Topics: Coalition’s increase to defence spending, combat roles in the ADF, ANZAC Day, PM’s visit to WA.

E&OE...

PETA CREDLIN: Joining me now to discuss this and more, Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie. Andrew, welcome to the program. Look, it's not just the quantum you spend – you know that I know that – but where you spend it, how you spend it. Tell me how your plan is different from what Labor says we need.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good evening, Peta. Well, it's a good question. Labor has run down Defence over the last three years. There's been no money, and they've kept the spend at two per cent of GDP. It's been static for the last three years. And the reality is that AUKUS is a big imposition on the Defence budget. So we've got to grow the Defence budget, or we'll keep cannibalising capabilities in Army, Navy and Air Force, which is what's happening right now under Labor. In fact, we've seen $80 billion worth of cuts, delays and reprioritisations in Defence under Richard Marles and Anthony Albanese. So we are investing in Defence, and the question is, where? Well, AUKUS is one thing. We're going to get AUKUS moving. It's been delayed under Labor. We're going to reinstate the fourth squadron of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. We're going to invest in drone and counter drone technology, and we're going to rebuild Army and Navy, and particularly the sustainment budgets. One of the first things that always gets cut is the sustainment budget, which means our pilots don't get enough flying hours, our sailors don't get enough sea time, and our troops don't get to train with live ammunition. So these are the things that we're going to reinstate with our spend.

PETA CREDLIN: I know when Australians look at you, they feel confident that if the worst came to the worst, that we really were in a skirmish or something worse on our horizon, that you in the job would do your best to keep Australia safe. A lot of your supporters, though, I have to say, perturb that it's taken the Coalition a long time to get this policy out. What would you say to that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, Peter Dutton addressed this today. Peter is prudent with the way he spends money. He's run businesses throughout his previous career, and he's making sure that we have the money to do this. So that's why we've committed this at this point in time. And it's a safe investment, and that's the important thing. We're not going to pull money out. We're not going to make ridiculous policy on the run. We're actually going to think this through, and that's what Peter Dutton and the team have done. So this is surety over the next five years – 2.5 per cent of GDP in five years. We're going to get it up to three per cent in 10 years. And of course, Labor is shooting for 2.33 per cent in 10 years. So we need this money. It's been through a process; is the point I'd make.

PETA CREDLIN: And of course, it's key to negotiating with the United States, because they're saying to allies around the world: we will stand with you, but you've got to lift your game and start to help yourself. I think that's one of the flaws for the government should it ever go back to Donald Trump and try and negotiate a better deal on tariffs.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right. We've got to demonstrate to the Americans, as part of the AUKUS deal, that we're going to be sovereign ready by 2030. In order to be sovereign ready, we've got to invest in HMAS Stirling here in Perth. We've got to uplift it from a conventional to a nuclear base. We've got to build a supply chain. We've got to invest in our education sector. We've got to identify the tradesmen who are going to do the nuclear welding and all the sorts of maintenance that is required of our submarines. We've got to do that by 2030 and Labor is not spending enough money to get that done. And so we're going to invest in WA, we're going to invest in AUKUS, which is really important. And that will demonstrate to whoever's President in 2030 that we are ready to go to receive our Virginia-class submarines.

PETA CREDLIN: Hey, I want to pick up some comments today. Pretty feral press conference today, when you got into some previous things you've said about women and men in combat zones. It's not just women, it's women and men. But I'll play the comments now for my viewers.

*EXCERPT PLAYS*

PETA CREDLIN: Yeah, I make the point – I think I made it at the time, at my show – when I went to Afghanistan and met SAS soldiers like you on the ground, I picked up someone's pack. I could barely lift the pack, let alone be able to lift someone, if I had to, out of trouble on a battlefield. Now, if I could do it – and I'm six foot tall – I'd argue for the job. But if I can't do it, it's about my physical ability, Andrew. It's got nothing to do with my gender. I think it's hard for anyone listening to you today to disagree with the point you're making.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right, which is why we insist on one standard for our combat units, whether it's to be a fighter pilot or a member of the 2nd Commando Regiment or the SAS. Whatever it might be – one standard, meet the standard, you're in.

PETA CREDLIN: Yeah, I commend you on how you handle that today. Hey, what's going on with Russia, Indonesia and the ducks and drakes the government is play by refusing to give you, as they should under the caretaker conventions, a proper Defence briefing?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, it's a massive report that apparently the Russians have approached Indonesia to put an airhead to our north in Indonesian territory. Now we don't know how true that report is, but we deserve a brief, because it's a very significant move by Russia, a continental power all the way up in Europe, to then start venturing down into the Indo Pacific, as far south as Indonesia. So we should be getting a brief. Even if it's a secure brief, we should be brought in. Labor don't want the scrutiny, it looks like they've been caught on the run, and they don't want to make this an election issue because they're weak on national security. That's the point about Anthony Albanese. For the last three years, he's demonstrated consistent, persistent weakness in the face of strategic challenges in our region.

PETA CREDLIN: Just on ANZAC Day, of course, it's Friday. Survey out today that says less than one in four younger Australians, so 13 to 28, years feels a strong connection to ANZAC Day. Only 16 per cent of Gen Z say they'd defend the nation if they had to. I've always said, Andrew, first they're going to come for Australia Day – this is the hard left – then they'll go after ANZAC Day. We've got a PM in this country who seems ashamed of our flag. So how do you turn this around?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I think that young Australians just want to be challenged. No one's actually asked them to step up. No one's actually asked them to serve or be part of our ANZAC tradition. Of course, there's issues in our education system with a syllabus that runs down a lot of our history, the good parts of it. We've got to tell all sides of history, but even the good parts of our history are being run down by some areas of the education sector. But I think the reality is we've seen this story before. We saw it in the UK, in fact, in 1933 at the Oxford Union where they had a debate that people would no longer fight for King and country, and the debate was won with a big majority. Young Britons at the time voted never to defend King and country. Well, the Second World War broke out in 1930 and in 1940 it was young Britons who defended the UK from German invasion, at the cost of many lives. So I have every confidence that if young Australians were asked to step up, they would meet the challenge. And it's finding those young Australians now and getting them into uniform and serving our country. That's what I'm going to do as Minister for Defence.

PETA CREDLIN: Look, we're almost out of time, but the PM is going to WA a lot. That says to me, maybe he thinks he's in trouble. How's the campaign going on the ground?

ANDREW HASTIE: Look, we're working really hard. I'm in the south metropolitan area. I know Jan Norberger up in Pearce is working hard. Matt Moran in the seat of Bullwinkel. Tom White in Curtin. Howard Ong in Tangney. They're our key seats. That's what we're focused on. To my south, Ben Small in Forrest. These people are working very, very hard for the Liberal Party and you know what? We're starting to see the needle turn. We're starting to see people saying: you know what, this Prime Minister, he's weak, he's woke and he's sending us broke as Advance is making very clear. And it's no surprise that he was in Collie today. He keeps name checking me in his press conferences. I'm clearly living rent free in his head. He's even passing through Canning in the next half hour to visit one of my pre polls. So he's more than welcome to come, because this, this is where Labor Prime Ministers come to lose elections.

PETA CREDLIN: Stay in the media, Andrew Hastie. We need more of you on the national campaign, not less of you. Thanks for joining me tonight.

[ENDS]