Andrew Hastie

Andrew William Hastie (born 30 September 1982) is an Australian politician and former military officer who has served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives since 2026. He has been the member of parliament (MP) for the Western Australian division of Canning since 2015.

Hastie was born in Wangaratta, Victoria. He completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in History and Philosophy through the University of New South Wales (UNSW) at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA), and completing officer training at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 2006. He was subsequently deployed to the war in Afghanistan and served as a troop commander in the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). Hastie left the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 2015, and was first elected to the House of Representatives at the 2015 Canning by-election, replacing Don Randall.

Hastie served as the Assistant Minister for Defence from 2020 to 2022, during the Morrison government. Following the 2022 election, he served as Shadow Minister for Defence, as well as Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel in the Dutton shadow ministry. He was the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security from 2017 to 2020.

Hastie was appointed Shadow Minister for Home Affairs in May 2025. He retired from the role in October 2025 after resigning from the party's frontbench over internal policy disputes. He returned to the frontbench in February 2026, serving as the Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability. A prominent member of the National Right, his views have been described as right-wing populist and far-right, with strong stances against multiculturalism, immigration, abortion, LGBTQ rights, and net-zero emissions in Australia.

Early life and education Andrew William Hastie was born Wangaratta, Victoria on 30 September 1982. His father, Peter, was a pastor in Wangaratta, and later in the inner Sydney suburb of Ashfield, where he helped launch Australia's first Mandarin-speaking Presbyterian church. His mother, Sue, was a primary school teacher for special needs children. His paternal grandfather, Flight Lieutenant Norman William Hastie, served as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Pacific War and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after being severely wounded while covering the air-sea rescue of two downed Australian airmen. Hastie has said that his grandfather's example of courage and devotion to duty was a formative influence on his own values. Growing up, Hastie was close to Rose, his maternal grandmother. Rose was a nurse, who cared for Hastie's maternal grandfather.

When Hastie's family moved to the inner west of Sydney, he began his primary education at Ashbury Public School. From 5 years old, he attended The Scots College in Sydney. where he met his political mentor John Anderson. In 2007, he undertook a foreign policy course in Washington, D.C.

Military career

Hastie began his military career as an officer cadet in 2001. His officer training was completed at Duntroon in 2006, and he was commissioned as a lieutenant from December. He was posted in 2007 to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (Australia) of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps, based in Palmerston, Northern Territory. Hastie commanded a cavalry troop in 2008, before it was deployed in Afghanistan the following year. Hastie was deployed to Afghanistan with Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force Two where he commanded a troop of Australian Light Armoured Vehicles. The troop's armoured operations began at the start of the fighting season in May 2009, concluding in February 2010.

Special Air Service Regiment In 2010, Hastie moved to Perth to prepare for the SAS Selection course. He began the course in July 2010, and was one of 30 who completed it out of 130 soldiers. The selection course was followed by a 18-month Reinforcement Cycle, during which a further 15 soldiers dropped out. During a battle in Zabul, some members of Hastie's SASR troop severed the hands of deceased Taliban soldiers. He observed a severed hand and asked what was happening. Hastie afterwards ordered his unit to cease the practice, and the incident was reported to his commanding officer. During a later inquiry, a corporal gave evidence that they had severed the hands of their own accord as they didn't have time to retrieve biometric material and they needed to get back to their helicopters to leave. The inquiry found that Australian troops in Afghanistan had not been explicitly instructed whether the collection of body parts for biometric testing was acceptable.

Political career Hastie joined the Liberal Party in 2013.

Turnbull government (2015–2018)

The seat of Canning became vacant by the death in office of the Liberal member, Don Randall, triggering the 2015 Canning by-election. Having won the Liberal Party pre-selection, Hastie campaigned with support from Mathias Cormann and Julie Bishop. During the campaign, he was met with questions from the media asking if he was a creationist like his father. Defending his father, Hastie said "I'm proud of my father's service to the community. I stand behind him. I'm not going to be drawn, like I said, on issues of theology. I'm interested in public policy. There's no religious test in this country for public office."

Hastie won 55.26% of votes under the two-party-preferred system, defeating Labor candidate Matt Keogh. He joined the government of Malcolm Turnbull, who had himself become Prime Minister of Australia a week before the by-election. Hastie gave his first speech on 13 October 2015. Hastie stood again for the Division of Canning for the 2016 Australian federal election, winning 56.79% of the votes (two-party-preferred vote count) against Labor opposition candidate Barry Winmar. This moved the seat from "safe" to "fairly safe" according to the Australian Electoral Commission. In September 2016, Hastie was appointed to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security; he then chaired this joint committee from 2017 to 2020. Scott Morrison was subsequently elected leader of the Liberal Party, thus becoming Prime Minister of Australia as leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives. In 2018, Hastie stated his support for striking Alcoa Australia workers, stating that this was because "energy production in Australia is too expensive and it is hurting industry, workers, seniors and families."

At the 2019 Australian federal election, Hastie ran for re‑election and secured 61.46% of the two‑party‑preferred vote against the Australian Labor Party's Mellisa Teede.

Hastie opposed dredging and the development of the Mandurah Estuary for a proposed 300‑berth marina, stating "We're up against a business taking direction from overseas without any long term interests in the safety, the security and the health of our local environment. The central question is whether or not local people have a say over the natural assets we are called to steward for future generations." He supported a $22 million foreshore development project, which received $7 million in federal funding, to deliver a new civic square, convention centre, large‑scale adventure play area and an ecotourism hub.

On 22 December 2020, Hastie became a part of Australia's executive government when he was appointed to the outer ministry as Assistant Minister for Defence. As Assistant Minister for Defence, Hastie told military personnel in April 2021 that their "core business" would always be the "application of lethal violence" in defence of Australia's values and sovereignty, and that "mission clarity is vital" to their work. His message was reported to align with directives issued by then Defence Minister Peter Dutton. The message and directives came amid concerns that defence forces were too focused on social issues, with Liberal Party MP Phillip Thompson arguing "we've gone a little bit woke over the past few years, and we can't afford to be doing that" and that the military had lurched "too far to the left".

Opposition (2022–present)

The Liberal Party were defeated by the Labor Party at the 2022 federal election; the Liberal-National Coalition moving to the opposition benches. Hastie managed to retain his seat of Canning, winning 43.8% of first-preference votes and 53.59% of the two-party-preferred vote against Labor's Amanda Hunt. He, however, saw a 7.79% swing against him at the election, making Canning marginal. He served under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as Shadow Defence Minister and Shadow Minister for Defence Industry & Defence Personnel. wrote that "In the face of Dutton's issues and an increasingly bad campaign, Hastie jettisoned mentions of nuclear power, the Liberal leader – and the Liberal Party itself – from much of his campaigning". He also made the decision to remove much of the Liberal branding from his shirts and billboards. Hastie was not particularly visible during much of the national campaign, needing to focus instead on local electioneering in his seat of Canning. After the campaign, he said "I focused on what mattered in a bad national campaign: my local community". The election saw heavy losses for the Liberals in metropolitan Australia. Hastie was one of few metropolitan-adjacent Liberals nationally to record a swing in his favour at the election, on both a primary and two-party basis.

On 9 May, Hastie gave an interview talking about the 2025 election, where he criticised the Liberal campaign and the party's reliance on ex-staffers, as well raising issues with Peter Dutton. Hastie attributed his success in Canning, in part, to avoiding discussing topics related to Dutton and nuclear energy. Hastie's opinion on nuclear energy was that the moratorium on its use in Australia should end; however, that any plants should be constructed by the private sector and not government.

On 28 May 2025, Hastie was appointed by Sussan Ley to be Shadow Minister for Home Affairs in Ley's first shadow ministry.

On 17 February 2026, after MP Angus Taylor was elected party leader in the leadership spill which deposed Ley, Hastie was reappointed to the shadow ministry, becoming Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability. Hastie also took the position of Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives, a position which had been re-created because newly elected Deputy Liberal Leader Jane Hume sits in the Senate (rather than the House, as had her predecessor as deputy). This position and promotion was seen as a prize for Hastie as a right-faction supporter of Taylor, within the previously centre-right Liberal Party, and also marks the further movement of the party under Taylor to the right. Following a series of media reports in 2018 alleging that Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes and bullied fellow soldiers, Roberts-Smith commenced defamation proceedings in the Federal Court against Fairfax Media (a subsidiary of Nine Entertainment) and three journalists. In March 2022, Hastie gave evidence under subpoena for Nine in the defamation trial. Hastie told the Federal Court that Roberts-Smith had a reputation within the SASR for bullying.

After the Federal Court found that Nine had established the substantial or contextual truth of allegations that Roberts-Smith had committed war crimes, Hastie said that he felt both sadness and relief. He praised former SASR members who had given evidence, saying that they had demonstrated moral courage and helped the regiment to confront its conduct. After Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with war crimes in April 2026, Hastie said that no one was above the law.

In April 2026, Pauline Hanson said that One Nation would target Hastie in Canning over his evidence in Roberts-Smith's defamation trial. Hastie responded in June that he would give One Nation "war".

Views Hastie is a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party. His views have been described as right-wing populist and far-right, with strong stances against multiculturalism, immigration, late-term abortions, and the transition to net zero emissions in Australia. Hastie is an outspoken critic of One Nation and its leader, Pauline Hanson.

China Hastie has expressed concern about the freedom of Australian universities and media institutions. He stated in his maiden speech that "freely formed associations are the basis of Australian society and are the fullest expression of self-government".

Hastie's concerns regarding Australia maintaining its sovereignty in the face of China's rising power in the region led him to form the Parliamentary Friends of Democracy with Labor senator Kimberley Kitching. In August 2019, he wrote an opinion article, "We Must See China with Clear Eyes" for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, where he stated that "Communist China", rather than Islamic terrorism, would be the real security concern of the 21st century. The piece was criticised by the Chinese Embassy in Australia, who denounced the remarks as reflecting a "Cold War mentality", while Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan accused Hastie of "threatening WA jobs with extreme and inflammatory language." Conversely, Hastie received praise from fellow Liberal MPs Dave Sharma and Peter Dutton, and Professor Clive Hamilton. The Chinese embassy disinvited him from a planned study trip with several colleagues to China with the China Matters think tank, stating: "We strongly deplore the Australian federal MP Andrew Hastie's rhetoric on 'China threat' which lays bare his Cold-War mentality and ideological bias. We urge certain Australian politicians to take off their 'colored lens' and view China's development path in an objective and rational way. They should make efforts to promote mutual trust between China and Australia, instead of doing the opposite."

In May 2020, Hastie was one of 20 Australian politicians to sign a letter condemning the "comprehensive assault on [Hong Kong's] autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms", in response to a "new legal framework and enforcement mechanism". He was one of a number of backbenchers who pushed for added restrictions on foreign investment in Australian companies. Hastie argued that such purchases are part of wider political warfare conducted by the Chinese Communist Party.

Environment and climate change Arguing in favour of "the sovereignty of local communities to make decisions about how they conserve and develop their environment", Hastie opposed the dredging of the Point Grey Marina but supported the investment of $3 million by the Environment Restoration Fund to protect Carnaby's black cockatoo, a native bird endemic to Southwest Australia and currently listed as endangered due to loss of habitat.

Hastie has been a vocal critic of Australia's net-zero emissions policy. He argues that the 2050 net-zero target is being made in "the name of climate alarmism". Hastie has publicly opposed the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the National Energy Guarantee (NEG). He made it clear in August 2018 that he did not support the NEG as it existed at the time. He cited issues including unclear assurances of energy affordability and energy related risks to national security as his reasons for opposing the policies. In September 2025, following the release of Australia's first National Climate Risk Assessment, which highlighted severe and far-reaching social and economic consequences of climate change, Hastie threatened to resign from the Coalition frontbench if the Liberal Party commits to the net-zero emissions target. Hastie then headlined at a rally in 2019, along with fellow Liberal MP Ian Goodenough, in support of the farmers. Hastie has made frequent comments regarding migration to Australia, including some that have been interpreted as critical of former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley and her leadership. In 2025, he used the phrase "strangers in our own country", popularised by conservative British politician Enoch Powell in his controversial 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech; Hastie used the phrase as part of a claim that migration had been responsible for increasing housing prices and declining quality of life in Australia.

Christianity and marriage equality Hastie is an Anglican. He has been described by Labor MP Brian Mitchell as "a man of deep faith". He has cited his Christian faith as informing his views on various policies, such as individual freedoms. He has said his political views are shaped by the theological concept of imago dei, the belief that human beings are created in the image of God. On the origins of the universe, Hastie said "my view is that God is the first mover". He has stated that his opposition to same-sex marriage rests on natural law reasoning rather than religious authority, arguing that marriage has historically been a union between a man and a woman ordered towards family life. He subsequently proposed to her on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. The two were married in 2008 at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Their children were born in Perth in June 2015, August 2017 and November 2021. Hastie lives with his family in the City of Mandurah in the Peel region of Western Australia.

Footnotes