‘We Stand With Ben!’: One Nation Threatens Liberal MP Andrew Hastie in Explosive Political Showdown

The battle lines have been drawn. On one side stands Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain, Liberal frontbencher, and one of the most prominent conservative voices in the Australian Parliament. On the other stands One Nation, the populist party led by Pauline Hanson, which has declared open political war on the man they accuse of betraying a war hero.

The weapon of choice is not a ballot box—not yet. It is a threat: 430 paid-up One Nation members in Hastie’s own electorate of Canning in Western Australia, and a promise to run a “strong candidate” against him at the next election .

“We stand by all of our defence force members, and that is one thing that Andrew Hastie is forgetting,” said James Ashby, Hanson’s top adviser and the party’s chief strategist, in a live television appearance on Sky News . “What I will say to Andrew Hastie is that we’ve got 430 One Nation members in his electorate. I did seek the number from our office before coming on air tonight. So we’re a strong 430 registered, paid up members of One Nation in that seat, and they expect us to run a very strong candidate.”

The target of the threat is not a random backbencher. Hastie, who served alongside Ben Roberts-Smith in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) in Afghanistan, gave evidence for the defence in Roberts-Smith’s failed defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times . That case ended in 2023 with a Federal Court judge finding, on the balance of probabilities, that Roberts-Smith had been complicit in the murders of four unarmed prisoners and had engaged in other acts of misconduct .

Roberts-Smith, once Australia’s most decorated living soldier, has since been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder . He is currently on bail, awaiting trial, and has vehemently denied all allegations . But the civil findings have already shattered his public reputation—and, in turn, divided the nation.

For One Nation, however, the legal findings are irrelevant. The party has positioned itself as Roberts-Smith’s most vocal political defender. During the recent Farrer by-election, One Nation distributed corflutes declaring: “He fought for us. One Nation stands with him” .

The feud between Hastie and the Roberts-Smith camp has deeper roots than mere courtroom testimony. Roberts-Smith’s partner, Sarah Matulin, recently posted a comment on Hastie’s Anzac Day Instagram post calling him a “traitor”—a comment her lawyer later described as a mistake, insisting it was not posted with Roberts-Smith’s knowledge .

But the animosity is real. And it is not going away.

Hastie, who has long been tipped as a future leader of the Liberal Party, responded to Ashby’s threat with characteristic defiance . “I don’t live in fear of threats made by political operatives,” he said in a statement. “My mission is simple: to defeat the Albanese government at the next election. If One Nation shares the same mission, why are they targeting a centre-right MP like me? Their strategy makes no sense. Who is pulling the strings in the background? I will fight hard, and I won’t be deterred” .

The question of who is “pulling the strings” is not rhetorical. Many political observers believe that Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, is a significant force behind One Nation’s campaign against Hastie . Rinehart, a long-time supporter of Roberts-Smith who helped bankroll his defamation case, is also a close ally of Hanson. The two women have been photographed together at Mar-a-Lago, paying homage to Donald Trump .

Hastie has been one of the most persistent and outspoken critics of Trump in Australian politics . He has also clashed with Hanson directly, accusing her of putting “MAGA first rather than Australia first” . In a party where many conservatives have embraced the Trumpian populist playbook, Hastie’s refusal to bend has made him a target.

The electoral math in Canning makes the threat plausible. In the 2025 federal election, One Nation’s candidate, Fernando Bove, polled 11.4 percent of the primary vote in the seat—a significant 6.8-point increase from the previous election . Canning, which takes in Perth’s southern fringe and the coastal city of Mandurah, is precisely the kind of outer-metropolitan electorate where One Nation’s message of economic grievance and anti-establishment anger resonates .

If One Nation were to run a high-profile candidate against Hastie—perhaps even Roberts-Smith himself, should he choose to enter politics—the result could be unpredictable.

Rumours have swirled that Roberts-Smith might stand for One Nation in Canning. In May, Sky News host Andrew Bolt reported that speculation was mounting over the possibility, noting that Ashby had “refused to either confirm or deny” the rumour . Ashby himself dismissed the suggestion during his Sky News appearance, saying: “He’s not standing for us, but we will stand by Ben Roberts-Smith” .

But the ambiguity has not quelled the speculation. And the very possibility of a Roberts-Smith candidacy—a Victoria Cross recipient running for parliament while facing war crimes charges—has already injected a volatile new element into Australian politics .

One Nation’s broader strategy is clear. Hanson has named Canning as one of four Western Australian seats the party will prioritise at the next election, alongside Forrest, Hasluck, and Pearce . The goal is not merely to win seats but to fracture the conservative vote, siphoning support away from the Liberal Party in seats that the Coalition cannot afford to lose.

For the Liberal Party, the predicament is excruciating. Hastie is one of its most effective communicators and a potential future leader. Yet by targeting him, One Nation is forcing the party to choose: defend a man who upheld the rule of law by giving truthful testimony, or risk bleeding votes to a populist insurgency .

So far, the Liberal leadership has remained largely silent. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has not publicly defended Hastie against One Nation’s attacks. This silence has not gone unnoticed. Some within the party believe that a tougher stance against Hanson is necessary—that the Coalition cannot afford to be seen as weak in the face of a party that seeks to “obliterate” it .

As political commentator Niki Savva noted in the Brisbane Times, “Hanson is determined to obliterate the Coalition, so if it fails to challenge her, it will be complicit in its own destruction” .

Hastie himself has been the target of a ferocious social media campaign for his stand . Far-right online critics have branded him a traitor; he has called them “emotionally incontinent” . But he has not backed down. And in doing so, he has earned admiration from unexpected quarters, including from voters tired of the performative outrage that increasingly defines Australian political discourse.

The stakes extend beyond a single seat. If One Nation succeeds in unseating a Liberal frontbencher of Hastie’s calibre, the message to moderate and rule-of-law conservatives across the country will be devastating: speak truth to power, and you will be destroyed.

Roberts-Smith’s criminal trial has not yet begun. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But the civil findings—that he was complicit in unlawful killings—have already been established on the balance of probabilities .

Hastie gave evidence under oath because the law required it. He did not choose to be a witness; he was compelled. And for that, he now faces the full political might of a party that has made populist grievance its trademark.

As the sun sets on another week of political turmoil in Canberra, the question lingers: Will Andrew Hastie survive the attack? The answer depends on whether the Australian people still value the rule of law over the cult of personality. And whether the Liberal Party has the courage to defend one of its own.

Hastie’s own words provide a fitting epitaph to this unfolding drama: “I don’t live in fear of threats made by political operatives. My mission is simple. I will fight hard, and I won’t be deterred” .

The campaign has begun. And the outcome will shape the conservative movement in Australia for years to come.