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For many, including this scribe, Andrew Hastie seemed like an ideal choice as Liberal Party leader. A scholar and a soldier, of the elite SAS, no less. But Hastie squibbed it, when push came to shove, giving way to yet another wishy-washy ‘moderate’ in ‘conservative’ clothing, Angus Taylor. Now, events both past and imminently future threaten to end Hastie’s political career for good.
At issue is the pending trial on war crimes charges for one of Australia’s most-decorated war heroes. The elite – the legacy media, the military brass, the political establishment – have made up their minds already and all-but convicted Ben Roberts-Smith, fair trial be damned. The rank-and-file and millions of ordinary Australians, on the other hand, regard the whole affair as nothing more than a witch-hunt by the woke elite.
Hastie is fast finding himself dragged into the whole nasty affair.
The mother of disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has launched an extraordinary character attack on Andrew Hastie, emailing coalition MPs with accusations that the man who testified in her son’s defamation trial was “not fit” to lead the Liberal party.
Roberts-Smith’s partner was even more blunt, replying to Hastie’s social media post on Anzac Day.
‘Yeah you’re a traitor,’ Sarah Matulin wrote.
The bad blood runs deep. Hastie, the polished ex-SAS captain and rising star, gave evidence against Roberts-Smith in the marathon defamation case. He spoke of “rumours” that the Victoria Cross winner kicked an unarmed prisoner off a cliff and described a “widespread view” within the regiment that Roberts-Smith was a bully. The court ultimately found against Roberts-Smith on the balance of probabilities. Now the big man faces criminal charges for five alleged murders.
Plenty of diggers smell a rat. They point to decades of animosity between the two: the rough’n’tough corporal with a chest full of valour decorations, versus the silvertail officer. All stemming back to Hastie’s initial bid to join the elite SAS.
Former commando Heston Russell (who was himself framed by doctored footage from the legacy media) claims Roberts-Smith, then a battle-hardened corporal, “beasted” the young officer Hastie during the notorious 2010 SAS selection course. These courses are brutal by design: think Navy SEALs Hell Week on steroids. Sleep-deprived candidates, bleeding knuckles doing push-ups in the red dirt at 3am, impossible physical tasks... Roberts-Smith, towering and fresh from combat, did what intimidating NCOs do: tested the officers’ mettle.
‘So Ben, the super soldier that he was, when SAS ran their selection course his job was to be the intimidating bruiser on that course,’ Russell said on [Karl Stefanovic’s] YouTube show.
‘His job was to go in there and intimidate people and beast them and get in their face. And do you know someone he did that to? Andrew Hastie.’
Hastie refused to steal from a village in a role-play scenario, sticking to his values. According to Russell, Roberts-Smith recommended he fail. The SAS, short on officers, let him through anyway.
At the time, the SAS was having difficulty recruiting officers, Russell said, but Roberts-Smith recommended Hastie to have failed the 21-day course.
‘You’ve seen Andrew Hastie – he’s a very well-presented, well-spoken, highly intelligent individual,’ Russell said.
‘Having him in an SASR beret – be it in a special operations liaison officer role or a troop commander role that could be mentored – was a risk they were willing to take regardless of the recommendations.
‘There was a blood feud formed between those two gentlemen from that selection course.’
Whether that history explains Hastie’s later zeal is for readers to judge. What’s undeniable is the broader fury among veterans and the wider community. The Brereton Inquiry, which Hastie backed, pursued ordinary soldiers and NCOs with gusto while the officer class largely escaped scrutiny. Roberts-Smith became the poster boy for a “toxic warrior culture” narrative that many see as elite revenge against the grunts who actually did the killing.
Hastie has praised colleagues who testified against Roberts-Smith for showing “moral courage” and rescuing the regiment’s reputation. He’s been careful with his words since the criminal charges, citing presumption of innocence and the upcoming trial. But the perception sticks: a well-spoken, ambitious officer turned politician helping the media and the system crucify one of their own.
No matter the outcome of the criminal trial, the stain remains. In Liberal Party rooms and RSL clubs across the country, Hastie is now “that bloke who went after Ben Roberts-Smith”. Fairly or not, that label is political poison among the base that values loyalty, fighting spirit and gratitude to those who served.
