Andrew Hastie (politician)

Andrew Hastie MP
Member of the Australian Parliament for Canning
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 September 2015
Preceded by	Don Randall
Personal details
Born	Andrew William Hastie 30 September 1982 Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Ruth Hastie
Children	1
Alma mater	University of New South Wales
Occupation	Army officer
Religion	Anglicanism
Military service
Allegiance	Australia
Service/branch	Australian Army
Years of service	2001–2015
Rank	Captain
Unit	2nd Cavalry Regiment (2007–2009) Special Air Service Regiment (2010–2015)
Battles/wars	War in Afghanistan Military intervention against ISIL

Andrew William Hastie (born 30 September 1982) is the Liberal Party member for the Western Australian federal seat of Canning since the 2015 by-election. Hastie is a former Australian Army officer.^[1][2][3]

Early years

Hastie was born in Wangaratta, Victoria. His father, Peter Hastie, is a minister who had established the Wangaratta Presbyterian Church,^[4] and is now principal of the Presbyterian Theological College in Box Hill, Victoria.^[5] His family later relocated to Sydney, where Hastie attended Scots College.^[6] Both Hastie's father and paternal grandfather were raised in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse and were educated at Sydney Grammar School.^[7]Hastie's grandparents played a significant role in his teenage years, and he cites his grandfather's service during the Second World War as a motivating factor for joining the Australian Army.^[8] Prior to enlisting Hastie studied philosophy, politics and history at the University of New South Wales.^[9]

Military career

Hastie enlisted in the Australian Army following the September 11 attacks. He cites anti-American sentiment in a university tutorial the day after the attacks as providing the moment he decided to join the military.^[9] Hastie completed his degree at the Australian Defence Force Academy followed by officer training at Royal Military College, Duntroon. Hastie then completed Armoured Corps Officer training at Pukapunyal before being posted to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, then at Robertson Barracks, Darwin. Hastie deployed to Afghanistan as troop commander with Mentoring and Reconstruction Task Force 2 in 2009–2010, commanding a troop of Australian Light Armoured Vehicles on patrols in Uruzgan province.^[10]

Hastie completed selection for the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) in 2010 and was posted to 1 SAS Squadron in 2012 following completion of his reinforcement training. He deployed with the Australian Special Operations Task Group Rotation XIX in 2013, commanding B Troop who were fighting Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Hastie deployed in late-2014 and 2015 to a Middle East-based role countering ISIL.^[11] He resigned his commission in August 2015 after announcing his candidature.^[12] He later became a member of the Army Reserve.^[13]

Political career

The seat of Canning was rendered vacant by the death in office of the Liberal member, Don Randall, triggering the 2015 Canning by-election. During Hastie's campaign, Tony Abbott was replaced as prime minister by Malcolm Turnbull following a leadership spill.^[14] Though the Turnbull government was just four days old, Hastie retained the seat for the Liberals, despite having to rely on preferences after a substantial, though dampened, primary (−4.15%) and two-party (−6.55%) swing away from the Liberal government − solidly less than the double-digit swings polls had predicted under an Abbott Government − however, some double-digit swings did eventuate among the northern suburban booths. The Canning Liberal margin was reduced from safe to marginal status. Political analysts agreed the by-election was a "good outcome for both major parties".^[15]

Two controversies emerged during Hastie's campaign. In response to the media highlighting incidents in Afghanistan in 2013. Hastie defended the actions of soldiers under his command, saying they had acted with "honour and integrity".^[16]

On 28 February 2013 Hastie and other SAS soldiers were in heavy contact with Taliban in Shahidi Hassas District during an operation to extract an Afghan National Police patrol under threat from insurgents. During the engagement SAS soldiers were in contact with an American Apache gunship which strafed an insurgent fighting position. The cannon fire accidentally killed two nomad boys who had been tending livestock nearby.^[17][18] An ADF inquiry cleared Hastie and the other Australians of any wrongdoing; however, Hastie said that the boys' deaths were a very sad and tragic consequence of war, and that 'it's an incident that I know all involved hold deep regret, including myself'.^[17][19]

On 28 April 2013 Australian forces were involved in an operation in Zabul province which saw the right hands of three insurgents severed following an engagement.^[20][21] The incident involved the troop Hastie commanded, although he was not present at the time. A SAS corporal remains under investigation with Defence referring the matter to the Australian Federal Police in August 2015.^[22][23] Hastie was cleared of any wrongdoing by an Inquiry Officer's Inquiry, but the incident was brought to public attention in a front page story in The Age. Several state Labor MPs made crude jokes about the incident via tweets.^[24][25][26] The behaviour of state shadow parliamentary secretary Darren West and state shadow environment spokesman Chris Tallentire was later condemned by federal opposition leader Bill Shorten.^[27][28][29]

During an address to the Liberal Party on 22 August 2015 Hastie said that soldiers under his command had acted with "honour and integrity" and strongly criticised Defence's handling of the incident, claiming that Defence has breached its duty of care to the soldier involved by taking nearly two and a half years to investigate the matter. The ADF has not commented on the investigation or Hastie's comments.^[30]

Hastie's advertising materials for the Canning by-election and the 2016 election campaign included an image of Hastie in his army uniform, a breach of a general ban on participating in political activity in uniform, leading to Hastie being dismissed from the Army Reserves.^[13]

Hastie was re-elected at the 2016 Federal Election with a 5.12% swing against the Liberal Party compared to the 2013 Canning result but a 0.97% swing to him compared to the by-election result, ten months prior.

Personal life

Hastie moved to Dudley Park, Western Australia within the Canning electorate in August 2015; prior to this time he lived in Defence housing in Perth.^[31] He has been married to Ruth for seven years; they met when Hastie visited the US.^[32] Their son was born in June 2015.^[33]

Hastie was raised a Presbyterian, and is now an Anglican.^[34]

Honours and awards

	Australian Active Service Medal	with clasp for ICAT
	Afghanistan Medal	Operation SLIPPER
	Australian Service Medal	with clasp for CT/SR (Counter Terrorism / Special Recovery)[35]
	Australian Defence Medal
	NATO Medal for the Non-Article 5 ISAF Operation in Afghanistan	with ISAF clasp
	Meritorious Unit Citation with Federation Star	Special Operations Task Group (Task Force 66)[36]
	Infantry Combat Badge
	Army Combat Badge

References

1. "Canning by-election: Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie wins by-election". ABC News. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
2. "Andrew Hastie claims Canning in by election". The West Australian. 19 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
3. "Canning byelection: Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie wins as Matt Keogh concedes". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
4. Seccombe, Mike (29 August 2015). "Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Christian right". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
5. "Faculty". Presbyterian Theological College. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
6. Murphy, Damien (12 September 2015). "Canning by-election candidate Andrew Hastie holds Tony Abbott's political future in his hands". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
7. http://www.catalinaflying.org.au/documents/CATALINAMAGAZINEJAN-MAR2014.pdf
8. "Andrew Hastie to run for Liberals, Matt Keogh for ALP in Canning by-election". ABC News. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
9. "Address to the Liberal Party State Council". Andrew Hastie – Liberal for Canning.
10. "Counterinsurgency in Uruzgan 2009" (PDF). The Australian Army. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
11. "Andrew Hastie to run for Liberals, Matt Keogh for ALP in Canning by-election". ABC News. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
12. "Andrew Hastie, Liberal byelection candidate, was in charge of troop probed for chopping hands off Taliban". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
13. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-09/canning-mp-andrew-hastie-dumped-by-army-over-uniform-stoush/7495190
14. "Liberal leadership spill: what does it mean for the Canning by-election?". Perth Now. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
15. Liberal and Labor parties hail success of campaigns: ABC 20 September 2015
16. "Lib candidate defends war action". The West Australian. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
17. "Andrew Hastie in clear on second Afghan incident". The Australian. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
18. "Andrew Hastie says he was cleared over accidental deaths of two Afghan boys". The Guardian. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
19. "Canning byelection: Andrew Hastie responds to second Afghan incident". WA Today. 1 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
20. "SAS corporal could be charged for cutting off hands of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan". The Australian Army. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
21. "Liberal byelection candidate Andrew Hastie defends Afghanistan actions". The Guardian. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
22. Butterfly, Nick (5 August 2016). "Police probe SAS "misconduct"". The West Australian. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
23. "Charges being considered against SAS soldier for mutilating corpse". ABC News. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
24. "Julie Bishop attacks WA Labor MPs for retweeting jokes about Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie". ABC News. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
25. "Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie says he has been cleared of wrongdoing in Afghan war incident". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
26. "Labor says it won't target Hastie's past". Sky News. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
27. "Foreign Minister Julie Bishop blasts ALP for 'appalling' Andrew Hastie retweets". Sydney Morning Herald. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
28. "Canning by-election: Voters 'unmoved' by Andrew Hastie slure". The Australian. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
29. "Canning by-election: 'Distasteful jokes' over Andrew Hastie record criticised". The Australian. 23 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
30. "Lib candidate defends war action". The West Australian. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
31. Probyn, Andrew (28 August 2015). "Candidate won't vote in by-election". The West Australian. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
32. "Perth Now, Andrew Hastie's family prepared for 'ruthless' political life". 23 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
33. Editor, Political (23 August 2015). "Andrew Hastie's family prepared for 'ruthless' political life" (2:00 am). PerthNow. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
34. Wahlquist, Calla (3 September 2015). "Canning byelection: Andrew Hastie deems questions on family and religion 'unacceptable'". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
35. "INQUIRY INTO RECOGNITION OF AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE SERVICE FOR SPECIAL AIR SERVICE COUNTER TERRORIST AND SPECIAL RECOVERY DUTIES" (PDF). Defence Honours Tribunal. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
36. "Australia Day Awards 2015" (PDF). Governor-General of Australia. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

External links

• Parliamentary biography