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A former Liberal minister has told frontbencher Andrew Hastie to back off from his public crusade to turn the party towards nationalist positions on everything from manufacturing to the Australian flag.
Amanda Vanstone, who held ministries including immigration in the Howard government, told Hastie via the ABC’s 7.30: “I understand the frustration, when a party goes a way you don’t want to go, but it’s not your party. You don’t own it.”
Coalition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie stands with colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price at a press conference in April.Credit: James Brickwood
Vanstone is the second moderate faction heavyweight to explicitly or implicitly rebuke Hastie, after John Howard’s former chief of staff Arthur Sinodinos issued a similar call for unity on Thursday morning.
Hastie has issued a series of statements on social media in recent weeks blaming immigrants for high house prices, calling for a revival of Australia’s unprofitable car industry and calling colleagues who anonymously criticised him in the media “cowards” and “muppets”.
Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan defended Hastie, saying the country was already discussing the issues that the West Australian was talking about.
“He’s a very principled individual, so he obviously feels when you’re in opposition we need to have frank and fearless conversations, and he’s brought up some topics that are important to him,” Hogan told ABC Radio National.
Hogan, who is a National Party MP, said Hastie’s actions were not intended to undermine Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, despite her attempts to reclaim a centrist image for the Coalition to improve its popularity.
Hastie holds the shadow home affairs portfolio, but has said he would step back from the Coalition frontbench if the party remained committed to a 2050 net zero target, as it was under Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.
Angus Taylor, who lost the Liberal party’s leadership ballot to Sussan Ley in March, also defended Hastie. “Good on Andrew for making a contribution,” Taylor said on 2GB today.
Asked about his own leadership ambitions, Taylor said: “We all play leadership roles all the time, and I’ll continue to do that right now. It’s focusing on that defence portfolio, and I think it’s an incredibly important area for our country... That’s my focus right now.”
Vanstone, who was a senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, said the Coalition should focus on retaking inner city metropolitan seats. Those seats, such as Wentworth in Sydney and Kooyong in Melbourne, were once strongholds of Vanstone’s moderate faction but are now held by teal MPs.
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“I understand Mr Hastie is extraordinarily popular in his own seat,” Vanstone said. “But... if you want to get into government, you cannot get there without winning that middle ground.”
“I have seen quite a few leadership aspirants over my time. And my own experience was that myself and other colleagues were never impressed with people who went out and shot their mouth off,” the former South Australian senator said.
Asked about the internal issues within the Liberal Party, following recent comments by Hastie criticising his colleagues, Defence Minister Richard Marles said on ABC News Breakfast: “Whatever Andrew Hastie is doing is a matter for the Liberal party. I mean, we are watching them be very focused on themselves.”
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