![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/119281a2607761852c4e3d0bae521b8cb3f98cb4.png\")
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March 29, 2026 \u2014 1:54pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Opposition frontbencher Andrew Hastie sees himself as the Liberal Party\u2019s truth-teller, intent on breaking out of ideological shackles and tearing down dogma wherever he can.<\/p>\n In a compelling interview on ABC\u2019s Insiders on Sunday, the former soldier delivered a line that will serve as a sharp warning to Angus Taylor, whose instincts draw heavily from Howard-era thinking on economics and foreign affairs.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s going to reward us for a final stand for neoliberal politics, OK,\u201d Hastie said.<\/p>\n Hastie, who wanted the top job before exiting the leadership<\/a> race after Taylor won the numbers, offered a new vision on tax and Australia\u2019s place in the world.<\/p>\n In both areas, he has created a headache for Taylor and arguably made life easier for Anthony Albanese, who can now point to confusion in opposition ranks.<\/p>\n Related Article On tax, Hastie has given Labor more room to manoeuvre on scrapping tax breaks for property investors and potentially hiking taxes on big gas companies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got smashed in 2022; we got smashed in 2025. Our primary vote is being cannibalised from both the right and the left. So I think adopting a posture of humility and being open-minded is important,\u201d Hastie said, arguing the Liberals should no longer be \u201cthe first line of defence for corporate Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think we need to overhaul the whole system. We either fix the system, or it\u2019s torn down by people like Pauline Hanson.\u201d<\/p>\n The Western Australian\u2019s positioning puts him in line with another leading voice in the new vanguard of Liberals, former Menzies MP Keith Wolahan. Their thinking on big business and widening the party\u2019s coalition to the non- asset-owning class is at odds with Taylor, who in an interview with this masthead<\/a> described Labor\u2019s tax ideas as an \u201cassault on aspiration\u201d.<\/p>\n Hastie is at risk of adopting the left\u2019s framing of the debate on intergenerational equity and the social licence for gas firms, however, potentially ceding the opposition\u2019s ability to create clear battle lines and campaign for votes ahead of the budget and Farrer byelection.<\/p>\n On foreign affairs, Hastie has gone where no major party politician has gone: admitting Donald Trump\u2019s war in Iran represented a \u201chuge miscalculation\u201d. Hastie proves that one can hold this view at the same time as retaining a disdain for the theocratic butchers of Tehran.<\/p>\n The war would dent American prestige and cast doubt on the president\u2019s judgment, Hastie said, plunging Australia into a new, truly multipolar era in which military and economic self-sufficiency will be crucial.<\/p>\n The effect of Hastie\u2019s interview, which came after weeks of outspoken interventions, will accelerate the conversation about the potential upside of a Hastie-led Liberal Party.<\/p>\n Taylor is obviously safe in the job, yet his first weeks have been low-key and staid. It\u2019s not proving to be easy in the new attention economy to get his message out ahead of Hastie, Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan, and Tim Wilson, all of whom are nimble and love the spotlight. Hastie\u2019s presence in a senior role under Taylor should push the party to be more adventurous in this existential moment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Hastie has not raised in shadow cabinet some of the transformational ideas he has aired publicly, fuelling a sense he is not a team player. Some of his colleagues view him as a commentator\/thought-leader without much of a strategy. After his fumbled leadership pitch, some of his closest colleagues question if he has the political smarts to build coalitions and mature into a leader.<\/p>\n Hastie is still on a journey and doesn\u2019t have all the answers for how his Australia-first agenda can be turned into a coherent plan to take on Labor.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/44803c69df122aeda04fc613a05f8eafda0aa005.jpeg\")
Andrew Hastie, a former soldier, has described US President Donald Trump\u2019s war in Iran as a \u201chuge miscalculation\u201d.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6e212ef64b507a3434fd2d60c97365247242188b.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Opposition](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6e3dd55c2995fc2bc092a12c7060e8eaa259391d.jpeg\")
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor proposed halving the fuel excise to support motorists struggling with the oil crisis sparked by the Iran war. Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767789310_197_119281a2607761852c4e3d0bae521b8cb3f98cb4.png\")
Paul Sakkal<\/a> is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 29, 2026 \u2014 1:54pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-572302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}