Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (09:57): I rise to call out the extraordinary hypocrisy of One Nation and its supporters. They claim to stand for law and order, yet they have attacked Andrew Hastie for giving sworn evidence under subpoena in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation proceedings. Mr Hastie and I disagree on plenty, but he served in our nation’s defence forces for more than 12 years and deployed twice to Afghanistan. When compelled to appear in court, he respected the rule of law and gave evidence under oath. For that, Hastie says he has been called a rat, a traitor and worse. He ought to be thanked, not condemned. But this is not just about Andrew Hastie. More than 20 veterans and witnesses gave evidence in those proceedings. Those who seek to shame people who gave evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith are not defending veterans, they are attacking them. Apparently, One Nation’s respect for veterans depends entirely on whether those veterans agree with them. So which veteran matters more? The one who tells you what you want to hear, or the one who tells the truth under oath?

One Nation does not own patriotism. It does not get to redefine loyalty as silence. Victoria stands on the precipice of a Liberal–One Nation alliance – or LONA – government. If this is how One Nation treats veterans for respecting the law, I am loath to imagine what a LONA government would do to this state. Ben Roberts-Smith has been found liable in a civil matter, and the evidence of his fellow veterans stands against him on those matters.