Hastie vs One Nation: Fightback or Leadership Bid?
Andrew Hastie has escalated his confrontation with One Nation over a cartoon branding him a traitor, forcing the Coalition to weigh open conflict with the minor party.
The clash was examined in a Full Story episode published on 15 September 2026, which asked whether Hastie is launching a Coalition fightback as One Nation squeezes the Liberal vote The Guardian. Hosted by Reged Ahmad with Guardian Australia political editor Tom McIlroy, the episode also asked whether Hastie is building a platform to challenge Angus Taylor for the Liberal leadership. Hastie is a Liberal MP and former SAS captain.
The trigger was a One Nation cartoon video posted to social media in late July 2026. It depicts Hastie as opposition leader manipulated by Anthony Albanese into taking on One Nation, and refers to him as a traitor after he gave evidence against Ben Roberts-Smith in Roberts-Smith's failed defamation trial The Guardian. Hastie said the cartoon called him a traitor eight times.
What followed showed a split. Hastie accepted an apology from Barnaby Joyce over the video. Joyce said he was not aware of the cartoon. He said a decision to take it down was "beyond my pay grade". Pauline Hanson said she personally had not called Hastie a traitor. She refused to apologise for or remove the video. On 11 September 2026 it remained pinned to the top of her X account. She told critics to "take a chill pill".
The language turned personal. Hastie called Hanson a "lying coward". Jacqui Lambie backed Hastie and called Hanson an "angry little woman". One Nation senator Sean Bell said the party had nothing to apologise for.
Hastie holds the shadow portfolio (the opposition spokesperson job) of Industry and Sovereign Capability and spoke to 7.30's Sarah Ferguson on 8 July about the rise of One Nation. In January 2026 Hastie ruled out challenging Sussan Ley for the Liberal leadership, saying he did not have enough support in the party ABC News. By late June he had laid out his vision for fighting One Nation, at which point ABC News described him as Angus Taylor's most prominent leadership rival ABC News. Taylor was Opposition Leader in May 2026. ABC's Politics Now has since described Hastie and Taylor as shaping up as key contenders.
The broader context here will be familiar to close watchers of Canberra. Liberals hold two competing theories about One Nation, and they cannot both be right. One says the minor party must be confronted directly to win back outer-suburban and regional voters who have parked their vote elsewhere, like trying to win back regulars who now drink at the pub next door. The other says confrontation only gives One Nation oxygen and hardens the split on the right. Hastie has now planted his flag firmly in the first camp. That is a policy argument about how to campaign. It is also a leadership argument about who gets to define what the Liberal Party stands for.
In my view, the Joyce detail matters more than the insults. A public apology from inside the One Nation tent, paired with Hanson's refusal to shift, suggests Hastie's attack has some capacity to divide rather than simply rally his target. For leadership watchers, that is the test. Taking on Hanson carries risk. It energises the base Hastie wants, but it also locks him into a fight he cannot easily walk away from if the polls do not move. Taylor's camp will know that. Hastie's camp will be betting that Liberals who fear being squeezed see inaction as the greater risk.
The key question here is the one the podcast poses, and it is not answered yet. A fightback requires more than a feud. It needs candidates, organisation and a message that holds in seats where One Nation is currently taking votes from the Coalition. The cartoon row shows Hastie is willing to lead the argument in public. Whether colleagues follow him is a separate matter, and it will be decided in the party room, where MPs choose the leader, not on X.
