It’s time to finally get serious again, now, at the brink of a possible war

It’s ludicrous that journalists would criticise Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie for his comment that “the fighting DNA of a close combat unit is best preserved when it’s exclusively male”.

I hope China’s dictator wasn’t watching the woke journalists attacking Andrew Hastie at his press conference on Wednesday.

He’d draw the obvious conclusion from watching the Coalition’s defence spokesman being heckled as he promised massive extra spending on our military to answer China’s threat of war.

Yes, invading Australia would be a cinch.

He’d have seen journalists treat a former war-fighting captain of our elite SAS as a clown for thinking that women might not be able to shoot, stab, smash, run and drag weapons and wounded through a battlefield as well as the fittest men in our army.

The Coalition’s defence spokesman Andrew Hastie has been heckled by journalists. Picture: Richard Dobson

These journalists seemed outraged that seven years ago Hastie said “the fighting DNA of a close combat unit is best preserved when it’s exclusively male”.

He was drawing on his experience, including fighting in Afghanistan, often in extreme conditions.

But for Labor’s Defence Minister, Richard Marles, who has never served, Hastie’s comments were “untenable” and made him unfit to be a defence minister.

In fact, Marles is unfit for that job, after weakening our military by scrapping a squadron of F-35 JSF combat aircraft, a regiment of self-propelled howitzers, two sea lift and replenishment ships, 321 infantry fighting vehicles, three Hunter-class frigates and six Offshore Patrol Vessels.

Richard Marles, who has never served, says Hastie’s comments were ‘untenable’ and made him unfit to be a defence minister. Picture: David Geraghty

But journalists took the Labor cue.

On ABC Radio on Wednesday, Hastie was grilled about his comments, and at his press conference he copped it again, despite repeating there’d be no change to the defence policy of opening up all positions to women.

What set off some journalists was that Hastie added the obvious caveat: “What we will insist on is high standards because, in combat, there’s no points for second place.”

What!

“It still seems from that answer that you still think women aren’t strong enough,” complained one journalist, as if she’d never heard such heresy.

Hastie says ‘in combat, there’s no points for second place’. Picture: Martin Ollman

There were other ludicrous gotcha questions, like: was the Coalition’s promise to lift spending to 3 per cent of GDP in a decade, above Labor’s 2.3 per cent target, inspired by wicked Donald Trump?

Yes, there are questions to ask Hastie and his leader Peter Dutton.

For one: why didn’t they tell us exactly where this extra defence money will be spent?

Why wait until almost the end of the campaign to announce something so important?

But playing gender politics instead?

Treating biological reality as an insult?

It’s time to finally get serious again, now, at the brink of a possible war.