‘Prison guard looking for work’: Andrew Hastie fires back as leaked Mark McGowan video emerges

Andrew Hastie says Mark McGowan ‘is out of his intellectual depth’ after video emerged of the WA Premier badmouthing him while in China.

Andrew Hastie has likened Mark McGowan to a “prison guard looking for work”, after the WA Premier was caught badmouthing the opposition defence spokesman while in China.

Mr McGowan was filmed speaking to AustCham chair Vaughn Barber about Mr Hastie, an unknown former trade minister and former Coalition finance minister Mathias Cormann.

“So, I like Mathias Cormann, he had the same view as me, but he had no sway … on this issue. He had a lot of sway, but on this issue, he was the odd one out,” Mr McGowan said in the video sent to WA media.

“The other Western Australian who was senior, well, there was a few of them actually, Hastie.

“He swallowed some sort of Cold War pills back … when he was born, and he couldn’t get his mindset out of that.”

Mr Hastie responded to the live mic blunder, captured at a China-Australia Chamber of Commerce lunch in Beijing during Mr McGowan’s trip to spruik trade with WA, saying he’s “not surprised he’s running down Australian MPs in China”.

“Mark McGowan is out of his intellectual depth. The truth is that he’s a prison guard looking for work now that the pandemic is finished,” he said in a statement to Sky News.

“I’m not surprised he’s running down Australian MPs in China. But it is surprising from a former legal officer in the Royal Australian Navy. I’m not sure I’d want to serve alongside him on a naval ship in a crisis.

“Character is everything. What’s he really saying when the cameras aren’t running?”