Gina Rinehart

That's a good question.

Both James Ashby and, and Pauline Hanson have enjoyed a nice winter in Europe, uh, paid for by Gina Rinehart.

Who knows what's going on here? I'm, I'm not making any claim there at all.

What I am saying is that James Ashby called me back in April and warned me this was coming.

He was described as a, by the judge as a straightforward witness, and this was, these were defamation proceedings that Ben Robert Smith himself brought to court.

Uh, as he says, there are other colleagues of his who also gave evidence.

I thought it was interesting the way that he was quite comfortable criticizing One Nation and, um, Gina Rinehart, whom he also mentioned, uh, who's been critical or defensive of Ben Robert Smith certainly.

Uh, less so Tony Abbott, and I did think that although he didn't want to say it directly, uh, it did sound like, I mean, he said, "Tony Abbott and I disagree on many things." It does sound like this might be one of them.

He suggested that Hanson's attack on him for testifying in the accused war criminal Ben Robert Smith defamation trial is an attack on all veterans.

Hastie said he wasn't interested in taking legal action against someone who has the financial backing of Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person.

Then later in the day, independent Senator Jacqui Lambie became very emotional.

She joined in the fight, backing Hastie.

Why would I walk into a, a fight that I can't win financially?

Pauline Hanson has received significant support in recent years from mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who has also backed Ben Roberts-Smith, even naming a Perth housing complex for veterans the Ben Roberts-Smith Beach Houses.

Mr. Hastie says the cartoon's words reach well beyond him.

It's actually attack on veterans, not just attack on me, because you've got to remember more than 20-plus SAS combat veterans were called to give evidence in the federal court.

Yeah.

Like, they just think that anything that we say or do is just false lies, and we're paid by Gina Rinehart or something like that.

And I want maybe go one step further.

I think maybe these, these activists actually, they're not even really activists.

That's a good question.

Both James Ashby and, and Pauline Hanson have enjoyed a nice winter in Europe, uh, paid for by Gina Rinehart.

Who knows what's going on here? I'm, I'm not making any claim there at all.

What I am saying is that James Ashby called me back in April and warned me this was coming.

Well, this is the thing, and, and then there's an even deeper question.

I mean, how should we fund political parties at all? I me-- I mean, on the left side of politics, they say, "Oh, we don't want, you know, Gina Rinehart controlling politics in Australia." Although, frankly, I mean, there's...

You know, I'd, I'd probably rather have Gina Rinehart doing it than the CFMEU if I had to make a choice.

But they don't see on the left side-

Not a choice I ever wish to be placed in, Tom.

One is they want his seat, um, in Western Australia because they've, they've had the Secret Harbour by-election, uh, which was won by One Nation, uh, just a couple of weeks ago, and that covers some of the same territory as, uh, Andrew Hastie's federal seat So, you know, there's a political fight for, for a seat there.

But there's something far more deeply personal about this, and that is that, um, uh, Gina Rinehart, who is the main financial backer of, uh, of Pauline Hanson, has taken a tilt against, um, Andrew Hastie.

Kerry Stokes, who is, uh, such a powerful figure in Western Australia in particular, has also taken a personal tilt against, um, Andrew Hastie.

Why? Because Andrew Hastie gave evidence in the defamation hearing, uh, the trial that, uh, Br- uh, Ben Roberts-Smith brought on against the Fairfax papers and its journalists, uh, and Ben Roberts-Smith lost in the, to the civil test.