Shadow Federal Defence Minister Speaks to NSW Jewish community
More than 60 people attended a lunchtime speech and question and answer session with Federal Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie today, where he spoke on Australian defence policy and the Israel-Hamas war.
David Ossip, Andrew Hastie, Paul Rubenstein, Dr Colin Rubesnstein, Walt Secord
The event was jointly sponsored by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) in association with the Arnold Bloch Leibler (ABL) Sydney office.
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip introduced Mr Hastie, and AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein gave the formal vote of thanks.
In 2017, Mr Hastie participated in AIJAC’s Rambam fellowship – a program run by AIJAC that introduces political leaders, journalists, religious leaders, and commentators to Israel and the Middle East. He was also a regular participant in the Australia-Israel Be’er Sheva Dialogue Group, an annual seminar bringing together Israeli and Australian defence and foreign affairs experts and academics and political leaders.
Mr Hastie is a Western Australia MP and has been Shadow Defence Minister since 2022. He has served in the federal government as the Assistant Minister for Defence from 2020 to 2022. Mr Hastie was Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security from 2017 to 2020. Before entering politics, he served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and became a troop commander in the Special Air Service Regiment. After the fall of Mosul, he was deployed to Jordan to participate in intelligence operations against the Islamic State in Iraq.
Recently, Mr Hastie attended a special screening of body cam and other recorded materials of the October 7 massacre, where Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and took 240 hostages. After the screening, he said that footage showed that “evil truly did walk the earth” on October 7.
