Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie has doubled down on his criticism of the US-Israeli war with Iran, saying: “I don’t know why we went in now.”
A special forces veteran, Mr Hastie served in the Middle East and fought alongside Americans on combat missions.
He said on Sunday he was “pro-America” but that Australia “can be critical of bad strategic decisions” and US President Donald Trump’s “huge miscalculation” on Iran was hurting Australians.
“I thought last year we did the job,” Mr Hastie told ABC’s Insiders, referring to Mr Trump’s claim the US “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
“You can take issue with Donald Trump’s rhetoric, it’s all priced in – mean tweets and whatever else – but there wasn’t consultation with allies, because had we had a bit more lead time, we wouldn’t be in the current crisis we are now where we’re trying to secure our liquid fuel.”
He made clear that he backed the US and Israel over “a murderous regime which has ambitions to build a nuclear weapon” but that as “a close friend of the United States, I think we can be honest, and we can ask hard questions”.
He also said US credibility had been damaged and that he worried Australians’ support for the alliance would continue fracturing as the “economic pain” became “more acute”.
“I think this was a huge miscalculation,” Mr Hastie said.
“Iran has managed to pretty much hold the whole world economy to ransom, and because we’re at the end of a very long supply chain, we’re going to experience pain.
“We were already in a bad position before this war broke out – high interest rates, sticky inflation, now we’ve got bond yields headed upwards, equity markets are down, consumer confidence is low.
“We’ve got deficits – we’re heading towards $1 trillion worth of debt.
“We don’t have the fat for a twin energy shock in oil and gas, which is what’s going to happen to our country.”
While Mr Trump has declared victory over Iran, the Islamist regime has continued attacking neighbouring Gulf countries and blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
It has also dismissed Mr Trump’s claims of peace talks.
Meanwhile, Iran’s militant proxies in Yemen have joined the fray and US media has reported thousands of American troops were in place for a possible ground offensive.
Mr Trump this week decried Australia’s response to the war as “not great”.
The Albanese government has pushed back, insisting it had done everything asked of it.
