Labor. A national disgrace, page-5

Chaos and dysfunction reigns at the heart of the AlbaneseGovernment’s Defence Ministry.

Our leaders are absent.

It’s clear that Richard Marles is being run by the Defencedepartment—not the other way around.

The word on the ground is he doesn’t respect the leadership of our service men and women and "theysure as hell don’t respect him".

His performance is so lacklustre his own department is briefingagainst him.

Preferring his role as Deputy Prime Minister, he's a proven a part-time Defence Minister, exercising his ‘right to disconnect’ as hundreds of important decisions pile up, unactioned on his desk.

In October 2022, Marles stood up and said, when it comes to Defence,the buck stopped with him.

By his own standard, he's a failure.

Australia is facing the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War.

The Prime Minister and the Defence Minister have both acknowledged this.

Yet all we get from Marles, and the Prime Minister, is weakness.

Instead of boosting morale and supporting our troops, he hasinflicted cuts to capability, and delayed important decisions.

We’re still waiting for the outcomes of the “short,sharp” review of surface naval capability, and we're yet to see the national defence strategy.

The speed of the boss is the speed of the team, and Richard Marlesis low speed and high drag.

Australia needs tough, decisive leaders who are relentlessly mission focused.

We are right to expect the best from those who lead our national defence.

We expect toughness, not weakness.

We demand decisiveness, not dithering.

What's become clear though is we have a Minister for Defence who enjoys shooting 18 holes at the golf course more than leading the ADF.

The world is too dangerous to get this wrong, and we're running outof time.

We need more than a TaylorMade Qi10 Max Driver to deter our enemies.

Richard Marles, I have a message for you: do your job, or get out ofthe way.

Regards

Andrew Hastie
www.andrewhastie.com.au

Do Your Job, Or Get Out Of TheWay

This morning on Sky News First Edition I called out Richard Marles' poor performance as Defence Minister.

Together Under One Flag

I hope the Australian national flag makes us all feel a sense ofgratitude for this country and a responsibility to preserve it.

That's why I serve in Parliament, and why we must work together under one flag to defend the things we love.