Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie has reaffirmed that anyone who meets the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) standards should be allowed to serve—regardless of gender—as debate reignites over his past comments about women in frontline roles. “The one thing that we will insist on is high standards, because in combat, there’s no points for second place, so we need to be able to win every fight that we go into,” he said. When asked if women lowered standards, Hastie responded, “It’s hardly what I’m saying.” “I’m saying we have one standard [for] all Australians, regardless of your background, your race, your sexuality, your gender, your religion. Every single role in the ADF is open to you, and we want more Australians to join.” Questions followed Hastie about his 2018 remarks suggesting that keeping frontline units all-male best preserved the military’s “fighting DNA”—a comment he acknowledged at the time was unpopular. Now, scrutiny has intensified following the disendorsement of New South Wales (NSW) Liberal candidate Benjamin Britton. The former ADF member was dropped just two days after past statements emerged where he argued women should be removed from combat roles and labelled diversity quotas as “woke” and “Marxist.” The NSW Liberal Party later said Britton was disendorsed due to previously undisclosed views that clashed with the party’s platform. While defending his position, Britton said he had served with “great” and “extraordinary” women in the ADF but maintained that combat should remain male-only—a view he claimed was shared by both Hastie and the late Major General and Liberal Senator Jim Molan. “They’ve cut the infantry fighting vehicle program, two supply ships, and a fourth squadron of F-35s,” he said. “They are busy cutting and weakening this country.” He pointed to the Coalition’s 10-year plan to raise defence spending to 3 percent of GDP as evidence of its commitment to national security. By contrast, Labor had revised its figure to 2.3 percent. He warned that military recruitment and retention are in crisis, citing figures showing that nearly 90 percent of applications last year were withdrawn before completion. Asked how the Coalition would address recruitment and retention, Liberal Leader Peter Dutton said salary reviews were possible—but that the real key was restoring a sense of mission.