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http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/andrew-hastie-liberal-byelection-candidate-led-troop- probed-for-chopping-hands-off-taliban-20150821-gj52lj.html Andrew Hastie, Liberal byelection candidate, was in charge of troop probed for chopping hands off Taliban August 22, 2015 David Wroe National security correspondent EXCLUSIVE Prime Minister Tony Abbott with Liberal candidate Captain Andrew Hastie outside the West Australian newspaper offices in Perth on Friday. Photo: Thomas Davidson The former SAS soldier standing as the Liberal Party's prize recruit in a key federal by- election was the officer in command of a troop being investigated for chopping the hands off dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. Fairfax Media has learnt that the 2013 incident was carried out by one or more soldiers who were under the command of Captain Andrew Hastie, 32, who has been pre-selected as the Liberal candidate for the by-election in the West Australian seat of Canning. The hands of three Taliban fighters who had been killed in combat by the SAS soldiers were believed to have been removed for the purposes of identifying them by fingerprinting, sparking a defence investigation that has lasted more than two years and is still going on. Captain Hastie told local media on Friday he had resigned his commission as an officer in the Australian Army. Photo: Richard Polden There are differing views on whether this constituted a breach of the rules of war, which forbid despoiling or mutilating corpses. Several well-informed sources have confirmed to Fairfax Media that the incident took place within the troop of about 30 soldiers whom Captain Hastie commanded. However, it is understood he was not present at the time of the incident but was rather elsewhere on the battlefield. Defence declined in a statement to say whether Captain Hastie himself was being investigated. Captain Hastie did not respond to Fairfax's requests for comment. Photo: Richard Polden "Investigations continue into an incident of potential misconduct during a combined operation between Afghan National Security Forces and Australia's Special Operations Task Group in Zabul province, Afghanistan, on 28 April, 2013," the statement said. "Defence will not comment further on this matter until investigations are complete." The investigation was launched after the incident was raised through the military chain of command. It is not clear whether Captain Hastie was part of this chain that reported upward. Captain Hastie did not respond to Fairfax Media's requests for comment. Fairfax Media also asked the WA Liberals for a response, including on whether Captain Hastie made any declaration about the incident or investigation when he sought pre selection, but a spokesman referred the questions to Defence. Captain Hastie told local media on Friday he had resigned his commission as an officer in the Australian Army. "I'm all in and there's no safety net," he said. The outcome of the Canning byelection will have significant political ramifications, with many pundits predicting that a loss for the Liberals could spark a challenge to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's leadership. Mr Abbott met Captain Hastie in Perth on Friday and has described him as "a tremendous candidate" who was "more than capable of contributing to good government in this country". The by-election, triggered by the unexpected death of long-serving Liberal MP Don Randall, will be held on September 19. Mr Randall held the seat with a margin of 11.8 per cent. Captain Hastie has said he joined the Australian Defence Force after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. He served three tours of Afghanistan, advised the Abbott government on its Operation Sovereign Borders regime and has also taken part in operations against the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East. The ABC reported in 2013 that the SAS soldiers had in fact been given advice by an investigator from the Australian Defence Force Investigative Service that they could cut the hands off Taliban corpses if that was the only way to identify them – if for instance they were in a firefight and could not take fingerprints at the scene. A statement by then chief of the defence force David Hurley said the Australians had been engaged in a "high intensity, complex and dangerous battle" at the time of the incident. Neil James, executive director of the Australia Defence Association, said the hand-chopping did not constitute a war crime because the soldiers were doing it out of military necessity. "The action, although shocking to some, was justified by the principle of military necessity and did not constitute any type of breach of the laws of war," he said. Mr James said he understood Captain Hastie was elsewhere on the battlefield when the incident happened and therefore was not responsible. "He was not the commander who made the decisions. "Nor could he have influenced those decisions, because the rest of the unit was deployed somewhere else." Mr James added: "At least .

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