Andrew Hastie quits shadow cabinet after refusing to be ‘silent’ on immigration

Andrew Hastie has sensationally quit the shadow cabinet, effective immediately, following months of tension between the right wing former senior soldier and the Liberal Party’s first female leader.

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister and Liberal leadership aspirant released a statement on Friday evening announcing his resignation.

“The leader has made it clear that the Shadow Home Affairs Minister won’t lead the Coalition’s response to immigration matters or develop the Coalition’s immigration strategy,” he said.

“On this basis, I made the decision that I was not able to continue in this role and remain silent on immigration.

“It is a well-established standard in the Westminster system that, if a member of the shadow cabinet is unwilling to live by the convention of solidarity, they must depart to the backbench.”

Mr Hastie said out of respect for Sussan Ley’s leadership, he was resigning from the frontbench.

“Sussan deserves the opportunity to lead, unencumbered by interventions from shadow cabinet colleagues, especially as the Coalition builds out a policy platform for the 2028 election,” he said.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served as the Shadow Home Affairs Minister, and I wish Sussan and the shadow cabinet every success in this term.”

In a statement, Ms Ley said she recently sent out “charter letters” to shadow ministers outlining her expectations for the Coalition.

“They enable the Coalition to develop a serious and credible policy platform to take to the next election, where we will draw a clear contrast with Labor,” Ms Ley said.

“These letters were developed in extensive consultation with individual members of the shadow ministry and were the product of more than 50 one-on-one conversations between me and my team, including with Andrew Hastie.

“Today, Mr Hastie informed me via telephone, that he would be unable to comply with this longstanding and well-understood requirement, and on that basis he would be resigning his position as Shadow Minister for Home Affairs.

“Mr Hastie did not raise any matters relating to policy on this call.“

Ms Ley said changes to the shadow ministry would be announced soon.

The Liberal Party has not committed to an immigration policy except to say that permanent and net migration figures must fall.

Some conservatives in the Liberal Party see Mr Hastie’s resignation as a first step to take the leadership away from Ms Ley.

It comes days after Mr Hastie posted on social media about wanting to make major cuts to migration.

In a video, Mr Hastie said Autralia needed to “make things here again” and pursue an “Australia first” mentality.

His recent vow to quit the frontbench should the Coalition adopt a commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 also caused division in his party.

Mr Hastie was elected in 2015 at a by-election following the death of Canning MP Don Randall.

Since then, he has been a prominent member of the Liberals’ conservative side.

Mr Hastie will front the media on Saturday.