Senior Liberal MP Andrew Hastie distributed copies of his confidential military records to supporters on Tuesday to help rebut what he said were slanderous attacks from One Nation on his military record and integrity.

The trigger for the emotional message, made in a mass email to supporters, was a Sunday newspaper article quoting One Nation leader Pauline Hanson stating that her party intended to take Mr Hastie’s Federal WA seat of Canning.

“I won’t take any more slander from One Nation,” Mr Hastie said. “Not after they called me a traitor to my own country.”

While One Nation has ridiculed the SAS veteran for being sensitive to criticism, Senator Hanson said she had never accused Mr Hastie of betraying his country.

“I’ve never called him a traitor,” she told The Nightly. “I will call him a wanker.”

Mr Hastie sent his email out around 7.30am Perth time just as a court hearing was about to began in Sydney for an update on the war crimes charges against his former SAS colleague, Ben Roberts-Smith.

Deserted by supporters

The tension between Mr Hastie and One Nation stems from his decision to testify against Mr Roberts-Smith in a defamation lawsuit in 2022. A recent survey found 69 per cent of One Nation voters admire the Victoria Cross awardee, a higher figure than for One Nation MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce.

In Tuesday’s message Mr Hastie said he gave evidence against Mr Roberts-Smith because he was issued with a subpoena and believed in the rule of law.

“For that, I’ve been called a rat, a traitor, a dog c..., and many other things,” he said in the email. “People I trusted have walked away from me or failed to defend me.

“One Nation doesn’t own ANZAC, it belongs to all Australians.

“Nor does One Nation get to redefine the profession of arms, and the standards that govern our battlefield conduct.

“One Nation are working to unseat me because they don’t believe in the rule of law, nor do they believe in holding Australian soldiers to high standards of battlefield conduct.

“Now I’m calling time on cowards who have never served a day in the Australian Defence Force attacking my service record, my integrity, and my loyalty to Australia.”

Indonesian ‘bot farms’

While Mr Hastie was among the witnesses required to appear in court for the case, which Mr Roberts-Smith lost, he was open about his close relationship with the journalists who first reported on the war crimes allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith made by other members of the elite regiment.

In late April Mr Roberts-Smith’s partner, Sarah Matulin, wrote “you’re a traitor” on an Anzac Day post by Mr Hastie. She later deleted the comment, which Mr Roberts-Smith said through a lawyer was a mistake to write.

Senator Hanson has repeatedly offered support for Mr Roberts-Smith. “He’s gone and done the job he was trained to do,” she said after his arrest. “As far as I am concerned, Ben Roberts-Smith is a war hero to me.”

Last week, after One Nation won a by-election in a State seat partially within Canning, she told the Sunday Times: “If he thinks he’s going to be saved, and that I won’t run a candidate in his seat, he’s wrong.”

Mr Hastie, the shadow industry minister, has received a high level of criticism on social media for his stance on Mr Roberts-Smith, who has been charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. He has described receiving a torrent of abusive emails, said he has been targeted by Indonesian “bot farms”, and has been provided extra security protection for his family and his electorate office in the suburb of Mandurah about 70km south of Perth.

Military records

An SAS captain for five years, Mr Hastie took the unusual step of making public 19 pages of his performance reviews from the regiment marked “OFFICIAL: Sensitive”.

The reports praise his communication skills, judgment and ethical standards.

“He is well regarded for being a balanced and thoughtful officer who carefully forms his own views without being clouded by emotion or ‘group think’”, an assessment dated October 23, 2012, says.

Three days earlier he was part of an operation to Syahchow in southern Afghanistan where Mr Roberts-Smith allegedly killed one prisoner and ordered a fellow SAS soldier to kill another prisoner, according to federal prosecutors.

Mr Hastie, who has said he may be a witness in Mr Roberts-Smith’s murder trial, testified in the defamation case that he did not see anyone executed. He said the other soldier allegedly involved looked “nervous or anxious” after the incident and Mr Roberts-Smith, who was then a corporal, said: “Just a couple more dead c...s.”

One of the performance reviews states that Mr Hastie failed the SAS’s close quarters battle course in 2011, which requires soldiers to storm buildings and aircraft to rescue hostages. He was given command of an SAS platoon, known as a troop, in 2012 and received positive reviews from his superiors.

In one of his last performance reviews before he left the army, Mr Hastie was ranked fourth out of five captains in his company, which is known as a squadron in the SAS, and recommended for a promotion to major.

Instead, he chose to become a politician, representing a seat south of Perth, and considered running for leader of the Liberal Party at the start of this year.

The performance reviews were previously shared with News24 commentator Andrew Bolt. Mr Hastie did not respond when approached through his office to discuss his message.