RSL Australia Statement on 10 September 2026
The recent comments from Senator Hanson towards Andrew Hastie MP go beyond political disagreement.
This may have begun as a political dispute between Senator Hanson and Mr Hastie, however, when a person’s military service is used as the punchline, when the word ‘traitor’ is thrown at someone who has worn the uniform and deployed on operations, that stops being politics and starts being an attack on every veteran’s service.
Veterans don’t stop being accountable to their oath once they leave the ADF. Branding a former soldier a ‘traitor’ sends a corrosive message to the wider veteran community: that your service can be recast as betrayal the moment it’s politically convenient.
RSL Australia asks all sides of politics to keep that distinction. Calling a veteran a traitor is a slur, and it deserves to be treated as one regardless of who it’s aimed at or how it’s dressed up.
