Renegade Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has been accused today of going "on strike" in the federal election campaign by former Coalition leader Peter Dutton.
The stunning claim came in a review of the Liberal Party's disastrous election performance, The Sydney Morning Herald.
Dutton pulled no punches in his assessment of Hastie, who quit as Coalition home affairs spokesperson on the weekend.
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"It was inconceivable to Dutton and his senior colleagues that Hastie effectively went on strike during the last term," a source familiar with Dutton's submissions, but was unauthorised to speak publicly, told the newspaper.
"Someone who should have been a powerful voice in the media tearing strips off Labor was absent, scared to do media, or lazy."
Dutton was interviewed by former party heavyweights Nick Minchin and Pru Goward, who were appointed to scrutinise what went wrong at the May election.
Hastie, the shadow defence minister during the election campaign, failed to produce a thorough cost analysis of the Coalition's military spending plans if it won government, insisted Dutton.
As a result, the party's $21 billion defence spending blueprint was delayed and appeared to be rushed out late in the campaign, with little detail.
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Dutton also argued that Hastie, a former SAS soldier, was reluctant to debate the Albanese government's record on defence through the media.
Hastie insisted it was on Dutton and his advisers to explain the wait in releasing the party's defence policy.
"Only Peter Dutton and those who were in his office can explain why the defence policy was kept back until the final fortnight of the campaign," Hastie said.
"Of course, the reason why anonymous sources are now pushing this into the media has nothing to do with the last election. It has to do with the fact that the old guard is lashing out because it is losing the fight on immigration and energy."
West Australian MP Hastie announced yesterday he was moving to the backbench after saying he was being cut out of immigration talks.
Deputy opposition leader Ted O'Brien told Today this morning the Coalition was focused on keeping pressure on the government.
"We've got two jobs to do. One is to hold the government to account. That's what we're going to be doing this week," he said.
"But secondly, it's formulating our own policy and our policies are up for review."
O'Brien said "time will tell" whether Hastie's move from the frontbench would destabilise Ley's leadership.
"If he can make a better contribution for the backbench, then that's totally fair enough."
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