Jacqui Lambie brands Pauline Hanson a ‘bloody coward’ for attacks on Liberal MP Andrew Hastie

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie has leapt to the defence of Liberal MP Andrew Hastie describing Pauline Hanson as “nothing less than a bloody coward” for her attacks on the former soldier.

Senator Lambie, who is also an Army veteran, on Thursday let rip at the One Nation leader and said her party’s satirical Please Explain cartoon which depicts Mr Hastie as a traitor was “absolutely disgusting”.

“How people can watch that rubbish is beyond me. But attacking Andrew Hastie, a veteran that has served in our Afghanistan war, or any other veteran, is the lowest ebb you can possibly do,” Senator Lambie said.

“That woman is nothing less than a bloody coward. She always has been, and she always will be. She wouldn’t last one day in that goddamn uniform. Leave our veterans alone, Hanson,” she told the ABC.

The Tasmanian Senator, who regularly speaks out on issues affecting ex-servicemen and women, also accused Senator Hanson of delaying the royal commission into veteran suicide.

“To those veterans out there. Don’t you forget, she held us off for that royal commission for months – that woman, because she didn’t think we were good enough to have a royal commission.”

Asked about Senator Hanson’s statement that she had denied personally calling Mr Hastie a traitor, Senator Lambie said the explanation made no difference.

“It makes it no better at all. She’s running around cartoons calling a veteran a traitor. She’s disgusting. Like I said, she’s the lowest bit of life you can possibly come from with that woman. I tell you what, you’re seeing her true colours start to shine now. You watch this, the Australian people. Here we go. Here comes coward Hanson.”

Over recent days, Mr Hastie’s feud with Senator Hanson and fellow One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has escalated, with the Liberal frontbencher labelling them “lying cowards” after he claimed they called him a “traitor” in a string of social media posts.

During several media appearances on Wednesday, the former SAS captain called on One Nation to either “own it and explain why I’m a traitor and why other veterans are traitors, or delete it”.

“I said that Pauline Hanson and One Nation had called me a traitor to my own country, and today Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson both denied it. Today I’m calling them lying cowards,” the Liberal frontbencher told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

Earlier in the week Senator Hanson denied calling Mr Hastie a traitor but called him a “wanker” for complaining about the One Nation leader declaring that her party wanted to win his seat of Canning in Western Australia.

On Thursday One Nation’s leader in Western Australia Rod Caddies was reluctant to weigh into the dispute when asked about the escalating feud.

“Well, I wouldn’t call him a traitor myself. So you know that’s the most I’m going to comment on that,” he said initially.

“I’m not going to condone calling anyone a traitor that served our country. I’d prefer every party, including our own party, had the temperature down,” he told reporters.