Independent Australian senator Jacqui Lambie has launched a furious attack on One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, calling on her to "leave veterans alone" after a satirical cartoon posted by Hanson labelled Liberal frontbencher and former SAS soldier Andrew Hastie a "traitor". The row stems from Hastie's testimony during the defamation trial of accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith, with whom he served in the SAS, and it has triggered widespread condemnation of Hanson from across the political spectrum, including from political rivals who rarely agree with Hastie.

Lambie, herself a veteran, branded Hanson a "disgusting coward" and a "10-second grub of rubbish", demanding she apologise to Hastie and take the cartoon down, which remained pinned to the top of Hanson's X account as of Friday morning. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, Labor minister Madeleine King and Greens senator David Shoebridge all separately criticised Hanson's actions as appalling and despicable, while Hastie hit back by calling Hanson and fellow One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce "glass-jawed" and "lying cowards" after she refused to remove the video, which she had earlier dismissed as satire.