Former SAS commander-turned Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has weighed in on the debate on using special forces to resolve a future terrorist attacks, arguing it is important to have the best resources on the ground.
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And he has said the most lethal force available resides not with state police but with the military's Special Air Service, otherwise known as the SAS, who would be better placed to kill a terrorist threatening hostages.
His comments followed the airing of a two-part Four Corners investigation into the Lindt Cafe siege featuring former hostages, and the families of victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson. Both families expressed extreme frustration at the refusal of NSW Police to take earlier action to resolve the deadly stand-off.
While Mr Hastie stopped short of stating outright that SAS commandos should have been used in the December 2014 siege, he has made no secret within the Coalition party room of his view that the crisis was allowed to drag on too long under the control of NSW Police.
Speaking on Sky News on Monday, he was critical of the overuse of flash-bang distraction grenades by police tactical response officers when they eventually embarked on an emergency action to end the siege.
"We did a lot of training with flash-bangs, you don't just throw them willy-nilly," he said.
NSW coroner Michael Barnes found 11 devices were thrown into the cafe area, each of which went off nine times.
The federal government is reviewing the so-called call-out powers of the Commonwealth, which currently limit the ability of Australian Defence Force to involve itself or assume control of attacks except where state police decide the matter is beyond its capability.
Mr Hastie, who spent months training for siege resolution in a variety of situations, said he would await that review but felt instinctively that the Commonwealth should take over where an attack is made by a listed terrorist organisation against Australia.
"My instinctive view, it's not considered, it's instinctive, is that once it's established that it is a terrorist incident and it is being conducted by a listed terrorist organisation, the question then becomes is this a criminal act or is it an attack on the Commonwealth? If it's an attack on the Commonwealth, should the federal government then resolve the situation? And I'm leaning towards putting our best team on the ground to defeat a future terrorist threat," he said.
A view is forming within the Coalition party room that the "call-out" powers should be much clearer and that the political mandate from the government be more aggressive and proactive in the face of a terrorist threat.
Mr Hastie was elected to Parliament during a 2013 byelection.
He joined the Australian Defence Force after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
He served three tours of Afghanistan, advised the Abbott government on its Operation Sovereign Borders regime and has also taken part in operations against the Islamic State terror group in the Middle East.
