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AAP
AAP
Politics
Tess Ikonomou

Dutton's defence policy reveal turns into gender battle

Andrew Hastie is under fire for old comments on women in frontline defence roles. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

Peter Dutton's big reveal on defence policy has been sidetracked by the re-emergence of a missing frontbencher, under fire for old comments on women in combat roles.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie, a former Special Air Service Regiment captain, said in 2018 his view was that the "fighting DNA of a close combat unit is best preserved when it's exclusively male".

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