PM ‘confident but not cocky’ about Canning

“I can say with great confidence that those soldiers involved directly with the incident were acting in what they believed to be the appropriate process laid out by Defence”.

A statement by then chief of the defence force David Hurley said the Australians had been engaged in a “high intensity, complex and risky battle” at the time of the incident.

Mr Hastie said that he was flying overhead in a helicopter when the incident took place, and promptly reported it up the chain of command when he became aware of it.

“It is critical when you are fighting the Taliban that you gather evidence and do what you can to investigate the precise identification of your enemy”.

He said all bar one of the troops had been cleared following an inquiry and the remaining soldier should have his case concluded as soon as possible. “The principle of military necessity says in extreme circumstances that if there is no alternative you have to do things like this”. It is unclear whether this breached the rules of war, which forbid despoiling or mutilating corpses. “As this matter is under investigation, it would be inappropriate, and potentially prejudicial to the investigation, to comment further at this time”. I have now left the defence force with a clean slate. “I’ve acted”.

Neil James, executive director of the Australia Defence Association, said the hand-chopping did not constitute a war crime because the soldiers were doing it out of military necessity.

“Andrew Hastie wasn’t the on-scene commander, he wasn’t in the direct chain of command for this particular operation because that’s not the way patrols work”.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten is rumoured to also be travelling to Perth. “This by-election should not be about Mr Abbott’s job, it should be about a plan for the jobs of West Australians”, he said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott with Liberal candidate Captain Andrew Hastie outside the “West Australian” newspaper offices in Perth on Friday.

The byelection, triggered by the unexpected death of long-serving Liberal MP Don Randall, will be held on September 19.

Randall, who died of a heart attack in July, had a lead of nearly 12% in Canning, but the latest Newspoll shows that margin has all but disappeared. At the last federal election in 2013 it won with 61.8% to Labor’s 38.2%.

The outcome of the Canning byelection will have significant political ramifications, with many pundits predicting that a loss for the Liberals could spark a challenge to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership. “[Mr Randall] had a very strong personal vote and obviously at the last election there was the Rudd-Gillard factor at work here in Western Australia”.

“So I’m not saying for a moment that we’re going to hold Don’s margin, but nevertheless we’ve got a terrific candidate”.

Mr Abbott met Captain Hastie in Perth on Friday and has described him as “a tremendous candidate” who was “more than capable of contributing to good government in this country”.