Neil Mitchell throws support behind Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie

In fact, Hastie criticised the military for continuing the investigation into the mutilations, claiming that the chopping off of hands arose because “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”.

“I believe the Defence Force has a duty of care to finalise its investigation more quickly”, Mr Hastie said. It is unclear whether this breached the rules of war, which forbid despoiling or mutilating corpses.

“No one I know, who was aware of either the circumstances or worldwide law, doesn’t think they won’t be exonerated”.

“These are serious allegations and it is important to conduct a full and thorough investigation”.

But after a rocky sitting fortnight for the prime minister, beset by a series of leaks, Liberals are conceding privately that a bad result in the byelection, caused by the death of Don Randall, could have a material effect on Abbott’s leadership. “Andrew Hastie is an outstanding individual”, Abbott said.

This extension would mean Australia publicly joining the illegal Washington-orchestrated drive to oust the Assad regime in Syria, adding to the long list of crimes committed by successive Australian governments as part of predatory American operations in the Middle East, starting with the bombardment of Iraq in the 1990-91 Gulf War.

Fairfax Media also asked the WA Liberals for a response, including on whether Captain Hastie made any declaration about the incident or investigation when he sought preselection, but a spokesman referred the questions to Defence.

Mr Hastie also said lack of phone coverage in semi-isolated areas, such as Byford and further south near Waroona needed to be addressed.

Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane has backed Mr Hastie on Twitter.

“As an SAS officer with active service experience, I have demonstrated a capacity to fight for the Australian way of life”, he wrote.

Her own status as a small business owner, of sustainability consultancy SimplyCarbon, was “a ideal example of the types of new jobs that will become available if we can support this sector a little more”, she said.

Who’s got your back? “[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”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would not comment when asked about Mr Hastie, saying this was a matter for the Prime Minister: “I’m certainly not going to start denigrating the Liberal candidate”. “We are honoured he is standing”.