Keogh confirmed for Canning | Canning Byelection

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.

The Liberal candidate for Canning, Andrew Hastie, is a quick learner, and has already demonstrated a fine capacity to politicise national security. It is unclear whether this breached the rules of war, which forbid despoiling or mutilating corpses.

He also defended the soldier still under investigation, who he described as “honourable”, and said that the Defence investigation should now be completed “fully and quickly”.

The incident in 2013 is believed to have been carried out by one or more soldiers who were under the command of Captain Andrew Hastie.

A Reachtel poll published in the West Australian newspaper on Tuesday found the contest between Mr Hastie and Labor candidate Matt Keogh was neck and neck, predicting a swing of almost 12 percentage points to Labor.

A Department of Defence statement said the investigation continued into “potential misconduct” during a combined Afghan-Australian operation in Zabul province in 2013. The latter is also being backed by senior Liberals like Mathias Cormann, the finance minister and Julie Bishop, the foreign minister.

She campaigned in the seat on Tuesday, will campaign again on Thursday, and an endorsement by Ms Bishop of Mr Hastie as a man who “has a plan to deliver for the people of Canning” features prominently on the candidate’s website. The sources of Fairfax Media confirmed that the troop involved in the incident consisted of around 30 members, commanded by Andrew Hastie.

But Mr Shorten said he’d heard reliable reports “that the Liberals have built an Abbott-proof fence around Canning”.

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

Federal director of the Liberal Party, Brian Loughnane, said on Twitter that Mr Hastie “has served our country in an exemplary way and will be a strong voice for Canning”.

Although the Liberal party hold Canning with an 11.8 margin, the seat is set to go to the wire with the PM’s popularity plummeting nationally.