At a meet-and-greet with voters in Armadale on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Canning by-election, Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie told voters that veterans needed to be looked after but not all of them were affected mentally.
Mr Hastie, a former member of the SAS who served in Afghanistan, made the comments to a mother-and-daughter pair who raised concerns about returning soldiers.
"Not every soldier gets PTSD," Mr Hastie said.
'Well, a lot do, don’t they?" said the mother, who wanted to remain anonymous.
"They have to do tough things, but the most important thing that soldiers bring back is skills not scars," Mr Hastie said.
"There’s a lot of good veterans with a lot to contribute to Australian society and we need to look after those that are affected, but not everyone is affected."
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Mr Hastie and several other Canning candidates were in Armadale on Thursday to take part in a local radio debate and answer questions from the voters.
Labor's candidate Matt Keogh, who grew up in the electorate, joined Mr Hastie, who is not from Western Australia, in the radio debate.
The pair was quizzed on how they would tackle growing congestion in the Armadale area, genetically modified crops and penalty rates. But it was a question on the state’s share of the GST revenue that had Mr Hastie facing a grilling.
'I’m a little bit over politicians saying they’re going to do something," said one voter.
"You’re ex-army, let’s see some action."
"Well, you’ve got to give me a chance," Mr Hastie said.
"I've got to get elected, otherwise I can just sit here and say what I’m saying."
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His main opponent Matt Keogh, a lawyer, made sure to remind the voters that he was a local who had been born in the nearby town of Kelmscott and had spent much of his life in the electorate.
"I’ve spent my entire professional life working for people on the ground here and around WA on the issues that are important to them," Mr Keogh said.
"Working with community groups that run refuges for victims of domestic violence, working on law reform, working on the issues that people are concerned about, being an advocate for community services.
"That’s what I want to be doing as a member of Parliament, our national Parliament, for this area."
Also joining the candidates was the Greens candidate Vanessa Rauland, who reached some agreement with the Liberal’s Andrew Hastie on conserving the environment.
