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In case you missed it, a Liberal candidate dumped by the party has forced Peter Dutton to declare his support for women serving in combat roles after the political aspirant claimed Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie shared his view that fighting units should be male only.

Benjamin Britton, who was dumped as the Liberal candidate for the NSW south coast seat of Whitlam on Sunday after disparaging women’s presence in the defence force, claimed today he was the victim of a “witch-hunt” from moderate factional forces within the party and reiterated his claims about the army.

“My position is the same as Andrew Hastie, the shadow minister for defence and the great [former Liberal senator] Jim Molan that women should not serve specifically in combat roles, specifically in the army itself,” Britton, who is a veteran, told Ben Fordham on 2GB.

But, Dutton suggested that Britton was ousted for issues beyond his views on women in combat.

“There were a number of issues, not just those made public in relation to the candidate, and we took a decision to replace the candidate,” the opposition leader said this afternoon.

Catch up on the full story here.