Robert Hastie (27 July 1861 – 9 April 1914) was an Australian politician who was the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party[a] in Western Australia.

Hastie was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and spent time in New Zealand and Victoria before arriving in Western Australia in 1895 during the gold rush.

[b] He spent five years in the North Island, including a period prospecting in Thames (the site of an earlier gold rush).

He faced five other candidates, all running for the Opposition faction (which opposed the government of George Throssell), but polled exactly 60 percent of the vote to record a large victory.

On at least one occasion, in August 1903, approaches were made to other non-government members about the Labour Party forming an official opposition, but they were rebuffed.

[7] At the first post-election meeting of the Labour caucus, on 8 July, he announced that he did not wish to be remain leader of the party, and was replaced by Henry Daglish, who was elected almost unanimously (George Taylor being the only other candidate).

William Sayer, the Crown Solicitor (equivalent to solicitor-general), was appointed acting attorney-general to fulfil certain constitutional requirements, but was not a formal member of the ministry.

[14] In a ministerial reshuffle in June 1905, Hastie replaced John Holman as Minister for Labour, but lost the mines portfolio to William Johnson.

Hastie stood for Labour preselection in Kanowna for a third time, but was defeated by Thomas Walker (who went on to hold the seat until his death in 1932).

[16][17] In May 1906, Hastie sued the Kalgoorlie Sun for libel, claiming £1,000 in damages for an article in January 1906 that he believed portrayed him as corrupt.

[21] In January 1910, Hastie announced his intention to contest the Division of Coolgardie at the 1910 federal election, standing for the Commonwealth Liberal Party against the sitting Labour member, Hugh Mahon.