NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defends trust for her memoir in fiery press conference
NT Senator Jacinta Price has hit back at claims she failed to disclose a trust “designed to hold royalties” from the sale of her memoir, saying “there’s no story here”.
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NT Senator Jacinta Price has hit back at claims she failed to disclose a trust “designed to hold royalties” from the sale of her memoir, saying “there’s no story here”.
Ms Price made the comments during a heated press conference in Alice Springs on Tuesday, where she admitted to making an “oversight” in a “particular part of the declaration”.
She admitted she had failed to declare herself as director of Kuja-Purda Jukurra Pty Ltd, a trust she said “has basically been designed to hold royalties from the sale of my book”.
“Yes, I’m sole director of the company involved with the trust,” she said.
“As has been indicated in terms of my family trust, it holds no shares, it holds no investments, holds no property.
“And there’s probably not much more to that, really, but I guess I have the right, like any other politician, to plan for my family’s future, to support my family.
“There’s no story here.”
Documents obtained from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show Ms Price is the director and main shareholder of Kuja-Purda Jukurra Pty Ltd, a private company which she said is her family trust.
Kuja-Purda Jukurra Pty Ltd was registered on August 1, 2024.
The federal register of senators’ interest shows the trust was declared on October 29, 2024.
The July 2022 Australia Senate Handbook lists shareholdings in public and private companies and family trusts as registrable interests.
According to the handbook, registered interests must be declared by a senator 28 days after the first meeting of Senate, 28 days after the first meeting of the Senate after a simultaneous dissolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives; and 28 days after making and subscribing an oath or affirmation of allegiance as a senator for a Territory or appointed or chosen to fill a vacancy in the Senate.
A notification of an alteration to those registered interests must be made to the Registrar within “35 days of that alteration occurring”, the handbook states.
However, Ms Price said she did not report the interest late, and media reports claiming she did had “reported incorrectly”.
“It was never declared late and it was declared at the appropriate time,” she said.
Ms Price also said “there are no shares” in the trust, but the ASIC company extract shows Ms Price holds two shares in Kuja-Purda Jukurra Pty Ltd.
“As the Shadow Minister for Government Efficiency, I have made it very clear from the outset that, particularly in the Indigenous portfolio, I’m well aware that there are billions of dollars that are spent without producing any outcomes,” she said.
“So I will call out all of those who have got a hell of a lot more in terms of property portfolios than I do in this country, who head up organisations, multimillion dollar organisations, and are failing our most marginalised.
“So you can focus on my trust, you can focus on whatever you want to focus on. I’ve not done anything wrong, I’m not under any investigation.”
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