MAGA hat creates new headache for Jacinta Price and Peter Dutton
The day after a Liberal senator insisted saying “make Australia great again” had nothing to do with Donald Trump, photos have emerged of her wearing MAGA gear for Christmas.
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Images have emerged of Coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, just a day after she had to defend making a similar Donald Trump-inspired comment while on the campaign trail with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
Photos from Christmas Day show the Northern Territory senator wearing a hat emblazoned with the ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan, with her husband Colin Lillie wearing a beanie with the same wording.
The photo’s emergence came a day after Senator Price was forced to deny she was channelling the US President when she said she wanted to “make Australia great again”, while at a campaign event standing alongside Mr Dutton.
A spokeswoman for Nationals leader David Littleproud, contacted for comment about Senator Price and the new photo, referred to comments he made earlier on Sunday defending the senator after her “make Australia great again” remark the day before.
“She inadvertently made these comments. It’s nothing about trying to channel Trump at all,” he told Weekend Today, before saying Labor were running a “smear” campaign over “a slip of the tongue”.
Senator Price on Saturday said she didn’t realise she’d made the comment, accusing the media of being “obsessed with Donald Trump” and saying the Coalition wants to “ensure that we get Australia back on track”.
Labor has consistently tried to link the Coalition campaign with the Trump administration, honing in on policies such as the Coalition’s pledge to slash the public service.
In January, Senator Price was given the portfolio of “government efficiency” in an echo of President Trump’s billionaire lieutenant and head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese again attempted to link Trump and the Coalition at his campaign launch on Sunday, saying “our plan to build Australia’s future is not (about) borrowing ideologies or copying policies from anywhere else, or anyone else”.
Labor’s campaign spokesman, Jason Clare, also posted on his social media the clip of Senator Price saying “make Australia great again”, with the caption “cut and paste from the United States”.
Senator Price and the Coalition were contacted for comment.
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