Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves slams Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as ‘offensive’

Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves accused Senator Jacinta Price of ‘aggressively’ using her position to dismiss cultural protocols and called for her ‘attacks on Aboriginal culture to cease’.

Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said while ‘I don’t agree with the Voice’, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s ‘no’ campaign was not welcome in Yuendumu.

Residents in Yuendumu have reacted angrily to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price bringing her “no” referendum campaign to their community, with one Elder slamming the Territory Senator as “offensive, hostile, and triggering”.

Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said Senator Price had “arrogantly barged her way into Yuendumu community unannounced, without permission, with a camera crew in tow, claiming to be a Traditional Owner” last week.

“This angry individual is offensive, hostile, and triggering to vulnerable Aboriginal people who are still breaking from the shooting incident of our youth,” he said, in reference to the fatal 2019 police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker.

“We wish for the Senator’s attacks on Aboriginal culture to cease.”

Mr Hargraves said Senator Price was “not a Traditional Owner” and if she wanted to visit family based in Yuendumu “she should catch up with them in Alice Springs”.

Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves has asked Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to ‘kindly stop hostilities’. Picture: Jason Walls

“I think it’s very important that she gets this message, we were not happy with her coming to Yuendumu,” he said.

“I don’t know why she came but I assume she came to get people’s votes for — to talk about the Voice — and she never told the community that she was coming for that.”

Mr Hargraves said while “I don’t agree with the Voice”, Senator Price’s “no” campaign was not welcome in the Red Centre community 300km northwest of Alice Springs.

“May it be known for the record that Senator Jacinta Price has no cultural status with Warlpiri, nor is she considered a leader, role model, nor an inspiration to our youth,” he said.

“The senator was met with staff at (PAW Media), who informed her that she was not welcome at Yuendumu and that she needed to leave.

“Instead of complying with our wishes, she aggressively used her public position to dismiss cultural protocols, saying she can go wherever she wants.”

Mr Hargraves said the community was also currently undertaking cultural business and it was “not an appropriate time for any visitors and we have advised her office of this”.

Senator Price declined to comment.

It comes after an investigation by RMIT University last week revealed Territorian Stewart Lingiari claimed he had been ”told to say that” before his photo was widely shared on social media by “no” campaigners, including Senator Price.

Senator Price shared the photo on her Twitter account with the caption “Vincent Lingiari’s grandson thinks otherwise….#VoteNOAustralia” before it emerged he was not related to the legendary land rights leader.

“He is a Millwarparra man from the Northern Territory whose photo has been used to support the ‘no’ campaign, despite the fact that he says he is unsure of what the voice to parliament referendum is about,” the university revealed.