Jacinta Price fronts ‘No’ campaign ad, calling Indigenous voice to parliament divisive

Jacinta Price has fronted a deeply personal referendum ad, featuring her husband opening up on the ‘abuse’ he has to witness | WATCH

Senator Jacinta Price and her husband Colin in the 'No' campaign ad by Fair Australia.

Newly-elevated Opposition Indigenous Affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has fronted a ‘No’ campaign television ad, calling her decision to oppose the Indigenous voice to parliament “very personal”.

In the ad, run by ‘No’ campaign group Fair Australia, Senator Price offers an insight into her upbringing in Alice Springs, where she says many in her family suffered violence, substance abuse and alcoholism.

The active ‘No’ campaigner said she grew up with an Indigenous mother and a white father, ad she went on to form her own “blended family” with Scottish-Australian husband Colin Lillie, who also appears alongside her in the ad.

“It’s interesting growing up in a household with two different cultures but recognising what we have in common was always really important for us as a family,” Senator Price says.

“And while I might be growing up with Warlpiri culture and modern Australian culture, I belong to this world, just as all other human beings belong to this world, just like all other Australians belong to Australia. They were the values I was brought up with.”

Senator Price says she doesn’t want to see Australians divided “along the lines of race in this country”.

Jacinta Price in the Fair Australia ad.

“I don’t want to see my family divided along the lines of race, because we are a family of human beings and that’s the bottom line.”

Mr Lillie, a musician, said he would not question his wife’s lived experience.

“As a husband I have to tolerate people abusing my wife because she’s a conservative politician.

🎥No division in our family. No division in our country. Watch Jacinta and Colin’s powerful story IN FULL now at https://t.co/u9qedUHQfppic.twitter.com/9ysRRzV9QQ

— FAIR AUSTRALIA (Powered by ADVANCE) (@FairAusADV) April 19, 2023

“But I will not argue and debate her lived experience which she has seen and heard with her own ears and eyes. I can’t argue that. You’ve got to live, and walk, and talk the talk.”

Senator Price finished by confirming she would be voting ‘No.’

“I’ll be voting No, because this will not unite us, it will divide us,” she said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton catapulted the Country Liberal Party senator, who is one of the most outspoken campaigners against the Albanese government’s preferred model for the voice, into his shadow cabinet on Tuesday, in a wider than expected reshuffle.

Jacinta Price in the Fair Australia ad.

She used her first day in shadow cabinet yesterday to kickstart a new battle over Aboriginality, warning the newly legislated South Australian voice will trigger a “dramatic increase” in people falsely claiming to be Indigenous, as she leads the ­Coalition’s No campaign and is charged with delivering better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Senator Jacinta Price in Alice Springs for the the 'No' campaign ad by Fair Australia.