Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defiant as Sussan Ley axes senator from frontbench
The ousted NT senator is vowing to use her position on the backbench to campaign on dumping net zero, migration and the threat of China.
Sussan Ley is facing ongoing undermining of her leadership after sacking Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the shadow ministry, with the ousted Northern Territory senator vowing to use her position on the backbench to campaign on Indigenous issues, dumping net zero, slashing migration, the threat of China and the “indoctrination of children in our classrooms”.
The Opposition Leader on Wednesday evening announced she had dumped Senator Price as defence industry spokeswoman for repeatedly failing to voice confidence in her leadership.
“Confidence in the leader is a requirement for serving in the shadow ministry,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Senator Price refused to endorse Ms Ley’s leadership at a hastily convened press conference in Perth.
“Those matters are for our partyroom,” the senator said each time she was asked about Ms Ley’s leadership.
Senator Price’s refusal to endorse Ms Ley on Wednesday dramatically escalated a messy political issue – sparked by Senator Price last week suggesting Indian migrants typically vote Labor – to a test of the Liberal leader’s authority.
Ms Ley said she also sacked Senator Price for failing to apologise for claiming the Albanese government was encouraging migration from India for political reasons. Ms Ley said Senator Price “failed the test of high standard that I have set for members of my shadow ministry”.
“Several days ago, Senator Nampijinpa Price made comments that were deeply hurtful to Indian Australians,” Ms Ley said at a press conference in Hobart.
“The comments were wrong and should not have been made. Since that time, my team and I have been out listening to Australians of Indian heritage and we have heard their response and the pain and hurt that these remarks provided for them.
“And despite being given the time and space to apologise, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price did not offer an apology.”
Ms Ley said she would continue to welcome Senator Price in the Liberal partyroom, despite it bolstering the numbers of conservatives hostile to her leadership.
Conservative Liberals on Wednesday night were scathing of Ms Ley’s handling of the saga, echoing moderate senator Jane Hume in arguing it was misguided to delegate the counselling of Senator Price to factional powerbroker Alex Hawke.
Ms Ley did not call Senator Price until this week, days after the Northern Territory senator was contacted by Mr Hawke.
Ms Ley has faced internal criticism from conservative Liberals for refusing to bring the net-zero argument to a head, with MPs believing shadow minister Andrew Hastie – considered the next leader from the conservatives – was considering crossing the floor and voting for Barnaby Joyce’s bill to abolish the mid-century target.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott said he was disappointed in Senator Price’s sacking.
“She will be a big loss to the frontbench but I’m confident that she will continue to make a strong contribution to our public life,” Mr Abbott said.
Senator Price – who defected from the Nationals to the Liberals after the May election with the intention of running as Angus Taylor’s deputy – on Wednesday said she would be a vocal backbencher.
“I will continue to speak up on issues which are in the national interest and that are important to millions of Australians,” Senator Price said.
This included the plight of Indigenous Australians in remote communities and the “ongoing romanticisation of traditional culture that inhibits addressing the root causes of Indigenous violence today”.
“The ineffectiveness of bloated bureaucracies that have done nothing to ‘close the gap’,” she said. “And the need to push back against activists who, ignoring the referendum outcome and the will of the Australian people, march on with the goals of segregation and reparations under the guise of that Orwellian phrase ‘truth-telling’.”
Senator Price said she would also campaign against “mass migration”, net zero and the “indoctrination of children in our classrooms that engenders national guilt and inhibits national pride”.
The Northern Territory senator — who was the lead campaigner against the voice referendum — also declared she would be vocal about the Albanese government’s embrace of “the same statist ideas that have devastated economies and people wherever and whenever they’ve been implemented”.
“And the Chinese Communist Party’s military aggression in our region and its foreign interference in our country that presents a great danger of our age,” she said.
Senator Price reiterated her regret for “not being clearer” in her language about Indian migrants but again fell short of apologising.
“I never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community. And I wish no ill-will whatsoever to the Indian community – or any other migrant group,” she said.
“My concern – as it is for millions of Australians – is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications. My concern is not migration itself – it’s the magnitude of migration.”
Supporters of Ms Ley said Senator Price was basically acting like a backbencher anyway, arguing it was electoral stupidity to offend a million voters and not apologise. One MP said the party was “bleeding” in migrant communities from Senator Price’s comments.
On Wednesday morning, Senator Hume said Ms Ley had mishandled the fallout from Senator Price’s comments, first made to the ABC last Wednesday.
The issue escalated after Sky News reported on Sunday that Mr Hawke, the manager of opposition business, called Senator Price to counsel her on the comments.
Senator Price used social media on Sunday to accuse Mr Hawke of “cowardly and inappropriate behaviour” and of having berated her staff member in this interaction.
Mr Hawke continued to fuel the issue on Monday by doing media interviews urging Senator Price to apologise.
Senator Hume, who was dumped from the frontbench by Ms Ley after the May election, said it had been “so poorly handled it’s now blown out of control”.
“I think that the leader’s office would probably now acknowledge that if the leader wanted an outcome she probably should have picked up the phone herself rather than sending a henchman,” Senator Hume said, referring to Mr Hawke.
Additional reporting: Paul Garvey, Noah Yim
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