Conservative Political Action Conference: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price spurs crowd for Charlie Kirk

Liberal backbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price spurs crowd to a standing ovation for the assassinated MAGA influencer.

Jacinta Price, adorned in an Australian flag, lionised Charlie Kirk in her address to CPAC Australia, praising the conservative pundit for his controversial activism.

Assassinated right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk has been the subject of praise across the majority of speakers on the first day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference Australia meeting, including a standing ovation spurred on by controversial Liberal backbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price .

In her first major appearance at an event since being ousted from her role as opposition defence spokeswoman, Ms Price opened her speech by directly referencing the MAGA influencer.

“To the family of Charlie Kirk, you have my respect and the respect of the audience today,” Ms Price said, to the crowd’s approval.

“Let me hear you roar for Charlie, and for freedom of speech,” she said.

Price called for the Liberal Party to ‘courageously abandon net zero’ and accused Labor of ‘eroding freedom’ in her address to the conference. Picture: NewsWire/ Glenn Campbell

Mr Kirk, who was killed last week in an apparent political assassination, has been lionised by a number of right-wing Australian politicians.

Ms Price’s call to action was received enthusiastically by a crowd who responded with loud cheers and raucous applause – a trend which would be repeated by almost every other speaker appearing at the Brisbane conference.

Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, made famous for a 50-day stint in office, said Charlie Kirk was “absolutely right” when he suggested that conservatives had “played by our rules” and the left had “completely ignored them.”

“MAGA revolution is contagious in a good way,” she said.

“The left have captured our institutions … they cannot be viewed as neutral anymore.”

Former British leader Liz Truss said public institutions had been ‘captured’ by the left. Picture: NewsWire/ Glenn Campbell

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie made similar comments, quoting Kirk a number of times through her address, while colleague Senator Matt Canavan said he had personally asked Kirk to attend CPAC Australia.

“I wanted him to come over here, I thought he’d be great in Australia. I wasn’t sure if the average young Australian kid knew about Charlie Kirk … he had a huge following, he had a massive following,” he said.

The controversial MAGA influencer was well known across a variety of internet communities, particularly young conservative men.

Senator Canavan said Kirk “tackled the left with unapologetic, strong views”.

Across the spectrum of speakers, one of the strongest messages being presented was the perceived need for Australia’s right wing to push itself even further to the right.

Ms Price said the Coalition had lost the election because “we lost our nerve to prosecute policies … to differentiate ourselves from Labor”.

“We need to stop being a Labor-lite party or Labor in blue,” she said.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart was among those in the audience who watched multiple speakers advocate for the rejection of net zero. Picture: NewsWire/ Glenn Campbell

Her thoughts were echoed by Truss, who called for a defunding of the ABC and even the CPAC director Andrew Cooper, who floated the idea of a broader coalition which included One Nation during his brief address before lunch.

A brief interlude between speeches also featured an AI-generated faux-anime – voiced in Japanese and dubbed with subtitles for added effect – depicting a war between city-faring climate activists and “hardworking blue-collar Aussies” over net zero and the development of wind farms in regional Australia.

The inaugural Australian CPAC meeting was held in 2019, and was modelled off the American CPAC conferences which have been a staple event on the US Republican calendar for decades.