Jacinta Price pledges to ‘make Australia great again’

Coalition frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has vowed to “make Australia great again” while standing alongside Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at an event in Perth on Saturday, echoing US President Donald Trump’s signature slogan.

The firebrand senator made the remarks at the end of her speech and before a press conference where she vowed to overhaul Australia’s education system and accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of having “effectively destroyed Australia”.

“We have incredible candidates right around the country that I’m so proud to be able to stand beside to ensure that we can make Australia great again, that we can bring Australia back to its former glory, that we can get Australia back on track,” Price said.

Labor has capitalised on voters’ fear of Trump’s tariffs policies and capricious approach to governing by attempting to link the Coalition to the president, which Dutton has parried by emphasising policy differences with the White House on issues such as the war in Ukraine.

Asked about her remark at a press conference later on Saturday, Price said: “I don’t even realise I said that, but no, I’m an Australian and I want to ensure that we get Australia back on track.”

Four days after Trump’s inauguration, Dutton appointed Price as the shadow minister for government efficiency, drawing parallels to the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Trump ally and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Price said her position was “not an ode to Donald Trump”, but was an extension of her longstanding interest in making sure spending on Indigenous affairs is efficient.

“We hate the fact that Anthony Albanese has effectively destroyed Australia,” Price said, adding that she wanted to “reset” the school curriculum to make it less ideological.

Dutton deflected repeated questions about Price’s “make Australia great again” comment before encouraging assembled journalists to ask Price more questions on an array of topics.

“Let’s just deal with the reality for people,” he said. “I really think that if we want to make their lives better, and we want to get our country back on track.”

Asked again, Dutton praised Price’s contribution to the Coalition and said he wanted to get rid of a bad government. “That’s what I want to do, and the biggest influence of my political life has been John Howard,” he said. “I’m incredibly proud of what Jacinta has done in saving our country from the Voice because that would have destroyed the social fabric of our country.”

Education Minister Jason Clare leapt on Price’s remark, saying: “The wheels are coming off Peter Dutton’s campaign, and so is the mask.

“It’s now pretty clear that Peter Dutton’s campaign to be prime minister is just a cut and paste from the United States.”

Responding to Price’s claim that Albanese had “effectively destroyed Australia” with his policies, Clare said: “Australia is the best country in the world, and if Jacinta Price doesn’t recognise that, that’s really disappointing.

“What she said today tells us that they just want to import US policies and US slogans to Australia.”

Referring to Trump’s red MAGA caps, Clare added: “The only thing she didn’t have today was the hat.”

But Clare avoided direct criticism of the US president, even as he described the US as being in “chaos”.

Trump’s growing unpopularity among Australians was highlighted by recent polling for this masthead in which 60 per cent of respondents said his election victory has been bad for Australia – up from 40 per cent who said the same last November.

Labor campaigners greeted the news of Price’s comments with delight as the party grows more confident of its chances at the May 3 election.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers sought to tie the Coalition to Trump at a debate with shadow treasurer Angus Taylor last week, accusing the Coalition of being “full of these DOGE-y sycophants”.

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