Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has again refused to apologise for her comments about Indian-Australians and declined to back the leadership of Sussan Ley, as a public spat between Liberal frontbenchers enters a second week.
In a hastily-convened press conference in Perth, Senator Nampijinpa Price said she “won’t be silenced” on the issue of migration and that Ms Ley’s leadership was “a matter for our party room”.
The firebrand senator, who defected from the Nationals to the Liberals in May to seek the deputy leadership and then pulled out of the race at the last minute, derailed what had been a successful week in parliament for her party leader when she suggested in an ABC interview that the Albanese government was prioritising migrants likely to vote Labor.
When pressed on what she meant, Senator Nampijinpa Price identified Indian migrants, a comment which rippled through Australia’s Indian diaspora and appalled some Liberals who believe the party’s electoral future relies on improving its standing with migrant communities.
Liberal frontbenchers Alex Hawke and Julian Leeser publicly rebuked the comments, with Mr Hawke saying Senator Nampijinpa Price should apologise and Mr Leeser offering an apology on her behalf.
While both men are aligned with Ms Ley, the opposition leader herself has avoided calling for an apology or directly criticising Senator Nampijinpa Price and has even refused to say whether they have spoken to one another.
PM says Nampijinpa Price should apologise for Indian remarks
Senator Nampijinpa Price, who holds the defence industry portfolio in the outer shadow ministry, launched a broadside at Mr Hawke on Sunday accusing him of berating her staff member and threatening her portfolio, which Mr Hawke has denied.
She had not spoken to reporters since the incident, appearing only in an interview with Peta Credlin on Sky News, but was sighted in the back of colleague Michaelia Cash’s car earlier on Wednesday leaving an event.
Senator Nampijinpa Price began her brief appearance thanking reporters for “chasing [her] down” before giving a brief statement, saying her comments were “clumsy” but had been “immediately clarified”.
“I want to thank those Australians who have reached out in support of me,” she said, adding this had included many “Australians of Indian heritage”.
“The issue that I won’t be silenced on is the issue of mass migration in our country, and that was the prime issue I was talking about …
“I would love to be able to move forward from this because … we’ve been elected by the Australian people to address the failures of the Albanese government. That’s what I’d like my colleagues to be focused on going forward.”
She said her own children had mixed heritage including Indian heritage and where “a remarkable, I believe, example of what it means to be Australian… I am a woman of mixed heritage myself and this is ultimately the Australian story”.
Liberal frustration over saga
Liberals the ABC has spoken to described the senator’s latest intervention as odd, with one suggesting she had overreached and didn’t know how to pull herself back.
The Liberals said there was no mood to roll Sussan Ley, agreeing that she needed time to prove herself despite a few early missteps.
One questioned how Senator Nampijinpa Price could remain on the frontbench, but all agreed on the need to de-escalate and move on.
“If you’re in the shadow ministry… and you don’t feel like you can support the leader and you don’t support the direction they’re taking the country, then the option open to you is pretty clear and that’s to resign from the shadow ministry,” Liberal moderate Dave Sharma told Sky News on Wednesday evening.
Ms Ley hosted a round table with Indian community leaders in Sydney over the weekend and told reporters on Tuesday they had expressed “the hurt and the harm they felt from the remarks that were made” by Senator Nampijinpa Price.
“I know that they also understood from me, as leader of the Liberal Party, our very, very strong backing and support of our Indian community,” she said.
“I say to them, it doesn’t matter to me how you vote, we love what you bring to our communities …
“I know that [Senator Nampijinpa Price] is listening to the Indian community and hearing their words directly in many instances, and I think that’s important because where feelings are hurt, there needs to be a two way dialogue and there needs to be an understanding.”