Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has sacked Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from her front bench. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has cut Jacinta Nampijinpa Price loose from the Coalition’s front bench, dumping the rebel Liberal senator from the shadow ministry for failing to support her leadership.
It follows a week of high and unwanted drama for the Opposition, with Senator Price refusing to apologise for hurtful comments she made about the Indian community in Australia.
Senator Price defected from the Nationals to the Liberals in May in the hope of becoming deputy leader, and she maintained her refusal to apologise this week for saying last week that Indian migration numbers are up because Indians are more likely to vote Labor.
She had admitted the comments were “clumsy” and a “mistake”, but persistently tried to deflect attention from them by criticising the media, the Federal Government and her own party’s leadership throughout the saga.
The issue reached a crescendo on Wednesday afternoon (10 September) when Senator Price was repeatedly asked during a media appearance to confirm her confidence in Ms Ley’s leadership of the Liberal Party – and she repeatedly refused to do so.
“Those matters are for our party room,” she said.
“My focus is to go forward and to ensure that we’re doing the right thing by the Australian people, which is what we’re elected to do.”
She also refused again to apologise for her comments about Indian Australians and said she wouldn’t be silenced on the subject of “mass migration”.
By dinner time, the Senator was axed as shadow minister for defence industry and banished to the Opposition’s backbench.
In a media conference in Hobart early Wednesday evening and in a subsequent media statement, Ms Ley said the Senator’s role on her front bench had become untenable.
She informed the Senator of her decision two hours before announcing it publicly.
“Serving in my shadow ministry is a privilege, and it is a requirement to have confidence in the leadership,” Ms Ley said.
“Shadow ministers and shadow assistant ministers are expected to uphold the standards I have set as leader.
“Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has failed to do so and will no longer serve in my shadow ministry.
“Today, despite being given sufficient time and space to do so, Senator Price failed to apologise for remarks which have caused Australians of Indian heritage significant hurt.
“She also refused to provide confidence in my leadership of the Liberal Party, and sadly, that has made her position untenable in my shadow ministry.
“The Liberal Party I lead will respect, reflect and represent modern Australia.”
Earlier in the day, Ms Ley had repeated her rebuttal of Senator Price’s comments, as she had been doing for a week, but refused to apologise on her behalf or publicly say the Senator should apologise herself.
Her shadow attorney-general, Julian Leeser, however, had publicly apologised for the maverick Senator’s damaging comments.
That threw more of a spotlight on Ms Ley’s failure to do so, as did the calls from numerous other Coalition front and backbenchers calling for Senator Price to apologise.
Shadow minister Dave Sharma called for the Senator to resign on Wednesday after she refused to support Ms Ley’s leadership.
“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,” Senator Sharma told Sky News.
Shortly after, Senator Price was sacked.
The Northern Territory Senator issued her own statement confirming Ms Ley had asked her to step down and she had accepted that decision.
“Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to express to the leader my disappointment that some colleagues disregarded the key point I was making about the damaging impacts of mass migration,” she said.
“And that some colleagues instead chose to indulge agenda-driven media commentary on this matter.”
Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price refused to apologise for her comments about Indian Australians, and she refused to express support for Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Photo: Wiki
In the statement, Senator Price expressed “regret” for not being clearer in her comments, adding that she would learn from the “disappointing episode” for the Liberal Party.
“I’m sure others will too. No individual is bigger than a party, and I’m sure events of the past week will ultimately make our party stronger.
“Although my time has been cut short, it has been an honour to serve in the shadow defence portfolio,” she said, adding it was “a disappointing episode for the Liberal Party”.
Ms Ley described Senator Price as an outstanding Australian who was still very welcome in the Liberal Party room.
“I warmly welcomed her into our Liberal Party party room, and I still warmly welcome her in our Liberal Party,” she said.
“She’s an outstanding Australian who has achieved much, and I know that she is admired and loved by many in this country.
“Her membership of the Liberal Party is something we continue to welcome and support.”
Former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott took to social media to describe Senator Price’s sacking as a “big loss” for the Liberal front bench.
“But I’m confident that she will continue to make a strong contribution to public life,” Mr Abbott wrote on X.
