Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she will remain in the Nationals party room, despite conservatives calling for her to be parachuted into a more senior leadership position within the Coalition.
The NT Senator, who expressed her frustration this week at being sidelined from the election campaign after images of her wearing a Donald Trump MAGA hat surfaced, initially declined to rule out a move to the depleted Liberals after their historic election defeat over the weekend.
However, appearing on Sky News on Tuesday, Senator Price, who was elected for a second term as one of the NT's two senators, said she would remain a member of the CLP, who are aligned with the federal Nationals.
"The convention that sits in place in the Country Liberal Party is that the first Senate ticket is to sit with the Nationals party room, the second Senate ticket with the Libs party room," she said on Tuesday.
"Lingiari [won by Labor's Marion Scrymgour] is to sit with the Nationals and Solomon [won by Labor's Luke Gosling] with the Libs (in the event of the CLP winning said seats), so that is how the CLP agreement will take place.
"That is what is expected of me from the Country Liberal Party and obviously from the Nationals as well."
After the Voice referendum defeat, Senator Price - who was the face of the No campaign - was seen by many conservatives as a shining light and the future of the movement in the country.
This has intensified after the election mauling, with radio veteran Ray Hadley saying the Senator was the "obvious choice" to lead the Opposition.
"She is as smart as they come, she's the complete package, and I think she is the future," he told Sky News.
Convention states Senator Price would need to be parachuted into a lower house seat to be able to lead the party.
Senator Price did not rule out a leadership tilt after Deputy Nationals leader Perin Davey lost her NSW Senate seat on Saturday, stating: "I'm not speculating on anything, and a lot of decisions need to be made in the Nationals Party Room."
After arguing the Coalition would "Make Australia Great Again" at a gathering in Perth, and the subsequent emergence of a photograph of her wearing a 'MAGA' hat, Senator Price seemed to be sidelined from campaigning by the Coalition.
Despite positioning the Coalition as supporters of remote and regional communities in the NT, the vast electorate of Lingiari saw a surge towards Labor on Saturday, whilst the CLP's foothold on the NT after last year's Territory election didn't translate into a decisive swing, with Labor also holding onto the Darwin seat of Solomon.
Speaking on Tuesday, Senator Price also voiced her opposition towards gender quotas, despite the Coalition likely to have approximately 10 women, results pending, in the lower house, calling it a "knee-jerk reaction to the outcome of the election".
"We have to make sure that we are reaching women for their support and putting forth an argument to demonstrate to them what we're going to do to improve their lives and a future for their children, but I don't believe we need to introduce quotas," she said.
"I would hate to think that I ever got to my position on the fact that I'm a woman or anything else for that matter, but what I do think we need to do is pre-selecting people with very strong values, and we need to get out there and push harder and stronger."
Outgoing Coalition Senators Linda Reynolds and Simon Birmingham have pointed to issues with gender representation inside the opposition, with the latter saying pre-selection quotas should be "hard, fast and ambitious".
However, Conservatives have long pushed back on quotas, arguing it stifles aspiration and doesn't place the best people in the job, and Senator Price agreed, arguing, "merit is what is important, merit is what provides outcomes ultimately, merit is what you need certainly to be able to fight our fight as opposed to putting somebody in a position based on their gender".
Nonetheless, she acknowledged the Coalition may need to "think about promoting our strong women more, those women in shadow cabinet, as well as allowing them to get out there and be fierce and be more front and centre".
