Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has renewed her criticism of the Albanese government, calling the Prime Minister's appearance at this year's Garma Festival an "annual performance".
The Northern Territory Senator — who left the National Party room earlier this year and later withdrew from the Liberal Party deputy leadership race — accused Mr Albanese of "grandstanding" at the cultural gathering in Gulkula, northeast Arnhem Land.
"It's his favourite venue for grandstanding and photo-ops," Senator Price wrote in an email to supporters.
"All the while, nothing changes for marginalised Indigenous Australians who continue to struggle across the board."
Her comments echo those of independent Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe, who earlier this month described Mr Albanese's "annual excursion to Garma" as "an exercise in optics, an attempt to Blackwash the Labor Party".
Garma is one of Australia's largest First Nations cultural events and a major forum for Indigenous affairs. In 2022, Mr Albanese used the festival to confirm the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
This year, he announced an economic partnership with the Coalition of Peaks and the First Nations Economic Empowerment Alliance.
"This builds on our commitment to the Closing the Gap Agreement, to its call for a new way of doing business and to the principle of shared decision-making," Mr Albanese told the audience.
The deal will allow Traditional Owners to advocate for infrastructure, housing and energy projects on their land and build equity beyond land rights.
Coalition of Peaks lead convener Pat Turner said the partnership put Indigenous communities in control of their economic future.
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been clear for decades that our community-controlled organisations are the best employers of our people, providing the foundation for our economic development," she said.
But Senator Price argued the Prime Minister's speech was little different from last year's.
"Last year was also about economic empowerment and he also talked about clean renewable energy projects in Indigenous communities," she said.
"But in the past twelve months, nothing has happened."
Senator Price also defended her criticism of Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies, accusing Mr Albanese of "having a crack at the Aussies who, like you and me, are concerned about the overuse and divisive nature of some types of Acknowledgements of Country".
"He calls it a 'culture war' and 'cheap politics of division,'" she said.
"He says people are turning the Welcome to Country into a 'political weapon'. Pretty rich from the guy who literally tried to divide us by race in the Constitution two years ago."
Senator Price said it was a "flat out lie" to suggest "people who think Acknowledgements of Country are overused are the ones fighting a culture war or using it as a political weapon".
"We are not the ones standing up and saying we're on stolen land," she said.
"We are not the ones demanding reparations or forcing kids to say sorry for past wrongs. We are not the ones who make it some sort of social faux pas to say that European settlement has benefited Indigenous Australians."
Earlier this month, Uluru Statement co-authors Megan Davis and Pat Anderson accused the federal government of using Garma as a "performative opportunity for the government to repeat their talking points" while ignoring failures in the latest Closing the Gap report.
