Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says she is pleased to return to the Coalition's leadership team after being restored to the frontbench six months after her removal.
The Northern Territory senator emerged as a major beneficiary of Angus Taylor's leadership spill victory over Sussan Ley last week. On Tuesday, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Small Business, Skills and Trade as Mr Taylor reshaped the frontbench, promoting factional allies and sidelining several moderates.
Vowing to "restore our country," Senator Price told Sky News Australia, "It's good to be back."
"I'm really pleased to be given this responsibility back on the front bench to be working with other colleagues in their portfolios," she said.
"Really, I think it's such a stellar frontbench and I'm just really excited to get on with this job going forward to serve the Australian people."
In a statement, Senator Price said she "can't wait to get out there and to fight for small businesses and those professions that make our nation tick, to fight for everyday Australians, and to fight for the nation we love".
"Decline is a choice. And I choose to work with duty, dedication and discipline to reverse the national decline that is happening under Anthony Albanese," she said.
Repeating language increasingly used by the opposition and several conservative commentators, she described Labor as the "worst government in our nation's history," adding: "We need to start being an alternative government that Australians can get behind."
SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SMALL BUSINESS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR SKILLS AND TRAINING
SENATOR FOR THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
STATEMENT
I am honoured to have been appointed by the Leader of the Opposition as the Shadow Minister for Small Business, Skills and... pic.twitter.com/pCbPwkAVvz
— Jacinta Nampijinpa (@JNampijinpa) February 17, 2026
The Coalition currently holds just 42 of 150 lower house seats. Recent polling has placed its support below 20 per cent and it would need to retain all existing seats and gain at least 27 more to form government.
With the opposition struggling, commentators have increasingly pointed to the likelihood of the Prime Minister calling an election before 2028.
Senator Price, a frequent guest on Sky News' After Dark programming and wildly popular among conservative voters, left the Nationals party room after last year's election. She later withdrew from a deputy leadership bid after Mr Taylor narrowly lost the leadership to Ms Ley.
In September, she was removed from the shadow frontbench after refusing to back Ms Ley's leadership following bipartisan criticism over comments in which she falsely claimed Labor was bringing in Indian migrants to win votes.
During an appearance last week on The Karl Stefanovic Show, she declined to apologise for her remarks, saying she had been "thrown under the bus" by colleagues. Reflecting on the controversy, she said that if given another chance, she would "articulate" her point more clearly.
"I won't fall for the ABC and the way they like to interview to try to catch those moments," she said.
"The weaponisation of things like that, where a straw-man argument is created when the topic is important to the Australian people and just articulate that point a little better, so it is clearer."
