Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has defended her comments in which she falsely accused Labor of importing Indian migrants to boost their electoral vote, arguing they were aimed at Labor, not migrant communities.
Speaking to NT News, the Northern Territory Senator — who was sacked from the shadow ministry by Opposition Leader Sussan Ley after refusing to apologise or back her leadership — said she was enjoying the "absolute sense of freedom" of no longer being on the shadow frontbench.
She argued her comments, which drew widespread condemnation from within her own party, were aimed at the Australian Labor Party rather than Indian Australians. Commentators noted it was unusual for a shadow minister for defence personnel to speak on immigration instead of her portfolio.
"Immediately after my comments were made, I corrected my remarks. None of my remarks were at all disparaging toward the Indian community and my correction was appropriate enough," she told the NT News.
"If anything it was highlighting the way that Labor effectively used migrants just as they used Indigenous Australians for a vote."
The controversy put the Liberal Party into damage control. MPs quickly distanced themselves from Senator Price's comments, with many in the Indian community angered and others demanding an apology.
For Ms Ley, the episode posed another challenge as she sought to rebuild ties with multicultural communities and distance the party from the anti-migration stance associated with former leader Peter Dutton.
View this post on Instagram
In her initial comments on the ABC, Senator Price falsely claimed the government was bringing in migrants "from particular countries over others" to secure votes, citing the Indian community as an example.
She soon issued a clarification — reportedly after pressure from Liberal leadership — stating Australia's migration policy was non-discriminatory and that "suggestions otherwise are a mistake," but she did not apologise.
The following day, she told reporters she had "nothing to apologise for," insisting "the ABC interviewer… brought up the issue of anti-Indian migration."
She added: "What I was doing was highlighting the fact that there is huge concern for Labor's mass migration agenda, which is applying pressure to housing, to infrastructure, to services. Then I was further pursued on this line of talking."
At a chaotic press conference in Perth the next week, she again refused to apologise, calling her comments "clumsy" despite concern from the Indian diaspora, and declined to endorse Ms Ley's leadership even when pressed multiple times.
Announcing her dismissal hours later, Ms Ley said: "Despite being given sufficient time and space to do so, Senator Nampijinpa 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."
Senator Price told NT News she was "disappointed in the pile on I experienced" and pointed to criticism from her colleagues.
"I could have been treated a lot better. The expectation is it's reciprocal to support a leader, and you expect to be supported by the leader at the same time. I don't doubt I was a target. The fact I took such a strong position on the Voice played into that, I suppose," she said.
Some Coalition MPs expressed regret in the wake of the scandal. Pro-Voice Liberal frontbencher Julian Leeser apologised directly to the Indian community, writing: "I want to apologise to the Indian community for any offence they felt from recent comments made by one of my colleagues."
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie also urged Senator Price to do the "appropriate, responsible thing" and apologise.
Senator Price has since doubled down on her comments around migration. In a statement following her sacking, she said she would not be silenced on issues supported by "millions."
She told the Conservative Political Action Conference Australia over the weekend that the Liberals lost the election because they lacked the courage to "prosecute policies."
"We need to stop being a Labor-lite party or Labor in blue," she said, calling for the party to abandon net zero, cut migration and restore family values.
She described climate targets as "communism" and argued: "It's time the Liberals pushed back against this freedom-eroding nonsense."
"Labor and the Greens treat culture as disposable. They undermine and rewrite history, mock tradition and replace unity with division," she said.
"Without a strong cultural identity, no economy will stand. Without social cohesion, no defence force can hold."
