Senator Jacinta Price dumped from Liberal front bench over migrant comments

The Liberal frontbencher and MAGA enthusiast has been stood down after just four months in the role. Anthony Klan reports.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been dumped from the Opposition front bench after just four months in the role – and four months with the Liberal Party – over her attacks on Indian migrants.

Price, who was one of the nation’s most prominent campaigners against the Indigenous Voice, has been stood down after repeatedly refusing to apologise for her comments.

Last week, Price told the ABC the Federal Labor Government was allowing “large numbers” of Indian people to migrate to Australia because the Indian community “votes for Labor”.

Price said:

"There is a concern with the Indian community, and only because there has been large numbers and we can see that reflected in the way that the community votes for Labor at the same time."

Long may Liberal Jacinta Nampijinpa Price say the quiet bits out loud

Senator Jacinta Price’s blunt words have thrown the Liberal Party’s quiet racism strategy into chaos.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said in a statement:

Serving in the Shadow Ministry is a privilege. 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 Nampijinpa Price failed to apologise for remarks which have caused Australians of Indian heritage significant hurt.

Price had only been with the Liberal Party since the May federal election, opting to depart the National Party and sit with the Liberals just days after the May Federal election.

The Liberal and National coalition was defeated in a landslide, and Ley promised an overhaul.

The Opposition leader had come under intense scrutiny in recent days for refusing to stand Price down.

Sussan Ley’s real opposition is her own party

Just one month into the job, Sussan Ley’s biggest battle isn’t with Labor, but with the conservative forces inside her own party.

Ley said Price had “refused to provide confidence" in her leadership:

'She [Price] also refused to provide confidence in my leadership of the Liberal Party and sadly, that has made her position untenable. The Liberal Party I lead will respect, reflect and represent modern Australia.'

Price had transferred to the Liberal Party to run as deputy leader of the Opposition, with former Federal Treasurer Angus Taylor as Opposition Leader.

Taylor lost to Ley, who secured the role by a slim margin of party room votes, and at the last minute, Price pulled her candidacy.

Price is a prominent member of the Coalition’s far-right, which fights against action on climate change and has heavily embraced Donald Trump-style “MAGA” politics.

During the election campaign, standing beside then Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Price announced her desire to “make Australia great again”.

The pronouncement was widely viewed as further cruelling the Coalition’s already poor chances of being elected, with many voters turned off by MAGA and the actions of Trump and the right-wing U.S. Republican Party.

On Tuesday both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and National Party leader called on Price to apologise.

She refused to do so.

Anthony Klan is an investigative journalist and editor of The Klaxon. You can follow him on Bluesky @anthonyklan.bsky.social. This article was originally published on The Klaxon and has been republished with full permission.