Liberal leader Sussan Ley has dumped Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the coalition’s front bench after the senator publicly declined to back her leadership.
Nampijinpa Price has been the centre of a week long controversy after she claimed the Albanese government favoured immigration from India because Indian people were more likely to become political supporters for the Labor party.
The claim was shown to be untrue, and Indian Australians voiced their alarm at the claims, but Senator Price refused to apologise for her comments.
The incident exposed deep divisions within the Liberal party as a spat broke out between Nampijinpa Price and Alex Hawke, a key supporter of Sussan Ley.
The Northern Territory senator switched parties from the Nationals to the Liberals after the 2025 election, and immediately put her hand up to be the party’s deputy leader. She withdrew her bid when Ley, a moderate, was chosen to be the leader over conservative contender Angus Taylor.
Over the last week high profile Liberal MPs have been visiting Indian communities in a bid to reassure them that the party was not scapegoating in the immigration debate, and apologise for the senator’s comments. The senator refused to apologise, and criticsed the media for their coverage of her statements.
While visiting Perth yesterday the senator was asked by reporters if she supported Ley’s leadership of the party, and she refused to back in the leader, saying it was an issue for the party room.
In a statement released on Wednesday night Senator Nampijinpa Price confirmed that Ley had asked her to step down from her role as Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel.
Speaking in Hobart on Wednesday night Ley told reporters that the failure to declare support for her leadership made Senator Nampijinpa Price’s position untenable.
“Serving in my shadow ministry is a privilege, and it is a requirement to have confidence in the leadership. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has failed the test of high standards that I have set for members of my shadow ministry,” she said.
