Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been pushed out of the Opposition’s front bench after refusing to back Sussan’s Ley’s leadership or apologise for controversial comments on Indian migration.
Nampijinpa Price announced the decision on Wednesday, saying she had accepted a request from the Federal Liberal leader to vacate.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Jacinta Price dumped from shadow ministry.
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Nampijinpa Price faced a chorus of calls for her to say sorry for remarks claiming the Labor government was bringing in more Indian migrants to bolster its vote.
She has so far refused to do so.
The outspoken Northern Territory senator claimed colleagues had “disregarded the key point” she was making about the “damaging impacts of mass migration”.
“Some colleagues instead chose to indulge agenda-driven media commentary on this matter,” she said.
“To reiterate comments from my earlier statement: I never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community. And I wish no ill-will whatsoever to the Indian community — or any other migrant group.”
Opposition leader Ley said serving in the shadow ministry was a privilege and shadow ministers were expected to uphold certain standards.
“Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has failed to do so and will no longer serve in my shadow ministry,” she 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 ... and sadly that has made her position untenable.”
Nampijinpa Price said her concern is “the magnitude of migration” in Australia, which she claimed is “putting excessive pressures on housing, infrastructure and services”.
“That makes life tougher for all families,” she said.
While not apologising, she has labelled her comments “clumsy”.
“This has been a disappointing episode for the Liberal Party. I will learn from it. I’m sure others will too,” she said.
“No individual is bigger than a party. And I’m sure events of the past week will ultimately make our party stronger.
“Although my time as the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel has been cut short, it has been an honour to serve.
“Although I will be returning to the backbench, I will continue to speak up on issues which are in the national interest and that are important to millions of Australians.”
‘India is concerned’
It comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed Indian officials had raised concerns with the federal government following rhetoric at anti-immigration protests where members of the Indian community were singled out.
“There are countries around the world who are concerned about this. India has raised these issues,” she said.
“We’ve communicated with them, not at my level, but at official level, and they’ve seen the very important responses from the government.”
Wong emphasised the views shared at the anti-immigration protests did not reflect the broader community.
“Those protests didn’t represent Australia. I don’t think Australian values are values of division,” she said.
- With AAP
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