Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been rebuked by Liberal colleagues after sharing a social media clip that falsely claimed Labor was “importing” Indian migrants, resurrecting the controversy that ended with her sacking by former leader Sussan Ley.
The backlash came as a new internal discussion paper admitted multicultural communities had “deep-rooted” concerns with the Liberals, urging the party to “instill message discipline” to prevent political opponents weaponising its positions as “hostile or racist”.
The Northern Territory senator was last year sacked from Ley’s frontbench after suggesting the federal government’s migration program favoured Indians to win Labor votes.
Price later clarified the initial remarks – acknowledging Australia has a non-discriminatory migration program – but refused to apologise for the hurt caused to Indian Australians.
The senator’s refusal to publicly express support for Ley was the final straw for the then-leader.
Earlier this week, Price, who was returned to the frontbench after Angus Taylor took over as leader, shared a social media clip from the rightwing podcaster Sam Bamford that harked back to the senator’s comments.
The host of the 2 Worlds Collide podcast filmed himself responding to last Sunday’s episode of the ABC’s Insiders program, in which panellists discussed Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Melbourne.
The panellists debated the potential electoral benefit for Anthony Albanese from engaging with Australia’s Indian...
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been rebuked by Liberal colleagues after sharing a social media clip that falsely claimed Labor was “importing” Indian migrants, resurrecting the controversy that ende...