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| Ley dumps Nampijinpa Price from shadow ministry over refusal to back leadership or apologise over migrants comments | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Coalition leader says firebrand NT senator ‘failed to uphold the standards I have set as leader’ | |
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| Sussan Ley has sacked Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the shadow ministry after the firebrand senator refused to express support for the Liberal leader or apologise for her comments about Indian migrants. | |
| In a statement on Wednesday night, Ley confirmed Price had been dumped from the frontbench after the Country Liberal senator fronted a dramatic press conference in Perth earlier in the day. | |
| At that press conference, Price declined to express confidence in Ley’s leadership while continuing to refuse to apologise for suggesting the federal government’s migration program favoured Indians to win Labor votes. | |
| Price has clarified the initial remarks – acknowledging Australia has a non-discriminatory migration program – but has repeatedly refused to apologise for the hurt caused to Indian Australians. | |
| In the statement, Ley said Price had “failed to uphold the standards I have set as leader”. | |
| “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,” she said. | |
| “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.” | |
| In her own statement, Price said she accepted Ley’s decision and expressed regret for “not being clearer” with her initial comments last Wednesday. | |
| “Nevertheless, I took the opportunity to express to the leader my disappointment that some colleagues disregarded the key point I was making about the damaging impacts of mass migration. And that some colleagues instead chose to indulge agenda-driven media commentary on this matter,” she said. | |
| Price said the saga had been a “damaging episode” for the party. | |
| Speaking earlier in Perth, where she headlined a Liberal party fundraiser with senior colleague Michaelia Cash, the Northern Territory senator conceded her comments were “clumsy” but did not apologise for them. | |
| Instead, she declared she “won’t be silenced” on what she claimed was the problem of “mass migration in our country”. | Instead, she declared she “won’t be silenced” on what she claimed was the problem of “mass migration in our country”. |
| “That was the prime issue that I was talking about, and continue to talk about, and an issue that I truly believe that we need to be able to have a respectful debate about,” she said. | “That was the prime issue that I was talking about, and continue to talk about, and an issue that I truly believe that we need to be able to have a respectful debate about,” she said. |
| Price claimed “many members” of the Australian community – including Indian Australians – had reached out to express support. | |
| The fallout to Price’s initial comments has ignited open warfare inside the Liberals, exposing the factional tensions and personal grievances that have simmered since Ley defeated Angus Taylor to win the Liberal leadership. | |
| Price defected from the Nationals to the Liberals to run as a potential deputy leader to Taylor, who went on to lose to Ley 25 votes to 29. The slim margin of Ley’s victory has led to ongoing speculation about further leadership challenges. | |
| Asked repeatedly on Wednesday if she supported Ley’s leadership, Price would not endorse her leader. | Asked repeatedly on Wednesday if she supported Ley’s leadership, Price would not endorse her leader. |
| “Those matters are for our party room,” she said. | “Those matters are for our party room,” she said. |
| Liberal sources were on Wednesday afternoon insisting Ley’s leadership was not under threat despite Price’s comments and the wider internal unrest. | |
| Party figures said the dispute was between Ley, her backers and Price, and not representative of any wider push against Ley’s leadership. | |
| Ley and Taylor were contacted for comment. | |
| There is widespread exasperation among MPs about the events of the past week, which one senior Liberal said had been “shockingly mismanaged”. | |
| Price’s initial comments sent Ley into damage control, with the opposition leader and other colleagues holding multiple events with Indian Australian leaders to show solidarity with the migrant community. | |
| While denouncing Price’s remarks, Ley has refused to publicly ask her to apologise despite several colleagues – including her close ally Alex Hawke – calling for it. | |
| Liberal sources believe Ley wants to avoid further inflaming tensions with Price, who is popular with party members and has high-profile supporters including Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin. | |
| Price and Hawke are openly feuding after the conservative senator accused Hawke of berating one of her staff members after he called to demand she apologise for the initial remarks. | |
| Price has since told Ley to order Hawke to apologise to her for his conduct. Hawke denies the allegations. | |
| Earlier on Wednesday, the now Liberal backbencher, Jane Hume, described Hawke as a “henchman” for the opposition leader. | |
| “I think that the leader’s office would probably now acknowledge that if the leader wanted an outcome she probably should have picked up the phone herself rather than sending a henchman. | |
| “This has been so poorly handled it’s now blown out of control. | |
| “The question now is how do we bring the conversation back to what is important to everyday Australians because that’s what we’re here to do. We’re not here to talk about ourselves.” | |
| Hume said it was incumbent on Coalition figures to bring the dispute back inside the party “rather than something that gets played out in the media.” | |
| Hume was demoted in Ley’s post-election reshuffle after supporting her opponent, Taylor. | |
| Asked how she would repair the divide within the party, Price encouraged her colleagues to move on and focus on the Albanese government. | Asked how she would repair the divide within the party, Price encouraged her colleagues to move on and focus on the Albanese government. |
| “Those matters in terms of our party are obviously for our leadership. I would love to be able to move forward from this because there are issues. We’ve been elected by the Australian people to stand up as the opposition to address the failures of the Albanese government … and that’s what I would love to encourage, certainly, my colleagues to be focused on in moving forward,” she said. | “Those matters in terms of our party are obviously for our leadership. I would love to be able to move forward from this because there are issues. We’ve been elected by the Australian people to stand up as the opposition to address the failures of the Albanese government … and that’s what I would love to encourage, certainly, my colleagues to be focused on in moving forward,” she said. |