Senator Nampijinpa Price faces political irrelevancy

Liberal Northern Territory Senator, Nampijinpa Jacinta Price, has been at the centre of public controversy over her recent public comments that the Albanese Government was promoting the migration of people from India to bolster its electoral support.

Price's comments were given further embarrassing airplay by her very open attack on fellow Liberal frontbencher, Alex Hawke, a former minister for immigration, who had sought to intervene and advise her to apologise to the Indian community.

That Price's immigration comments might be based on some recent polling, and her attack on Hawke may have been prompted on what he may or may not have said when he rang her office, are both neither here nor there. The issue is that the comments on immigration were inappropriate and the public outbursts about Hawke made matters worse.

Although Price has sought to correct the wrong impression she says she unintentionally gave concerning her immigration comments, she has yet to make a full and formal apology to the Indian community or to do likewise to her frontbench colleague, Hawke. Her leader, Sussan Ley, too, deserves an apology as her comments have damaged Ley's efforts to rebuild the Liberal Party at a very difficult time.

This lack of an apology is inadequate in terms of good manners, honesty and straightforward good politics. Price should now apologise in full to all. The Liberal Party is supposed to be the party of respectability, so Price should set an example and act accordingly.

Because Price failed to make a clear and immediate apology that would have quickly ended the unnecessary public display of Coalition disunity, it became worse as fellow Liberal and National party members piled on and made further public statements on the issue.

Now Price, who has refused to publicly endorse Ley as leader, has been dumped from the Opposition front bench.

At a time when a strong Opposition is needed to hold the Albanese Government to account, Price's actions has turned attention on the Coalition, thus undermining its ability to rebuild and refocus.

The Liberal Party, and indeed, the Coalition, lacking at present an agreed, cohesive agenda, is these days too often just a mob of individuals with each member thinking that only they know the way to policy and political heaven. The result is too many public outbursts, too many personal agendas and with members too precious over their own egos to compromise and to focus on the main game of exposing the Albanese Government's flaws so as to win elections.

The Coalition, and the Liberals in particular, lack the collective solidarity and disciplined commitment to their cause, that is a feature of the currently successful federal Labor Party that sticks together regardless of internal personal feuds.

Senator Price's efforts during the 2023 Voice referendum showed what a valuable political asset she was to the Coalition. More importantly, on that issue, Price highlighted she was more connected to the thinking of most Australians than the more ideologically driven Albanese Government.

Her recent actions and refusal to climb down from her high mountain of self-righteousness, however, threatens to undermine her ability to continue to be a major player in Australian national politics. That would be a great loss for all.