Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been removed from the Coalition frontbench following comments about Indian migrants to Australia during an ABC interview last week.
Price suggested the Government allows “large numbers” of Indian migrants into Australia because of their “Labor-leaning” political views.
The move comes after a week of mounting pressure from Coalition members for the Senator to apologise.
Price, who has not yet apologised, said she was disappointed her colleagues had “disregarded [her] key point”.
Removal
On Wednesday afternoon, Price gave a press conference where she said her comments had been “clumsy,” but that her concerns about the level of migration to Australia still stood.
She also refused to confirm she had confidence in Ley’s leadership.
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Later that afternoon, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley asked Senator Price to step down from her role as Shadow Defence Industry Minister.
Ley said Price had failed to “uphold the standard” she expected of Coalition members.
“Despite being given sufficient time and space to do so, [she] has failed to apologise... the Liberal Party I lead will respect, reflect, and represent modern Australia,” Ley 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,” Ley added.
Price's response
In a statement, Price called the move “a disappointing episode for the Liberal Party”.
“I never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community. And I wish no ill-will whatsoever to the Indian community... My concern is not migration itself — it’s the magnitude of migration,” Price said.
