Senator Nampijinpa Price speaks to Laura Jayes on AM Agenda, Sky News

15 February 2024, 9:30AM AEDT

Subjects: Chansey Paech, Coalition Plan for Indigenous Disadvantage, Alice Springs

Laura Jayes 
... over shares he held in a company that distributes alcohol in Central Australia. Calls are mounting for Chansey Paech to resign over the issue, but his leader is sticking by him.

Chansey Paech Package

Eva Lawler 
...We have never seen cabinet documents been open. They get opened after 30 years. The Norther Territory election, meanwhile, will be held in just six months. Matt Cunningham, Sky News, Darwin.

Laura Jayes 
Yeah, the electorates not going to wait 30 years for that answer. Joining me live is the Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Jacinta Price, thanks so much for your time. I mean, it's a bit of a joke to say that he's not gonna breach cabinet confidentiality on such a critical question.

Senator Nampijinpa Price 
Look, the Deputy Chief Minister's position is untenable. I mean, he's morally bankrupt. He's not being honest with Territorians, but Territorians are not silly. Evidently, he purchased those shares two months prior to arguing to lift the alcohol restrictions, knowing that that has a direct relationship to that decision making and that level of argument. To push to go ahead with the with the lifting of those alcohol bands, I mean, that created absolute destruction in our communities. And I can't believe just how disgraceful his actions and his behaviors are as he's now trying to hold on to his job.

Laura Jayes 
Jacinta, it was only $600 worth of shares, it's not to be sneezed at but it's not, you know, a hugely significant amount. Do you really think that he bought the shares and argued for alcohol bands to be lifted just to line his own pockets?

Senator Nampijinpa Price 
Look, I don't care how much the shares cost, how much they're worth, it's the fact that he had a responsibility to the people of the Northern Territory, to our most marginalized, the fact that he should have declared his conflict of interest at the time when he was arguing for these bans to be lifted. I mean, if it didn't mean that much, why did that he then divest them when he became the Deputy Chief Minister? What changed then, for him to do that? Aside from the fact that I believe he thought he could do it quietly without realisation after what had happened to Natasha Fyles.

Laura Jayes 
I'll tell you what hasn't changed, and that is the plight of people living in Alice Springs, talking about youth crime, I'm talking about alcohol in town camps. And you successfully argued against the voice. We've now had six months since that was defeated. But nothing's changed in the lives of Indigenous Australians, so what's next?

Senator Nampijinpa Price 
What's next is, well, we need we need the those that are in power, that have the power to do something, to actually do something. I mean, we've got the Albanese government who did not have any kind of backup plan whatsoever, who have decided to throw more money at the situation. I mean, the Prime Minister put forward, announced $250 million to support the crisis in Central Australia. We don't know where any of that money is working, if it's in fact working, if any of it has gone to any measures to better the situation on the ground, but very little seems to have been done. Nothing has been done in terms of supporting of course, the school that takes care of our most marginalised kids. Who are going to go ahead and try to find funds of their own to build the accommodation that's really critically required to support these kids that are on our streets late at night, in an environment that that can be a lot more supported than what they currently are. I mean, child protection is a huge issue and it's failing in the Northern Territory. We can't have an ideological way of separating Indigenous kids and treating them differently and therefore leaving them in dysfunction. That should be changed, that should have been overhauled a long time ago.

Laura Jayes 
Yeah, you talk about ideology, I mean, this whole sector is covered in ideology, and neither ideology or any of the ideologies that are kind of proffered in this space have worked for decades. So, what is the the answer? I mean, I know we're still a little way from the election but do you have a plan if you were to be in government?

Senator Nampijinpa Price 
Absolutely. What I've been calling for, and what I continue to call for, is an inquiry into the way that money is being spent. We have a massive Aboriginal industry that has been built on the backs of the misery of our most marginalised. We have a closing the gap report that comes out every year, which reports failings, and I've always said we need to make our focus our most marginalized. Not every Aboriginal person is living in dysfunction and is marginalised, but the closing the gap process suggest that is the case. Our most marginalised exist where English is not a first language, where people are most remote and that is where our efforts need to be placed and looking after them on the basis that they are Australian citizens like everybody else, not different to everybody else, because they have a different racial heritage being Indigenous. That's the ideology I'm talking about, that we need to get away from. And we need to sort out the structures that already exist, that are seemingly failing, particularly our most marginalized. Do you see

Laura Jayes 
Well Jacinta you've be at the frontline, the coalface, for quite some time? I mean, I remember months ago when Matt Cunningham brought us some of the most awful stories out of Alice Springs, we had politicians from all sides descend on Alice Springs, now no one has been back there really, other than Matt. What's going on?

Senator Nampijinpa Price 
Well, I mean, exactly. I mean, you know, I had my aunt who, my grandmother who had been beaten up in the community. You know, we've supported her to move elsewhere where it's much safer than to remain in that particular community. You know, I don't know where Marion Scrymgour is, and I've heard silence from her. Still, you know, Yipirinya School are trying to do their best to support those kids. And, you know, I'm looking at other ways, I'll be bringing people, philanthropic type people, to visit the school early this year, to look at ways that they can get that accommodation built. Looking at trying to sort out the situation with very little help from either the Territory Labor government, or the or the Federal government. The Prime Minister hasn't been back. I mean, he barely even really took a breath while he was in Alice Springs before he was gone again. He needs to spend more significant time on the ground to help these communities, and not just Alice Springs, the whole of the Northern Territory is suffering at the moment and really needs a lot more support, so does our police force, we need a lot more support than what we're getting.

Laura Jayes 
Okay, Jacinta thanks so much for your time as always.