Senator Nampijinpa Price talks to Chris Kenny, Sky News 

2 April 2026

Subjects: Fuel security, Albanese’s National Address, Albanese at the National Press Club, Small business loans, Gambling reforms.

 

E&OE……………

CHRIS KENNY:

Let's go to the Shadow Minister for Small Business, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price joins us from Alice Springs. Good to talk to you again, Jacinta.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Good to have you too.

CHRIS KENNY:

Your thoughts first up from Anthony Albanese's address to the nation, was it worthwhile? What do you think was his main aim?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

I think many of us are still trying to figure out what the Prime Minister's main aim was. The whole nation was on standby, poised for something that we thought was going to have some very serious messaging for us going forward, but instead we just got reruns, basically. Nothing new, nothing transparent or open, no plan from this government as to how they're going to address the fuel crisis and shore up our sovereign capabilities, our fuel storage issues going into the future. Nothing on our position in terms of the conflict in the Middle East, or anything like that. It was free advertising, as has been suggested by many, I think, and Australians are left scratching their heads as to what exactly was the Prime Minister trying to relay? I mean, on one hand, he's telling everybody that there's nothing to worry about, just go about your Easter and the time ahead as usual, but maybe consider utilising public transport and try to work from home if you can. So there was no clarity and he sounded confused ultimately when he should have been providing some level of clarity and a plan going forward.

CHRIS KENNY:

Now, the real worry, I think, for the nation is the medium to long term. That is, he's showing no signs of understanding the problem here. In fact, as I just showed, he is going to double down on this Future Made in Australia plan, which is all about renewable energy. I thought the one thing he should have learned in the last four weeks is just how heavily we rely on fossil fuels. Now, Angus Taylor tonight, your leader at seven o'clock, will be telling the nation that we need to dig and drill for more fossil fuels in this country, produce more oil in this country and refine it here. I mean, that's obviously what we need to do for greater self-reliance, but that'll be very difficult to do, when there's all sorts of exploration bans right around the country, all sorts of environmental impediments that'll be thrown your way.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

This is all part of indulging in this green fantasy that Mr. Bowen and the Prime Minister have been sending this country down the hole with, but this is what the government and the Prime Minister need to act on immediately to release us from this. They need to dump Net Zero for starters because that is what is holding us back, that is what is putting a chain around developing our own energy resources in this country. This Prime Minister has created a multi-crisis, we've got a debt crisis where we're hurtling toward one trillion in debt, we’ve got an inflation crisis that Australians are feeling all over the place, we’ve got this energy crisis which has come about because of this indulging in this green fantasy, which has increased the cost of energy in our country by 40% and everybody's feeling it. We’ve got a housing and immigration crisis, where if anyone thinks young people right now are worse off than any other time at their age in this current generation, and if they thought that they had a dream of home ownership, it's turning into an absolute nightmare. Manufacturing crisis, you know, you suggested, you're talking about a ‘Made in Australia’ plan — there is no future made in Australia under this government. This is a future made abroad with a hell of a lot of importing going on into this country. And there's a small business crisis. It is heartbreaking, speaking to small businesses around the country that are faced with the cost of running their business, which has just gone through the roof now because of this fuel crisis.

CHRIS KENNY:

Just on small business, one of the schemes confirmed today by the Prime Minister was a billion dollar scheme to provide interest-free loans to small business who were hit hard by the energy crisis. Do you support that measure?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Look, small businesses don't want to once again be beholden to the government through loans. They don't need more loans. They just need breathing space. They need the regulatory burden that this government has unleashed upon them to be pulled back. They need tax breaks. They need the cost of energy to come down. That's what they need right now. They don't need another round of debt forced upon them to become even more beholden to this government than they already are ultimately. This is why this government has no long-term plan. It is all knee-jerk reactions and we know that when they spend more of the taxpayer dollars, inflation increases and the cost of everything goes up once more. So, what can I say? This government is hopeless. This Prime Minister is hopeless. Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen should hang their heads in shame, as should Jim Chalmers.

CHRIS KENNY:

Well, the new initiative that he released today, totally unrelated to this fuel crisis, was a new ban on gambling advertising. Here's some more from the Prime Minister.

[CLIP STARTS]

PRIME MINISTER:

We are getting the balance right. Letting adults have a punt if they want to. But making sure that our children don't see betting ads everywhere they look. Because we don't want kids growing up thinking that footy and gambling are inextricably linked.

[CLIP ENDS] 

CHRIS KENNY:

All right, so there he goes there. All right. Everybody wants to protect kids from gambling. Kids shouldn't be gambling, but these ad bans he's put in, it's going to strip sponsorship off NRL and other sporting teams. It's going to strip advertising away from television and radio at certain times. Is the Coalition going to support these changes?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

We all want reasonable gambling measures to keep our communities safe. I think right now, the Prime Minister isn't reading the room, he's worrying about gambling reforms, while small businesses, while families around the country are being completely and utterly smashed with this current crisis. It's almost like, okay, I've delivered my underwhelming address to the nation, and I'm going to turn my attention to something else over here. We'll have a further look at this going forward, but I think there are issues that are really important right now that need to be dealt with that this government is simply not dealing with.

CHRIS KENNY:

In principle though, do you think gambling advertising needs stricter controls?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Yeah, look, in principle, I believe so, and these are all things to be considered going forward when we can take a closer look also.

CHRIS KENNY:

Thanks for joining us, Jacinta and happy Easter to you and your family.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Happy Easter to you and all your viewers.

CHRIS KENNY:

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

 

[Ends]