Senator Nampijinpa Price talks to Chris Smith on 2SM Sydney

4 September 2025

Subjects: National Flag Day and banning flag burning; Greens and Labor opposing flag displays; pro-Australian marches over the weekend; double standards on cultural symbols in Parliament; Indigenous connection to the Southern Cross; clarifying comments on Indian migration; problems of Labor’s mass migration policy; reviving national pride and unity.

E&OE……………

Chris Smith:
So, an Australian Senate President outlaws an Australian flag in an Australian parliament on a day when so many people are flying the Australian flag. Work that out. Now, Pauline Hanson tried the same thing a little bit later, and she too was ordered to take it off. She has stated the following, "Labor and the Greens don't just hate the flag, they hate what it stands for. They'll bend over backwards to bring ISIS sympathisers home, they'll let criminals stay. But if you dare show pride in our country, or wear the Australian flag in our parliament, they will shut you down." Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price joins me on the line right now. Senator, welcome to the Super Radio Network.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Good morning, Chris, and good morning to all your listeners.

Chris Smith:
Especially listeners through 8HA 900AM and 100.5FM, Alice Springs and Uluru, I should mention.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Absolutely.

Chris Smith:
So, no Aussie flags on Flag Day in the Aussie Parliament. That sounds very un-Australian to me.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
It's ridiculously un-Australian and look I will just say in terms of the Acting President he was following the orders of the Senate so I'm not going to give him too much of a hard time he's a great colleague of mine and also a proud patriotic Australian.

The Greens you know are deeply concerning I mean they have not obviously learnt their lesson from the last federal election where they were completely wiped out in the House of Representatives.

They have clearly not read the room in terms of the broader sentiment across this country that we're sick to death of being labelled as a racist country, that there's so much self-flagellation that's taken place and this notion that somehow being proud of who we are as Australian and our national flag, is not good.

Aussies are reclaiming that, and that's what happened over the weekend. The quiet Australians said, no, we've had enough of this crap, and we're going to be loud now. And, like I said, I congratulate those wonderful Australians who came out in a pro-Australian march to demonstrate that, no we want to reinstate our values, reignite our Australian spirit.

We condemn neo-Nazis and the far left, they have something in common. They hate the Jewish Australians. We condemn those individuals, but we stand up for everyday, decent Australians and that is exactly what I will continue to do from the Senate.

Chris Smith:
You've summed it up perfectly. They were the intentions of the families who turned up on the weekend without a doubt. But let's just unpack some of this business about Australian flags in the Senate and in the Parliament.

What about wearing the keffiyeh? That's been allowed. So as a scarf, I would have thought there are similarities with wearing the Australian flag over your shoulders in a very, very similar way. But it's not called a prop, but the flag is.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Well, that's exactly right. And this is something that in the Senate, we need to look at more closely. I mean, what I was wearing was a cape. It was an item of clothing, in fact, just like the keffiyeh is an item of clothing but the keffiyeh is worn by terrorists. So hello, how should that be continued to be allowed to be worn in the senate?

Chris Smith:
The contrast is disgraceful, Jacinta, the contrast is disgraceful.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
It is. You can bring cultural objects, like Senator Thorpe did yesterday, a supposed cultural object. I don't know really how cultural it is in terms of traditional culture. But if that's the case then the flag is a cultural object as far as I'm concerned. Is this creating a standard? Whereby indigenous culture or ethnic cultures are regarded as more important than our own cultural icons as Australians. These are the issues we need to sort out.

Chris Smith:
Let's break it down further. Fowler MP Dai Le wore an Australian flag dress in Parliament for her maiden speech. No rule against that. What's the difference?

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
No, exactly and she proudly wore that and of course you know as we know during the same sex marriage debate the rainbow flag was brought in and worn on the floor of the House of Representatives, the double standards is ridiculous and I love Dai Le, I am going to find out where she got her dress made because I'm going to get a whole wardrobe made with the Australian flag and wear it more often.

Chris Smith:
Hang on, be careful. You might get Senator McKim from the Greens jumping up and asking you to take off your dress.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Well, there you go. I might then just, you know, make sure I've got some painted ochre on underneath, and I can be wearing my traditional dress that you know, us Warlpiri wore nothing but a hair-string belt back in the day. Is that what he would prefer me wear? I mean ultimately the Greens only like their Indigenous Australians to behave in the way that they expect them to. Perhaps I might shock him one day.

Chris Smith:
Yeah. The point of your very impassioned speech was to make it illegal to burn the flag. And it's not just Senator McKim who hates our flag. Have a listen to Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Sky this morning, being asked a very, very simple question. Would she condemn pro-Palestinian protesters burning the Australian flag? Here's her answer.

[Excerpt]

Senator Hanson-Young:
Look, I think the destruction of flags has a long history in political protest. I'm not going to, you know... But you'd condemn that too, wouldn't you? Well, there is a freedom of use. My point is what you're associating our national flag with. And I don't believe our national flags should be or needs to be associated with neo-Nazis. I don't...

Peter Stefanovic:
Okay, but a pro-Palestinian march is able to burn it?

Senator Hanson-Young:
Well, I think the use of political expression and the freedom of political expression is something that is dear to democracy.

Peter Stefanovic:
Wow.

[End Excerpt] 

Chris Smith:
So, Jacinta, again as you previously pointed out the Australian flag is an inferior flag to other symbols, and it can be burned.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Yes, this is the Greens. It's breathtaking. The fact that it is so obvious. They don't have a patriotic bone in them. They do not like this country. They do not like our flag, and they evidently do not like our people. Proud Australians, that is, of all different backgrounds. But this sends a clear message. Australians, take note. The Greens don't deserve to represent Australians within our Senate. At the next federal election consider and take consideration of the vote that you cast in terms of these are the sorts of individuals you want, who have more concern, more regard for those in other nations and politicising their issues domestically. That they do in fact have any regard at all for our Australian flag and our Australian values.

Chris Smith:
You said something yesterday in the piece you wrote in The Daily Telegraph, which I hadn't heard before, and it makes sense, that the Southern Cross would have an indigenous connection to previous generations.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
That's exactly right. For Indigenous Australians right around the country in terms of dreaming stories, Jukurrpa, the Southern Cross, is a dreaming story, you could probably say almost every group of Indigenous Australians is associated with that because star constellations are about dreaming stories.  This is from what my elder from Tennant Creek pulled me aside and said to me, when you speak to the Australian people, you let them that we are as aboriginal people represented through the Southern Cross, through Jukurrpa. We are part of that flag, we belong in that flag. We are one country and we are all Australian people. That is the message I have continued to convey ever since Mary told me that when I stood at the Tennant Creek show a couple of years ago now. I will continue to convey that message because that is exactly what it means to be Australian. That is what real unity looks like.

Chris Smith:
See that's the kind of connection, historical connection that needs to be taught in schools to kids who are actually taught to question whether the Australian flag is appropriate or not.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Exactly. It is what real reconciliation in action actually looks like, sounds like.

Chris Smith:
Let's talk immigration just quickly, and it's another related matter to what occurred on Sunday, this anti-mass immigration debate, not anti-immigration rally. It's not actually a debate because anyone who wants to raise it, as soon as you raise it, you get shouted down as a racist, including you for having the temerity to point out a fact. The Indian community has become the largest non-Anglo migrant group in Australia, outstripping both Italians and Greeks and living migrant population. But that's racist saying the word Indians. No, it's not. It's simply about the numbers. You could have replaced Indians with Calathumpians.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
You could have replaced it with anybody ultimately if that's the fact, that's the fact and it's funny how the media will then jump on that and suggest that I have to apologise. There's nothing to apologise for when you're outlining facts and you know another fact is that my own children have Indian ancestry themselves it's what makes them remarkable Australians.

Chris Smith:
Which makes a joke of the people who want to trip you up for being allegedly racist.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Entirely, exactly and you know I mean I've got a wonderful relationship with the Indian community in the Northern Territory and particularly the Sikh community in Alice Springs who do wonderful things and are good mates of mine so you know whatever they want to twist and turn they will try to do that but ultimately it's incorrect and mass migration is the issue. That's the concern for many Australians, including those of a migrant background.

Chris Smith:
Keep strong, keep the dukes up, keep fighting for us and thank you very much for your time this morning.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Sure will. Thank you, Chris.

Chris Smith:
Good on you. Northern Territory Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.