Senator Nampijinpa Price talks to Denham Hitchcock and Amelia Brace, 10 News

12 May 2026

Subjects: Condolence Motion, Child Protection, Remote Communities

E&OE……………

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:

Now to some high emotion in Parliament today. In the moment Coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price broke down in the Senate while paying tribute to her niece who was killed in Alice Springs.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

For too long in this country, there has been silence around what is happening in too many town camps and remote communities. A silence driven by fear, a fear of causing offence, a fear of being labelled racist, a fear of speaking honestly about dysfunction, violence, alcohol abuse — that silence is killing our babies. The cost of silence is now measured in the life of my five-year-old niece. Sharon was not a statistic, she was a child.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:

That was a very powerful speech, and the Senator joins us now. Senator, we're so sorry for your loss. We know you and the community are grieving, but we agree with you wholeheartedly that this has to be the moment for change. So how do we make sure this can never happen again?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Firstly, we have to be talking openly and honestly about the circumstances that are faced by little children like my niece. We have to talk openly about this because these are Australian citizens, and we've got to stop treating Aboriginal children and Aboriginal people as though we're all different.

AMELIA BRACE:

Senator, I cried watching your speech today. I've cried many times about this beautiful little girl. But what can I do? What can people in the cities who feel very far away, very helpless, but who care very much, what can they do?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Well, you can demand action. You can write to our Prime Minister to state that we do need to understand. What I've been calling for, for years and years, is that we need an inquiry into the spending of the billions of dollars every year that goes into the Indigenous industry that is effectively doing nothing. And if there are reports being made, those notifications must not be ignored, and they must be investigated. I don't want to bury my family anymore.

AMELIA BRACE:

Now you mentioned the money, the spending, the billions of dollars that has been poured in. You said that it's not a matter of money, it's a matter of willpower. Do you honestly believe that our leaders do not have the will to protect these children?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Yes, I believe that that is the case. We get up and we stand up and every time we come into the Senate chamber and we are sworn in, we acknowledge the traditional owners, but to what end? What does that do? That does nothing. I'm done with the symbolism and the virtue signalling and the arguments about Welcome to Country when our children are suffering in the background in places that are out of sight and out of mind. We can't continue to be beholden to an activist class that vilifies us when we do want to speak about these issues. We have got to give a voice to the victims in these places.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK:

Senator, I'll be honest. I've been to many of those town camps and as a person who's in the media I have felt that pressure — exactly what you're talking about — cultural sensitivity, political correctness. You have raised this before. Why don't we get traction on this and how do we change that?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Because the activist class, the biggest, loudest people in the room — the bullies — are always hounding and brow-beating Australians and calling us racist. And we've got to stop the segregation and start treating people on the basis of need in this country instead of on the basis of race. Enough of the niceties and the political correctness. It's killing people, ultimately, by ignoring this. So we have to be brave, we have to be courageous, and we have to come forward.

AMELIA BRACE:

Well, you have been both brave and courageous today and hopefully this is finally a step towards meaningful change. Senator, thank you for taking the time to speak to us.

[ENDS]