Senator Nampijinpa Price gives a doorstop interview at Parliament House

4 September 2025

Subjects: National Flag Day; The Greens and Labor dividing Australia; pro-Australian marches on last weekend; clarifying earlier comments on Indian migration; problems of Labor’s uncontrolled mass migration; reviving national pride.

E&OE……………

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Good morning. After yesterday's events, I think it's clear that we need to take a stronger stand in respecting our country, taking pride in our country as a nation. I was quite disturbed at the actions of the Greens yesterday given that they are the party who regularly brings in props into the Senate chamber, including dead fish. To suggest to myself, as an Indigenous woman, a senator, who is proud to call myself an Australian, proud of our country, attempting to try to instil pride in who we are as a country, because I believe we've truly come under attack, particularly by the left, in suggesting that somehow there's something wrong with us if we are proud to be Australian. But to be told to remove the Australian flag – which was actually a garment, it was a cape, if you like; it wasn't just simply a flag draped around my shoulders – but on National Flag Day in Australia as an Australian Senator!

You know that the Greens often say, we have to pay our respects and acknowledge ‘First Nations Australians’. Now, I don't call myself a ‘First Nations Australian’ because that title has been adopted from other countries. But I call myself an Australian – one of indigenous heritage in this country. And I found it deeply insulting that Senator McKim and Sarah Hanson-Young found it quite funny to ask me to remove the Australian flag from my shoulders as I was speaking about it on our nation's flag day. I should not have been subjected to this. I don't think any senator should be subjected to this.

I think Dai Le is a wonderful Australian who of course delivered her first speech to the parliament wearing the Australian flag as a dress. I'm going to find out where she gets her dresses made and I'm going get a whole wardrobe done up in the Australian Flag and I will wear that proudly, regularly in the Senate chamber. And I implore others around the country to take up wearing the Australian flag. I think it's a wonderful thing to do. I think we need to teach our children to be proud, to call themselves Australian. No, we aren't a racist country. Yes, sure, there are racists in this country, like every country has their racists and extremists. But by and large we are not a racist country. And that is the message that we need to get out there.

You know, in my responsibility as Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel, I'd like to see young people take pride in who we are so that they might want to sign up to defend our country should we ever come under any form of conflict. So that is what I did yesterday. I will continue to stand up for the values as Australians in this country and promote the fact that we are the most remarkable country on the face of the Earth. And no one should tell us otherwise or take our pride for our country away from us.

JOURNALIST:
You've spoken about division in reference to the Prime Minister standing in front of three flags. But when it comes to the protests on the weekend, do you not see that as stoking division in Australia?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
The protests that took place on the weekend: what I would say, first and foremost, they weren't necessarily protests. This was a pro-Australia march. Because for so long, Australians who are proud to call themselves Australian have been under attack – particularly by the left – and have been told that we are a racist country. And this has been brewing for some time. This sentiment has been brewing. And what happened was, the quiet Australians came out and decided to be loud. That's what that was about. To say no, no, no, let's be proud of who we are.

And let's not forget that those who made up that crowd were people of many different backgrounds. You know, I saw some beautiful footage of members of the migrant community standing with white Australians. How dare they right? Ands singing our national anthem together happily, joyfully and so proud in doing so. That to me was a demonstration of unity. And from the far left we have seen demonstration after demonstration, and protest after protest, on our streets about issues that concern other nations. We've seen them burning the Australian flag. That to me is the division. What occurred on Sunday was about unifying this country. And I know that many of those quiet Australians, that's what they wanted to be known for, not division.

But we have division because our Prime Minister failed to call out the antisemitism on the steps of the Opera House following the atrocities of October 7. And when he failed to do that, he ensured that there was a huge rise in antisemitism in this country. And our Jewish community has been suffering as a result ever since. What has festered is extremism on both sides – on both sides. I mean, the one thing that those who call themselves neo-Nazis have with the far left is that they hate Jews. They hate the Jewish community in this county. And those of us in the middle absolutely need to condemn both sides of that hatred and stick together and stand up for the Jewish members of our community.

JOURNALIST:
Do you regret the comments you made to the ABC about Indian migrants? And do you apologise for that?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
So, I don't believe I have anything to apologise about. In the context of discussing the marches that took place on the weekend, it was the ABC interviewer who pushed the issue, who brought up the issue of anti-Indian migration.

What I was doing was highlighting the fact that there is huge concern for Labor's mass migration agenda – which is applying pressure to housing, to infrastructure, to services.

Then I was further pursued on this line of talking. So, what I did was point out the fact that, yes, Indian migrants are the second largest migrant group to this country, and soon to be the largest migrant group to this country. A recent Redbridge poll told us that 85 per cent of those who have Indian ancestry – and that's my children included by the way – 85 per cent voted for Labor. I know those in my family that were of voting age didn't. But 85 per cent did. So, these were the facts that I was pointing out.

I was pointing out the fact that my concern is for Australian families in this country under so much pressure. And that's Australian families whether from a migrant background, whether citizens, whether residents in this country. And so, we should be concerned about mass migration in Australia with those sorts of pressures occurring in our country and rightly so. It is up to the government to do something about this. And this is what we as the coalition would like to see a change in. So that's, to state for the record, that is what the conversation was about.

JOURNALIST:
The government has released sort of its prediction forecast at around 185,000 migrants for the year. Where do you think that that should sit if you're saying it's still too high?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Look, I think as part of the Coalition, those discussions are still being had. Obviously, 185,000 that doesn't take in students, that does not take in various other forms of migrant intake into this country. So, this is an issue that we will form a position on at a later point. All we know is that the current level is not working for Australians and that needs to change.

JOURNALIST:
When do you think that that position will come out? How long do you think it will take?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
In due course that position will be made by the Coalition.

JOURNALIST:
Will you be working on a private Senators' Bill regarding the burning of the Australian flag and are you surprised that Labor is against it?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Well, it doesn't surprise me that Labor is against it. It would have been good to be able to support Senator Hanson's urgency motion in the chamber yesterday that would enact that – that would push the government into making it illegal to burn the Australian flag. What was really sad was the fact that the government moved to hijack, to basically silence Senator Hanson on this particular issue and hijack it to put forward their own form of words. Now, if they really cared, they wouldn't wait until another Senator such as Senator Hanson put forward a motion to make such changes. They would be on the front foot and already making those changes when they can see that our flag is being burned. But no, the government decided to make it all about not just the Australian flag but the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, which I don't see being burnt, but certainly the Australian Flag is. It has been occurring for quite some time. So, there's a matter of urgency around this, I believe. It needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. The Prime Minister needs to get off his backside and do something about this because Australians are calling for it.

JOURNALIST:
Is there a freedom of speech or freedom of, you know, doing what you want, argument against, but you know that shouldn't people have the right to burn the flag or do you disagree with it?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
I disagree with that. I mean, this is a display of disloyalty. This is a display of the utmost disrespect you can show to our nation and particularly to our diggers and those who have served under that flag and given their lives. Because when they pass away, their coffins are draped in the Australian flag – and they fight for the right of every single Australian to have freedom of speech of course. But that is utmost disrespect to those to those individuals and of course to our nation as an entirety.