Senator Nampijinpa Price talks to Paul Murray on Paul Murray Live, Sky News

26 August 2025

Subjects: Chinese Communist Party’s aggression against Australia and its neighbours; Prime Minister Albanese downplaying the China threat; the need to lift defence spending to deter aggression; Australia’s alliance with the United States; Prime Minister Albanese’s failure to secure a meeting with President 300 days into his presidency; the importance of US military presence in the Northern Territory and Pine Gap; Iran’s escalating aggression against Australia and the need for strong alliances.

PAUL MURRAY:
Thank you so much for watching. Talk about powerhouse senators. Let's get to another one right now. Our dear friend, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Lovely to see you, mate. So let's talk in a second about what happened today with Iran. But I think the more ongoing issue for people is China. You've made it very clear. You're not going to sit back. You're not going to play footsie. You see this for what it is. And it is a country that just wants to play with us like a toy. Well done on what you wrote today in The Aus.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Thank you very much. I think our Prime Minister is doing our country a disservice when he is not being honest about the threat that the Chinese Communist Party poses to Australia and our sovereignty. The fact that a lot of the time the aggression is often downplayed. We hear a little bit about it, then we move on from that aggression, but the aggression, of course, comes not only toward us, but toward our allies in the Philippines, when China has been displaying aggression toward the Philippines on the sea, into Japan, coming into their airspace. And of course conducting live fire exercises off our East Coast without warning us, this is flexing their might within the region and you know there are those that suggest 'oh let's not talk about this because we are putting a target on ourselves', well I'm sorry but we have to show strength in order to deter aggression so appeasement doesn't work when it comes to, you know, these authoritarian countries, specifically such as China, and we have to recognise that threat that's posed upon us and the need to increase our spend in defence. There's no two ways about it.

PAUL MURRAY:
What will be fascinating is that there apparently is going to be a meeting tonight between the Australian Defence Minister and the American Defence Minister. That was a big maybe yesterday. Apparently it's been locked in. Apparently even a conversation with JD Vance. So that's deputy to deputy as we work our way towards what should be the inevitable meeting between an Australian Prime Minister and an American President. And certainly you would think that Australia would be echoing anything that the United States had to say about the threat of China, but we get this, we are a sovereign country, sort of veneer, which is all about not talking about the threats. Remember, China, and we're not talking about Chinese people, we're talking about people who live here, talking about CCP, they even hacked the blueprints to the ASIO office, okay? Does anyone else need to be reminded, right? But Australia seems to be more likely to line up with the talking points of French foreign policy than we would the American foreign policy when it comes to China. 

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price:
Yes, exactly. The Prime Minister is playing domestic politics and is terrible when it comes to foreign policy. The US is, of course, one of our most important allies and it's been over 300 days since President Trump came to office. Our Prime Minister has failed to secure a face-to-face meeting with President Trump. In the face of everything that's currently taking place globally in the phase of, of course, the threat of China, obviously our relationship is so important with the US. We know all about it in the Northern Territory and places like Darwin. We welcome the US military and having their presence – knowing that if we are in need of support in terms of defence, they are going to be first port of call. But also, you know, I've grown up in Alice Springs. I have lived my entire life engaged with US citizens and those who work as part of the Pine Gap base in Alice Springs as well. And it's just really embarrassing that our own Prime Minister can't have important high-level conversations with the U.S. President. He sent his deputy to go and test the waters on his behalf, but it should have been him there at the White House meeting President Trump already. And especially now that we know this information with regard to how Iran is now acting aggressively toward us as a country. We need our allies right now more than we have since, I suppose, the Second World War.

PAUL MURRAY:
I agree with you completely. Senator, I'm sadly out of time, so I look forward to talking to you again very shortly. She's a regular with us, of course, and a wonderful free thinker, the wonderful Jacinta Nampijinpa Price talk to you soon. Of course, the Senator from the Northern Territory, and she's got so much to fire up about. Speaking about the NT, I'm going to be there next week.