Senator Nampijinpa Price talks to Oly Peterson on 6PR Perth

3 September 2025

Subjects: National Flag Day; The Greens and Labor dividing our nation; reviving national pride.

E&OE……………

OLY PETERSON:
In an opinion piece penned in the News Corp papers today Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has declared that burning the Australian flag is an act of betrayal and we should be treating it like one. She says we should criminalise the destruction or desecration of our national flag. She joins me live on 6PR today. Senator Price, thanks for your time.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Thanks for having me, Oly, and hello to all your listeners.

OLY PETERSON:
Is it a crime in Australia at the moment if you were to burn the national flag?

 SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
No, it isn't. There's nothing under the Act that incriminates the burning of the flag.

 OLY PETERSON:
Why would anybody want to burn it anyway?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
I suppose you have to ask the part-time Aussies that were burning it during the march across Sydney Harbour Bridge and those that we saw more recently why they would do that. I mean to me, it's an act of betrayal to our country, to our nation, to those who have served and died under that flag for our freedoms. When our soldiers pass away, they have the flag draped over their coffins. And so it ties us – it has been mentioned by others – that it ties the living to the dead. It is absolutely the utmost disrespect, I think, for a nation to do that.

OLY PETERSON:
The whole idea of the flag is to unite us, isn't it meant to be, Senator Price, something that we are proud of and to say that we're Australian.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
That is exactly right, and that is what the elements of the flag do, to unite us. Contrary to what those with the black armband view claim that it doesn't represent Indigenous Australians, I have been reminded by many Indigenous Australians – but particularly so from elders of mine from Central Australia who told me to pass on that message to the Australian people – that we are represented in the flag through the Southern Cross, which is representative of Jukurrpa dreaming stories as well. So, it is a representation of who we are as a country. And our Prime Minister fails to recognise that when he stands in front of three separate flags, given that two of those flags are not national flags. And the Australian flag is the flag of the Australian people.

OLY PETERSON:
You're obviously quite proud of our national flag, Senator Price.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Absolutely. I am incredibly proud of our national flag. I am incredibly proud to call myself an Australian. I always have been. In recent times, those of us who are proud to be Australian have come under attack by the left and those who have a poor view of our country. It is about time that we reclaimed our flag – that it is not racist to be proud of our flag; that you are not racist if you are proud of your Australian flag – and that we stand up for our country and teach our children to be proud once more to call themselves Australian.

OLY PETERSON:
It's good you're fighting back because you get that sense, unfortunately, in Australia at the moment, that if you were to be somebody that's flew the flag or carried the flag, that you may be called a racist. And that's dividing people, not uniting people. That's the purpose of the flag in this country.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Absolutely that's what it's about and we've heard those sentiments over the years obviously, but I think it was more pronounced on October 9 when our Prime Minister failed to call out the protests on the footsteps of the of the Opera House and the growing antisemitism from that point forward. In the encouragement of those to burn our flag and the division that this Prime Minister has created. Prior to that it was the voice referendum that divided us as a country. It is no wonder that Australians chose to march in a pro-Australian rally on the 31^st, which, you know I am supportive of the vast majority of those Australians who are not racist. I condemn extremism whether it's Nazis, whether it is those who support Hamas and terrorism in this country. I utterly condemn the actions of those. But I congratulate the wonderful Aussies who stood up proud to call themselves Australian on Sunday.

OLY PETERSON:
You walked into the Senate a little bit earlier today with the Australian flag draped over your back, but I'm led to believe you were told to remove it. Is that right, Senator?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Correct. One of the Green Senators stood up and called a point of order and sought to have me remove that flag because he considered it a prop and that if I was to set a precedent then he would want to come in with a Palestinian flag draped around his shoulders. For crying out loud. There is no comparison. We are Australians. This is National Flag Day in Australia. For a group of individuals who protest with props consistently. They had no right to seek for me to remove the Australian flag. By the way, they have no Indigenous representation in the Greens anymore. To tell me as an Indigenous woman who they claim, you know, they acknowledge and respect, which they clearly don't, who is a patriot of this country. To do that just demonstrates how completely un-Australian the Greens are and how treacherous they are toward our country. I mean seriously if Senator McKim would prefer to wear a Palestinian flag then perhaps he should consider moving over there.

OLY PETERSON:
Well, that's it. I mean, Nick McKim, you are an Australian parliamentarian. He's embarrassed by his own flag, or he'd prefer to have the Palestinian flag in the Australian Senate than the Australian flag. We've got this all up and around the wrong way, Senator Price.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Absolutely, and you know the fact that he you know is very gleeful with Senator Hanson-Young and took great pleasure in insisting that me, as an Aboriginal woman, remove the Australian flag. I mean you know they call out white supremacists all the time, but they're quite happy to order me around and make demands of me. It is such a double standard. It is ridiculous. And I implore Australians to be proud of our heritage.

OLY PETERSON:
What you mentioned before, the fact that Prime Minister now stands behind three flags instead of one flag, that would create that division subconsciously amongst Australians, and the point that we made before about being either proud of that flag or of being our divisive flag, can we come together under this flag, Senator Price, or, this never-ending debate that won't go away we have to have this conversation about uniting under one flag with the current flag that we have that flag, or do we have to look at alternatives?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
No, the flag is the flag that we have and as was demonstrated on the weekend, the vast majority of Australians have homage to that flag and feel that flag represents us as a country. If we decide to start making changes with regard to flags about uniting us, we are attempting to appease a minority who hate this country anyway. And once you meet one demand, there will be another demand, and another demand. So, we have to get back to who we are as a country once more, which is something that I think I've been arguing for quite some time. You know, on Sunday it was Australians of so many mixed backgrounds, you know, there were so many proud Indigenous Australians, there were so many proud migrant Australians together side by side. It was wonderful to hear them singing the national anthem together and that's the sentiment we must continue to move forward with.

OLY PETERSON:
Senator Price, well done for speaking up those fringe elements though you sometimes try to radicalise some of the good work that the sensible members of the public are trying to put forward and you're certainly prepared to take up that fight.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:
Absolutely. Love Australia. Go Team Australia.

OLY PETERSON:
Good on you. Senator Price joining us live on 6PR this afternoon. She says burning the flags is an act of betrayal.