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

23 April 2026

Subjects: Fuel crisis, NDIS, small business, immigration

 

E&OE……………

JAMES MACPHERSON:

Joining me now is Shadow Minister for Small Business Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Senator, thanks so much for coming on the program. Great to speak with you. The PM says we're at Level Two of the National Fuel Security Plan and there's no imminent danger we'll be moving to fuel rationing. Are you satisfied with the government's response to this crisis and what they're doing currently?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Well, the government doesn't truly have a plan. It never did from the outset. I think what they don't understand is energy is the economy. With recent events as to what's happened in another part of the world, it's demonstrated just how vulnerable we are as a country, what we've become. The worst thing about that is that it’s not about resilience. There is no long-term plan from this government — that's what we're not hearing. We keep hearing these updates, but we don't hear about the long-term plan into the future. You know, I spoke about it last year as the Shadow Defence Industry Minister — the late Jim Molan had been talking about it a lot longer than I have — that we need to invest in the infrastructure in our nation to ensure that we have facilities for fuel supply around our country. This was in the event that if anyone wanted to do us harm — such as other nations. But here we are with this crisis in another part of the world, we are left vulnerable — and we remain vulnerable. You can't — with this particular government, you don't know whether they're being genuine or trying to cover their backside in all of this. And while they claim that, as rightly as you said, we have 10 days’ fuel supply, we are still well behind the 90 days that even the Prime Minister himself in the footage that emerged recently from years back, described as what we should have to ensure we are no longer in a vulnerable position.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

It's funny you mentioned that, because I was watching the press conference where a journalist brought that very quote up back in 2020. Anthony Albanese said we must have 90 days’ worth of fuel in reserve. And the Prime Minister's response was, well, we all know that was leaked by the Liberal Party. In other words, it was the Liberal Party's fault for telling everyone what he himself had said. And so, yeah, I sometimes wonder, am I just too cynical? And then I think, well, it is responses like that one from the Prime Minister that cause cynicism in the public.

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Precisely. It's always — he's batting off any responsibility. He and his ministers all do it. When the hard questions are placed upon them, it's everybody else's fault but their own. I mean, we get it all the time in question time, when we're asking them questions and they go back to when the Coalition was in government. Well, you've been there now, you know four years going on, five years, and you're demonstrating to the Australian people that you're unreliable, that you can't be trusted either, and you don't take any responsibility for the circumstances that this country is faced with. And there's not just the fuel crisis, but prior to the fuel crisis, you know, we've got a debt crisis where we're hurtling toward a trillion dollars. We've got an inflation crisis. We continue to see interest rates rise under this government, the cost of living crisis that they have created on their watch, and we're going to be paying for all of this into the future. And there's just no confidence or stability right now, and no sense of responsibility either.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

It's funny you mention all those crises, because I've wondered if the government's strategy is to hope for a future crisis, to distract us from the current crisis, and that's kind of the way they roll. I want to ask you...

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

I think there's going to be a budget crisis on our hands and they will blame the events of the Middle East on the next budget crisis. That'll be the next thing.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

There you go, there you go. I want to ask you about your role as Shadow Minister for Small Business. You've been out and about in regional Australia, most recently in Toowoomba. How are small businesses managing in these difficult times?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Small businesses are doing it tough right around the country. Toowoomba is a wonderful community — a very proud regional city that works hard. They take care of one another in their community. Businesses, while they're doing it tough, they knuckle down and go harder in places like Toowoomba. One of the things that is killing a lot of small businesses around the country is regulatory compliance. This burden is significant for all businesses. Annually, it costs businesses $185 billion, and small businesses themselves, which are 97% of all businesses in our country, carry $160 billion of that annual burden. So they've got that to contend with before the fuel crisis, of course, the cost of living crisis and the cost of energy, which in turn pushes the cost of everything up — another thing impacting small businesses. It's so heartening to see those businesses in Toowoomba getting down, making sure that they're taking care of their local community. I met a number of wonderful apprentices who work really hard. I mean, there was a 16-year-old diesel mechanic apprentice, young girl, that was working at Harvey Black Group. It is heartening to see that, but business wants a break. They want a break from so many different levels and forms of tax. They need a break so that they can continue to employ people who are also paying their bills and finding it so hard. They need the government to stop being their largest competitor. Particularly when it comes to things like the NDIS, they're experiencing a lot of their workers leave to become part of the NDIS. That is really tough for businesses to manage.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

Senator, I actually want to ask you about the NDIS. Obviously, the Minister, Mark Butler, has unveiled proposed reforms. He wants to cut the number of participants by 160,000. He proposes to do that by putting every person on the NDIS through an assessment tool. Just one catch. The assessment tool hasn't been designed yet. Just bear that in mind. And he said the assessment tool would determine whether participants' needs were significant and permanent. But the definitions of significant and permanent, well, they've not been determined yet either. So with all that in mind, I can see you smirking. You think Mark Butler has the ability to get this done?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

I think he's got the ability to create more of a dog's breakfast. Labor's view is to go hard on participants but soft on the perpetrators. We know that there are many who are taking advantage of this system. We know that 94% of providers are, in fact, not even registered with the NDIS. I mean, that's where you’d think you would start, as opposed to knowing that Australians support the NDIS, particularly those who genuinely need it. But like with many things with this government, they tend to aim in the wrong direction when it comes to trying to fix any particular problem. So they need to make sure that those individuals are properly taken care of, but they should be going after those doing the wrong thing.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

All right, just before we go to a break, I really want to play for you. And I showed it early in the program, but I want to play for you again comments from Immigration Minister Tony Burke, where he says he doesn't want migrants to assimilate into this country. I just want to remind viewers and let you see this grab and then get your response to it. Here's what he said:

[CLIP STARTS]

TONY BURKE:

I've never accepted the word assimilation. I don't want people to lose who they are. We want people for who they are. I've never subscribed to that sort of melting pot concept that your whole identity is meant to be dissolved.

[CLIP ENDS]

JAMES MACPHERSON:

Your reaction?

SENATOR JACINTA NAMPIJINPA PRICE:

Look, this bloke not only insults Australians, but those who became citizens in this country. I mean, you know, my husband is one of those individuals and he left his differences at the door. You know, the Scots don't like the English, but he didn't bring that hatred with him. This is what we expect — people not to bring any sort of level of hatred from where they've come from into this country to become part of this country. Let me tell you what ‘assimilate’ actually means, according to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘assimilate’ means to fully understand and take in information, ideas, or to integrate into a new community or culture. I don't know what the hell is wrong with that, but they need to stop stigmatising this word assimilation. What this tells me is that Mr Burke does not want people to adopt our Australian values, nor do I think he knows anything about what they are. But Australians expect others to adopt those values, particularly new Australians who have become citizens of this country. I mean, to me, does he actually believe in the pledge that new citizens give in this country because that is exactly what it is about. And you know what? I don't think he knows as much about his own background because the word berk in the UK actually means idiot.

JAMES MACPHERSON:

Senator Price, it's always nice speaking with you, thanks for joining me.

 

[Ends]