Controversial new Aboriginal senator Jacinta Price has railed against what she sees as ‘handouts’ and ‘symbolic recognition’ for Indigenous Australians.
The former deputy mayor of Alice Springs was elected at the May 21 poll for the Northern Territory as a member of the Country Liberal Party.
Wearing a traditional headdress, Senator Price used her maiden speech to Parliament to oppose the government’s key Indigenous policies.
Senator Price is a frequent critic of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an elected body of First Nations representatives enshrined in the constitution that would advise the government on issues affecting them.
‘I personally have had more than my fill of being symbolically recognised,’ she told the Senate chamber on Wednesday evening.
Controversial new Aboriginal senator Jacinta Price (pictured) has railed against what she sees as ‘handouts’ and ‘symbolic recognition’ for Indigenous Australians
‘We hear the platitudes of motherhood statements from our now prime minister, who suggests without any evidence whatsoever that a Voice to Parliament bestowed upon us through the virtuous act of symbolic gesture by this government is what is going to empower us.
‘His government has yet to demonstrate how this proposed voice will deliver practical outcomes and unite rather than drive a wedge further between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
‘No, prime minister, we don’t need another handout… and no we Indigenous Australians have not come to agreement on this statement.’
Senator Price also dismissed welcome to country ceremonies and acknowledgement of country as a ‘reinvention of culture’.
Her speech was just hours after One Nation senator Pauline Hanson stormed out of an acknowledgement of country yelling ‘no, I won’t and never will’.
The Warlpiri woman launched into a stirring defence of Australia’s history and called on citizens to ‘recognise and take pride in our national identity’.
‘Without a sense of unity and pride we leave ourselves vulnerable to external forces that would delight in our demise,’ she said.
The former deputy mayor of Alice Springs (pictured in parliament on Wednesday) was elected at the May 21 poll for the Northern Territory as a member of the Country Liberal Party
Senator Price repeated her frequent refrain that policies aimed at improving Indigenous representation only served to divide Australia.
The right-wing politician also addressed other closely-held issues – the rate of Indigenous incarceration and violence in Aboriginal communities.
She argued claims of racism causing the high rate of Indigenous people being locked up was a ‘false narrative’.
Instead, there was ‘silence’ about how more of the crimes were committed by Indigenous people on victims of their own race.
‘Lives… taken in black on black violence deserve better,’ she said.
Senator Thorpe argued the real cause of crime in Aboriginal communities, and why interventions weren’t working in her home territory, was soft bail laws.
Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Price (left) hugs Labor senator Jana Stewart (right) after making her maiden speech on Wednesday night
‘More often than not instead of being remanded, perpetrators are put on bail, and more often than not while on bail they perpetrate more violence,’ she said.
‘We need change and we need the right legislation to affect it.
‘My vision, my hope, my goal is that we can affect change that will see women, children and other victims in these communities become as safe as any of those living in Sydney.’
Senator Price’s views on Indigenous issues are at odds with other Aboriginal MPs, most starkly with Greens senator Lidia Thorpe.
She has said there is ‘enough parliamentary representation of Indigenous people’ and expressed strong support for keeping Australia Day on January 26.
Many Aboriginal people view the date, which commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet of settlers from Britain, as ‘Invasion Day’ and want it changed.
The right-wing politician addressed other closely-held issues – the rate of Indigenous incarceration and violence in Aboriginal communities during her maiden speech
Senator Price unsuccessfully ran for election to the seat of Lingiari in 2019 but made it into Parliament this time second on the ticket for the CLP in the NT.
Her speech was in stark contrast to that of another Indigenous MP who also gave her maiden speeches on Wednesday evening.
Jana Stewart, the youngest Indigenous woman to ever be elected an MP, strongly supported the Voice to Parliament and wanted her people ‘given a seat at the table’ in climate change discussions.
‘Traditional owners who have cared for country for tens of thousands of years are seeing it charred, and sacred sites destroyed,’ she said.
‘Traditional owners who take care of country must have a seat at the table.’
Senator Price (pictured with randmother Tess Napaljarri Ross) unsuccessfully ran for election to the seat of Lingiari in 2019 but made it into Parliament this time for the CLP in the NT
Senator Stewart took the opposite line to Senator Price on Indigenous incarceration, which she said felt ‘personal’ and the lower Aboriginal life expectancy like ‘reading my future’.
She claimed Aboriginal people were too often spoken of negatively and always viewed as ‘an issue’
‘It’s why I ask everyone in this place and beyond to consider carefully how you talk about First Nations people… Words are powerful and words matter,’ she said.
Senator Stewart also referred to the Stolen Generation as ‘genocide’, but insisted that wasn’t to make white people feel guilty, just to tell the ‘hard truth about the history of this country’.
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