Jacinta Price Trump gaffe rocks the election campaign – as gleeful Labor pounces

By ZAK WHEELER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 13:23 BST, 12 April 2025 | Updated: 16:20 BST, 12 April 2025

Senior Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has denied her use of the phrase ‘Make Australia Great Again’ showed support for US President Donald Trump, who coined the original slogan.

Senator Price used a localized version of Trump’s signature line when she addressed a bowling club in Perth on Saturday, despite the Coalition trying to distance itself from the American leader in the wake of his imposition of tariffs on Australia. 

Senator Price said she had only spoken of making the country great again offhandedly and did not even realise that she was echoing Trump’s MAGA phrase. 

She was introducing Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who was also at the luncheon, when she evoked the polarising US President.

‘[The Liberal party will] ensure that we can make Australia great again, that we can bring Australia back to it’s former glory, that we can get Australia back on track,’ she said.

Her words were immediately seized on by Labor, and the comment was widely reported. 

Labor’s campaign spokesperson Jason Clare said the Coalition ‘just want to import US polices and US slogans to Australia’.

‘The only thing [Senator Price] didn’t have today was the [MAGA] hat,’ Mr Clare said. 

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has said that the media is ‘obsessed’ with Donald Trump after she said the Coalition was going to ‘Make Australia Great Again’.

Senator Price dismissed any connection that herself and Peter Dutton might have with the US President after she was confronted about her co-opting of Trump’s campaign slogan 

A short time later Senator Price downplayed the episode in a separate press conference.

‘If I said that, I don’t even realise I said that,’ Senator Price said. 

‘But no, I’m an Australian and I want to ensure that we get Australia back on track.’

It was not the first time Senator Price’s role in the election had been likened to the current US administration 

Mr Dutton named Senator Price as the shadow minister for government efficiency in January.

The new role was apparently inspired by Trump’s own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which Elon Musk initially ran. 

This is not the first time Senator Price has been linked to Donald Trump especially after Mr Dutton named her as the shadow minister for government efficiency in January

Mr Dutton himself avoided answering any questions which related to President Trump after Senator Price’s remarks and instead attempted to focus on the cost-of-living crisis

When questioned about the similarities between the two departments Senator Price chided the media’s ‘obsession with Donald Trump’.

‘Let’s be very, very clear, media, you’re all obsessed with Donald Trump. We’re not. We’re actually obsessed with ensuring that we can improve the circumstances for Australians,’ she said. 

When asked about the situation himself the Opposition leader repeatedly redirected the conversation towards the cost of living crisis.

Mr Dutton said he would rather ‘deal with the reality for people’ in Western Australia rather than focus on a non-existent relationship between himself and Trump.

‘I really think that if we want to make their lives better and we want to get our country back on track, we have to change the government,’ he said.

‘And I think that’s the point that any objective person would make at the moment.’

Labor stressed the Trump/Dutton connection was very real however, with its members having persistently drawn lines between the two campaigns throughout the election. 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers referred to The Opposition leader as ‘DOGE-y Dutton’ after he pledged to axe 41,000 jobs in the public sector if becomes Prime Minister.

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Jacinta Price Trump gaffe rocks the election campaign – as gleeful Labor pounces

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