Price makes rapid backtrack on false Indian migrant claim

Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been forced to walk back her inflammatory claim that the federal government is bringing in specific groups of migrants to Australia, including Indian people, to bolster its vote.

Price made the unfounded allegation as she weighed into immigration issues on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program during a charged week in parliament, after the weekend’s anti-immigration rallies led to violent incidents and spilled into political debate.

Her decision to single out Indian migrants, who protesters targeted at the weekend rallies, complicates Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s promise to rebuild the Coalition’s reputation in multicultural communities following its election defeat.

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi accused Price of feeding into a white nationalist agenda, while fellow Liberal senator Dave Sharma said he supported the Indian community and rejected the stereotyping of any migrant community.

The Northern Territory senator made the claims after telling the national broadcaster she believed most Australians were concerned about immigration. She was questioned about whether she thought people were worried about “the core number, or the type of migrants that are coming in”.

“It is definitely the core number. And of course, there is focus from this government to be getting them from particular countries over others,” Price said in response.

“Labor like to be able to ensure that they’re going to allow those in that would ultimately support their policies, their views, and vote for them as well.”

Host Patricia Karvelas pointed out that Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration system. She asked whether Price believed the government was actively running a migration program to bring in people open to their ideas, and the senator answered “absolutely”.

“This is Labor. Basically, it’s power at any cost. And we see that occur all over the place in terms of the way they conduct themselves,” Price said.

Asked who she thought Labor was trying to bring in for the sake of votes, the senator singled out the Indian community.

“As we have seen, you yourself mentioned, that there is a concern with the Indian community, and only because there’s been large numbers, and we can see that reflected in the way the community votes for Labor at the same time,” Price said.

Price’s comments on the ABC came hours after she draped herself in the Australian flag in the Senate in a show of national pride on “National Flag Day”, a move later imitated by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson.

Indian Australians have described experiencing racism and being afraid to travel into cities when last weekend’s rallies singled out high levels of immigration from India in their promotional material. One man described being pointed at while someone shouted, “deport, deport, deport”.

An hour after the broadcast, Price issued a statement to the media clarifying her remarks.

“Australia maintains a longstanding and bipartisan non-discriminatory migration policy. Suggestions otherwise are a mistake,” she said. “My remarks were made in a wide-ranging interview on ABC where I sought to highlight issues of uncontrolled mass migration and ruptures to social cohesion.”

Faruqi, who was born in Pakistan, said the targeting of Indian migrants at the weekend’s marches had been despicable, “and this type of rhetoric just feeds into their agenda”.

“It seems senator Price has a habit of making statements that have no grounding in reality. Like any other community, the Indian community has a diversity of views and it is condescending of senator Price to claim anything else,” she said.

“Australians comprehensively rejected [Peter] Dutton’s Trumpian agenda at the election, but it appears the Coalition haven’t learnt their lesson.”

Both Labor and the Coalition have courted Indian-Australian voters, including at the last election. Vithyaa Thavapalan, founder of the South Asian Foundation Australia, said she felt the community had been treated like “chess pieces” by both parties. “I think they were made aware that the South Asian population is one of the fastest growing communities in Australia,” she said.

The Coalition’s dismal results in metropolitan and multicultural electorates have led Ley to emphasise she was a new leader with a new tone and team. Ley relegated Price from the Indigenous affairs portfolio to defence industry after the senator’s failed bid to become deputy Liberal leader.

Asked about Price’s remarks on Wednesday, Ley’s office did not comment, but pointed to Price’s clarification statement.

Sharma, who has Indian heritage, said: “I support the Indian community in Australia and applaud the contribution they have made to our nation. And I fundamentally reject stereotyping of any migrant community.”

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said Australia did not have a race-based migration system, “nor should it”.

“At every citizenship ceremony I go to, I love reading out the countries of origin and hearing the cheers from everyone about to make a pledge to our country. It’s rare that anyone cheers more loudly than the Indian community. We are lucky that they have chosen us,” he said.

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