Liberal MPs apologise to Indian community as colleagues, PM add to pressure on Price

Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser and the NSW Liberals and Nationals have apologised to the Indian community for comments made by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, as the federal Liberal Party descends into further infighting over the response to the senator’s remarks.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday joined a push for Price to say sorry, while the federal Nationals were split in their reactions to the embattled senator. Matt Canavan called for his Senate colleague to rejoin the Nationals, a move party leader David Littleproud said he “would not be encouraging”, as deputy leader Bridget McKenzie said Price should apologise.

But the Northern Territory senator found a backer in Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, the first Coalition MP to support Price publicly since her claims last week put the opposition in damage control.

“Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a magnificent Australian ... She’s a warrior for common sense and for the most marginalised,” Henderson told radio station 2CC on Tuesday. “At no stage did she ever reflect adversely on Indian Australians.

While Price quickly backtracked on her remarks, which claimed the government was bringing in Indian migrants to bolster its vote, the senator’s refusal to apologise has upset Indian Australians, infuriated many Liberal colleagues and put pressure on Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

Price’s public allegations of “cowardly and inappropriate conduct” against Liberal MP Alex Hawke, who has denied speaking angrily when he asked her to apologise in a private conversation last week, fuelled the fallout.

Ley has also declined to apologise on Price’s behalf – she refused three times when asked on the weekend – but has insisted the senator’s comments were wrong and would not be repeated, as she seeks to repair relations with the Indian community.

Albanese, when asked about the saga on Monday, also gave his support to the Indian community.

“The comments are not true that the senator made and of course she should apologise for the hurt that has been caused. Her own colleagues are saying that. But even more importantly, leaders in the community are asking for that as well,” he said on the ABC.

Albanese said whether the opposition leader apologised was “a decision for Sussan Ley”. “I’ll leave the Coalition to fight themselves.”

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman and two frontbench colleagues put out a statement of support for the Indian community on Tuesday afternoon. “The NSW Liberals and Nationals are sorry for the deep hurt many Indian-Australians feel after a federal senator’s offensive comments last week,” it said.

It came after Leeser, the shadow attorney-general, posted to his Facebook page on Monday night with a video of a speech he gave to an Indian language school in his north-west Sydney electorate. “I wanted just to say something, and it pains me to say it, but I feel I have to say it,” he said.

“My colleague, Jacinta Price, said something this week that I want to apologise unreservedly for. As my leader, Sussan Ley, said, she was wrong to say it, and she has walked back those remarks and I am pleased that she has.

“There are Indians that vote Labor, there are Indians that vote Liberal, there are Indians that vote Greens. I don’t care how you vote. I care about the contribution you make to this country, and I know it is a fantastic contribution, and I want you to keep making it.”

The video was uploaded an hour after Price gave an interview on Sky News, in which she did not apologise for her comments but called on Ley to make Hawke say sorry to her about how he handled the fallout.

Price said she had “always recognised members of our migrant community who are doing a remarkable job”. “The point that I wanted to make was the way in which Labor does aggressively court the migrant community, as they do the Indigenous community,” she told Sky.

“Another thing that, I guess, disappointed me, was the fact that some of my colleagues chose to ignore those elements of this entire argument, but instead adopted the left-wing media’s approach to applying pressure to me, instead of pointing out those very facts.”

McKenzie, a Nationals frontbencher, distanced the junior Coalition party from the comments.

“When you’re a leader and a community leader, as those of us that are in senior ministry positions in parliament are, if you’ve offended somebody and you didn’t mean to, the appropriate responsible thing to do is to apologise,” McKenzie said on 4BC.

“I couldn’t have been clearer. I’ve had to do it.”

But Canavan, her colleague, said he would welcome Price back to the junior Coalition party.

“If Jacinta came back to her team, she’d be the prodigal sister, so to speak. She’d be welcomed with open arms, I’m sure, by most of us,” Canavan told Sky News.

Price joined the Liberals to unsuccessfully contest the deputy leadership on a ticket with prospective leader Angus Taylor following the last election. Canavan said the party change was a regrettable move from the “rock star” politician.

Nationals leader Littleproud took a less receptive tone to a reversal from Price, saying: “I haven’t had any discussions [with her on the matter]. Don’t intend to have any discussions. She made a decision if she wanted to come back, then that’s something I’d consult with our party room. It’s not something I’ll be encouraging.”

Leeser joined Ley, immigration spokesman Paul Scarr and NSW Senator Maria Kovacic on a tour of businesses in western Sydney’s Little India precinct on Sunday night, in an effort to engage with the community following Price’s inflammatory comments.

Some businesses were happy to host them, but several others refused, saying they would not engage with Ley or the Liberals until Price issued an unconditional apology or was sacked from the shadow ministry, where she serves as spokeswoman for defence industry.

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