Price doubles down on Liberal infighting by demanding Hawke apologise

Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has challenged Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to order frontbench colleague Alex Hawke to apologise to her, escalating the infighting that has engulfed the Liberal Party over the firebrand senator’s claims about Indian immigration.

Price’s demand came after Hawke spent Monday calling on the senator to say sorry for claiming to the ABC last week that the federal government was bringing in migrants “from particular countries over others” to win votes, naming the “Indian community” as an example.

While Price quickly clarified her remarks, the senator’s refusal to apologise is infuriating colleagues and putting pressure on Ley’s leadership. Price’s fresh demand will set another test for the opposition leader, who must rein in the senator or risk losing authority over her party room.

Hawke’s public calls for Price’s apology came after the senator on Sunday issued a statement on social media accusing him of berating her staff and “inappropriate and cowardly behaviour” when he first asked her to say sorry.

As the fallout among Liberals deepened – both moderate and conservative MPs are furious about the saga – Price again on Monday defied calls to apologise from colleagues and members of the Indian community.

Instead, in a Monday night interview on Sky with Peta Credlin, she flipped the onus on Ley to make Hawke, the manager of opposition business, say sorry for what the senator described as using an “aggressive tone” to speak with her. “I have asked our leader if she would ask Alex Hawke to apologise to me for his conduct,” Price said.

“You know, again, I’m a Liberal woman, and Liberal women need to be able to feel like they’re being supported wholeheartedly.”

Price also claimed Ley had not spoken with her about her comments, despite disclosing there had been a conversation with the opposition leader about Hawke’s behaviour. “I have not had a conversation with the leader specifically about that issue,” she said.

“I guess I would expect that I would hear directly from the leader herself, if it was of huge concern. It didn’t appear to be of huge concern... I haven’t received any such call.”

However, Price’s clarification of her remarks within an hour last Wednesday was widely attributed to instructions from the leader’s office. Ley’s office was contacted for comment.

Hawke on Monday confirmed he told Price she should say sorry for her comments, and said he was repeating that call in public because the senator had since exposed their conversation.

“She disagreed with me, and she has disagreed with me. But I’ve looked at the damage in the community, and there is real damage now on both sides.”

Hawke said he was still receiving emails from Price’s supporters on Monday saying “words to the effect of: there’s too many Indian people coming into the country, that’s bad, she needs to address that”.

“After those flyers we saw before the anti-immigration rallies, which singled out the Indian community, this was a particularly bad week for these comments,” he said.

“And then I’ve got members of the Liberal Party, some from South-East Asian communities and Indian communities, saying we really feel hurt.”

March for Australia, which organised last weekend’s rallies, on Monday afternoon used Price’s image in a Facebook post about immigration policy and the Liberal Party.

“There is a role here, a real leadership role, for Jacinta to play in walking this back a bit further, and just saying … to her own supporters, ‘I never meant to obviously say that’,” Hawke told the ABC later on Monday.

“I believe she didn’t, but the heat is still there. It’s – if anything – getting a little bit worse, no doubt fed with fuel from the Labor Party taking political advantage, which isn’t helping social cohesion.”

Ley has been in damage control as she seeks to repair the Liberal Party’s reputation, holding roundtables with Indian and Chinese Australians on Monday, the day after she led a contingent of Liberals on a tour of Little India in Sydney’s Harris Park.

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.

Ley declined to apologise on Price’s behalf, but the crisis escalated when Price made a rare public allegation against Hawke.

“He even pressed my staff that if I did not comply with his requests, I may end up like another female member of the Coalition – who I won’t name,” Price wrote on social media.

“If people want to talk about a so-called ‘woman problem’ in the Liberal Party, then it’s this: we don’t stand up for women when they are mistreated by our own colleagues.”

Hawke denied it was an angry conversation. “All I said to Jacinta was, ‘Would you consider apologising to the community for making a mistake about the remarks?’” he said.

“I’ve raised the immigration issue and I’ve raised the race issue. I can’t see how it has a gender perspective.“

The public stoush comes months after Price defected from the National Party so she could run for the Liberal Party’s deputy leadership on Angus Taylor’s ticket. Ley, supported by Hawke, won against Taylor by three votes.

Hawke told Sky News it was not a case of moderate and conservative factional infighting. “She’s just joined the Liberal Party and she’s been welcomed with open arms,” he said.

He later told the ABC the saga did not reflect well upon the Liberal Party. “I’d probably be backing in my judgement at the election that you re-elected the government,” he said, when asked what voters would think.

“That’s what happens when you give a big majority to the government, and you say to an opposition, ‘go get your stuff sorted out’. You expect them to go away and get their stuff sorted out.”

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