Liberal divisions spill into public view as Price accuses Hawke of ‘inappropriate conduct’

A Liberal Party rupture over immigration has spilled into public allegations of gendered mistreatment, after Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price accused colleague Alex Hawke of berating staff and the party of failing to stand up for women.

Her claims came as the dominant business group in Sydney’s Little India refused to meet Opposition Leader Sussan Ley on Sunday, unless Price apologised or was sacked over her comments on Indian immigration, in a sign of how the firebrand senator’s remarks imperilled the party’s reputation among Indian Australians.

Price has been under pressure since she told the ABC last Wednesday that the federal government was bringing in migrants “from particular countries over others” to win votes, naming the “Indian community” as an example.

The fallout has compromised Ley’s attempts to unite her party while rebuilding the Liberal Party’s brand in multicultural communities after a historic election defeat.

Ley declined three times to apologise on Price’s behalf during an interview on the ABC’s Insiders, but said Price’s comments were wrong and would not be repeated. “Others will make their own remarks. I know that as leader, the most important message that I can send is that appreciation of our Indian community heard directly from me as leader,” she said on Sunday.

Asked later about Price’s claims of gendered mistreatment, Ley said: “I’m not getting into those details ... Issues between colleagues will be resolved in the normal way, I am sure.”

Price made the allegations against Hawke, a Liberal powerbroker and crucial backer of Ley, after Sky News reported on Sunday morning that Hawke had told Price to rectify her claim in a social media video. Price later clarified that Australia’s migration policy was non-discriminatory and “suggestions otherwise are a mistake”, but said she had nothing to apologise for.

In a rare public allegation against a shadow ministry colleague, Price made a social media statement saying Hawke had not communicated directly with her, but “chose to berate one of my staff”.

“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,” she wrote.

Sources familiar with the conversation, but not authorised to speak publicly, said it referred to former opposition frontbencher Jane Hume’s “Chinese spy” comments spreading quickly on social media during the election campaign.

Price says she sent Hawke a WhatsApp message “to call out his cowardly and inappropriate conduct”.

“Only after that message did Alex Hawke and I speak on Thursday evening,” she wrote. “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.”

Price’s office did not respond to a question asking whether her complaints were reported to the party or the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.

The public stoush comes months after Price defected from the Nationals so that 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 did not directly engage with Price’s claims as he issued a statement later on Sunday.

“Any reasonable person must reject the targeting of Indian Australians. The extremist and hate literature that was recently circulated prior to anti-immigration rallies is abhorrent. That behaviour must be condemned by anyone who supports a free, fair and tolerant society,” he said.

“I have spoken with Senator Price and accepted her explanation of how her comments have been misinterpreted and subsequently weaponised by Labor.”

Nitin Setia, the president of Little India Businesses Inc, which is the largest business group in western Sydney’s Harris Park, said his group wasn’t satisfied with the response.

Ley, immigration spokesman Paul Scarr, shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser and NSW senator Maria Kovacic visited the suburb’s Indian business strip on Sunday night in an attempt to repair relations.

“Straight away, we told them [organisers] that unless Ms Price issues an apology to the Indian community for the comments that she has made, we are not entertaining her [Ley] or talking to anyone in the Liberal Party,” Setia said.

“I will not accept the queen’s apology for the fault of a soldier. Is the queen telling me that that soldier is not in control? And does not follow the party lines? Then I’m sorry, you need to expel that soldier.

“I don’t think she [Price] is a person suitable for a public office, and if she’s a part of the Liberal Party, then I’m sorry to say, Liberals are not welcome.”

But two other smaller business associations said Ley’s move was a positive step. “We are looking for a healthy business relationship with either party, without being judgmental ... Whoever comes to Little India, they are welcome,” said Gurmeet Tuli from Little India Australia.

Another, Sanjay Deshwal of the Little India Harris Park Business Precinct, said the Liberals were seeking to reinforce that they valued Indian migrants. “We are happy to host her and her team,” he said.

Price, in her statement, labelled media reporting about her remarks on Wednesday as agenda-driven and out of context.

“Of course, I regret not being clearer in my comments on the ABC last Wednesday. I know that many Australians of Indian ancestry – and Indian migrants living in Australia – are distressed,” she wrote.

“Not only by my comments, but also in reading associated newspaper coverage. I sought to correct and clarify my comments after the ABC interview. But I’ve also been disappointed by some media reporting which has been agenda-driven and wrenched my comments from context.”

Price gave an interview to Indian diaspora website The Australia Today and said her comments “were never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community”.

Asked why she would not apologise, Price said: “Where I wrongly mis-stepped in terms of the comments that I made, I made sure that I corrected, clarified those comments more broadly.”

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.