Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has issued a fierce critique of the government’s decision following the rejection of her proposal for an official inquiry into the sexual abuse of Indigenous children.
The Country Liberal Senator addressed the nation through a video message, revealing the aftermath of her urgency motion presented in the Senate on Tuesday.
In the emotional 11-minute video, she expressed unprecedented fury, often holding back tears as she articulated the significance of this issue to her.
During her plea for governmental and crossbench support for a Royal Commission, Ms. Price recounted numerous harrowing accounts of sexual abuse against First Nations children.
Among these stories was that of her niece, who endured being ‘beaten and raped by her own father’ at the age of 15.
“[She] endured unimaginable abuse for years, initially seeking help from family who didn’t believe her… it wasn’t until my cousin took her to the police so she could file a report, displaying incredible bravery to testify at 17,” Ms. Price stated, her voice heavy with emotion.
The Country Liberal Senator issued a video message direct to the Australian public explaining the outcome of the urgency motion she tabled in the Senate on Tuesday afternoon
‘The judge in her case said the abuse had been protracted, prolonged and involved the use of weapons.’
Ms Price accused Labor Senator Tim Ayres of dismissing the importance of her speech in an attempt to shut down her motion.
‘I’m horrified and disgusted,’ she said.
‘Given that I shared those stories in my speech, that Senator Tim Ayres would proceed to make light of Kamahl during the referendum in his speech was just beyond words.
‘How absolutely degrading to sit there and hear that, and witness that, and be spoken at by a male senator in that fashion, after sharing those stories of abuse.’
The comments that Ms Price are referring to were made immediately after her own speech.
Mr Ayres said: ‘Of course child sexual assault is abhorrent, and everybody in this place would condemn it.
‘Like many of the interventions by those opposite, this is all about the politics and not about the solution. It’s always about the politics, never about the solution.
‘We will, having accepted what happened over the course of the weekend, listen carefully and continue to proceed in a careful and deliberate way. We will listen carefully to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.’
His comments regarding Kamahl – who famously changed his position on the referendum several times over during the debate – was a pointed comparison to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s apparent backflip on his own commitment to hold a referendum on constitutional recognition.
‘He changed his mind more quickly and more often than Kamahl. At least Kamahl is popular,’ Mr Ayres said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Senator Ayres’ office for comment.
Ms Price accused Labor Senator Tim Ayres of dismissing the importance of her speech in an attempt to shut down her motion
Ms Price said she took Australia’s comprehensive rejection of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament at the October 14 referendum as a mandate to pursue this inquiry.
She, along with the Coalition, is also seeking an audit into spending in Indigenous Affairs, to stop the ‘drizzle down’ approach which sees huge amounts of money being poured into services which seem to do little to help those most at need.
Three Indigenous senators; Ms Price, Kerrynne Liddle and Lidia Thorpe, all joined forces in August to push the matter through the Senate, but it narrowly failed.
‘To ignore Indigenous children in this country who are suffering, generation after generation, from sexual abuse, is, I think, absolutely abhorrent,’ she said in her message to fans.
But critics of the proposal said it was no more than a Coalition attempt to ‘demonise First Nations people’ and a disingenuous move.
Greens Senator Dorinda Cox said ‘it will be dressed up to demonise our communities and culture, which has sustained us for tens of thousands of years.
‘Our people are hurting right now… and I know some people on the other side of the chamber don’t care.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney conceded the Voice’s defeat on Saturday night, but vowed to continue working to improve the rights and lives of First Nations people
Ms Price also said she’d been wrongly accused of having sinister motives for calling for such an inquiry.
‘One such excuse that was made, was that somehow we’re playing politics with this issue,’ she said.
‘Sure. I’m playing politics with the lives of my own family. Yeah right.’
She also said she was accused of ‘only wanting to do this to make Aboriginal men look bad’.
‘It’s not about the perpetrators,’ she said. ‘It’s actually about the victims.
‘The victims who we’re talking about are Indigenous children. I don’t care who the perpetrator is, so long as they’re dealt with. Or what race the bloody perpetrator is.
‘What I know, is the vast majority of victims in this country are Indigenous children. Why the hell should they not have the same opportunities as other kids in this country? Why aren’t their human rights being upheld?
‘These are the voices, these are the children, that the Labor government has now denied. That to me, is racism.
‘I’m absolutely disgusted.’
Ms Price said despite the setback – and disappointment – she would not stop pushing for these inquiries.
‘We will continue to fight, we will continue to hold this government to account, because we are serious about improving the lives of our most marginalised.
‘They would rather protect the characters, the image of a group of people as opposed to protecting the children.’
Ms Price’s emotional video attracted almost 2,000 comments and hundreds of shares within an hour of uploading it.
Ms Price also said she’d been wrongly accused of having sinister motives for calling for such an inquiry
