Do we like Jacinta Nampijinpa Price?
Our score: 2 out of 10. A clear run of harmful votes and disputed migrant claims in her own name, with some real advocacy for remote women and children set against it.
Price was born in Darwin to a Warlpiri mother, Bess Price, and grew up in Alice Springs and remote communities. She has spoken about alcoholism and violence among family members, and also about music: at 15 she was rapping with cousins in a hip hop group, performing as Sassy J. She won a seat on Alice Springs council in 2015, became deputy mayor in 2020, and landed in the Senate in 2022.
Her national profile came from the 2023 Voice referendum, where she was one of the loudest No campaigners. At the National Press Club she said colonisation had a positive impact and that “now we've got running water, we've got readily available food.” Yes advocates denounced it as insulting. AAP FactCheck also rated her claim that the PM never mentioned marginalised Indigenous Australians in his Yes launch speech as false.
The big blow-up came in September 2025. In an ABC interview she said the government was favouring migrants from particular countries and singled out Indian Australians as voting Labor. Sussan Ley sacked her from the frontbench after she wouldn't apologise, citing the hurt caused. Price said “My concern is not migration itself — it's the magnitude of migration.” Former immigration official Abul Rizvi argued in a column that the numbers don't back her up.
On the harm test, the record is her own votes and words. Per They Vote For You she has consistently voted against limiting warming to 1.5 degrees, against net zero by 2050 and against the Paris Agreement. She has also voted against under-18s keeping access to gender-affirming healthcare, and generally against trans rights and protections. Her 2025 campaign slogan “make Australia great again” drew Trump comparisons. To be fair, she has also voted to criminalise hate speech and hate symbols.
The migration row hasn't gone away. In February 2026, reports said she was heading back to the frontbench under Angus Taylor, and Labor's Julian Hill said the Liberals had “learnt nothing”. Then in July she shared that podcast clip. Where you land depends on whether you read her as raising a legitimate migration debate or as repeating a claim ministers and analysts have rejected.
There's also a defamation case. Central Land Council boss Lesley Turner sued her over a July 2024 media release, alleging it wrongly implied he had lost council support. Court documents show she rejected a $60,000 settlement offer and later raised more than $228,000 from donors, including Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting. The trial ended in October 2025 with judgment reserved, and I couldn't find a reported outcome.