Senior Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is facing criticism after agreeing with comments on a podcast describing migrants from India, China, Africa and the Middle East as “flooding” Australia.
Appearing on the 2Worlds Collide podcast on Wednesday, host Sam Bamford said: “We can’t keep flooding us with hundreds of thousands of Indians, Chinese, Africans, Middle Easterns. And Gazans for that matter for the refugee status.”
Senator Price responded:
“Yeah, look, absolutely. And I totally agree. I mean, if people want to come to Australia and become Australians, they have to adopt our values full stop. There’s no two ways about it.”
The comments have triggered backlash from Labor MPs and multicultural advocates, with the government accusing the Coalition of adopting rhetoric associated with One Nation.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly also condemned the remarks, saying migrant communities should not be blamed or targeted.
“This is not a debate about migration settings. This is senior Liberals adopting the language of One Nation and repetitively blaming and targeting migrants,” Dr Aly said.
“Indian Australians, British Australians, Chinese Australians, African Australians, Arab Australians and European Australians are building businesses, creating jobs, staffing our hospitals, teaching in schools and raising families across this country.”
Julian Hill MP said Senator Price had again targeted migrant communities after previous remarks about Indian migration sparked controversy in 2025.
“After previously suggesting that where people migrate from determines how people vote, Senator Price has now decided to pick on Australians of Chinese, African, Indian and Middle Eastern heritage.”
He accused the Liberal Party of becoming “constantly embroiled in issues of race” and called on Opposition Leader Angus Taylor to take action.
The controversy follows comments Senator Price made in September 2025 about the Indian community and voting patterns, which led to her removal from the shadow ministry under then Liberal leader Sussan Ley.
She was later returned to the shadow ministry by Taylor and subsequently defended her earlier remarks, claiming she had been “thrown under a bus” by colleagues and unfairly portrayed in media interviews.
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