The Liberal Party is facing mounting turmoil after Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s remarks about Indian migrants ignited a storm of criticism, sparking infighting within party ranks, and urgent attempts to repair relations with one of Australia’s fastest-growing communities.
The controversy deepened when Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser issued an unreserved apology to the Indian community in his electorate. In a Facebook post, Leeser shared a video of a speech he delivered to students and families at the IABBV Hindi School in Westleigh, north-west Sydney.
“My colleague Jacinta Price said something this week that I want to apologise unreservedly for,” he told the audience.
“As my leader Sussan Ley said, she was wrong to say it, and she has walked back those remarks and I am pleased that she has.”
Leeser praised Indian Australians as “nothing short of extraordinary” and stressed that political allegiance should not determine respect for their contribution. “Let me say very clearly, the contribution of Indian Australians to this country is fantastic. The Indian community is fantastic. And you know what? India, like Australia, is a democracy.
“There are Indians that vote Labor, there are Indians that vote Liberal, there are Indians that vote Greens. I don’t care how you vote. I care about the contribution you make to this country, and I know it is a fantastic contribution, and I want you to keep making it.”
He added that in his Berowra electorate, home to about 8300 people of Indian origin, he wished there were more.
“The reason I wish I had more is very simple. The Indian diaspora in this country, the contribution of that diaspora, is nothing short of extraordinary. And I see it in my community every day.”
Leeser pointed to Indian Australians volunteering in schools, community groups and emergency services. “It’s people volunteering for the P&Cs, it’s people getting involved in the SES and the RFS, it’s people getting involved in the local sports team… people in the local rotary clubs,” he said.
For Leeser, the community embodies Australia’s promise of fairness and opportunity.
“It has always been sacrosanct that it doesn’t matter where you were born, who your parents were. And if you work hard and play by the rules, there is a place for you in this country. There is a very special place, in my view, for the Indian Australian community.”
Speaking with Peta Credlin on Sky News Australia, the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel, Jacinta Price, clarified comments she made on the ABC last week that linked migration from India with Labor’s electoral advantage.
“There is a concern with the Indian community and only because there has been large numbers and we can see that reflected in the way that the community votes for Labor,”
she said in the ABC interview.
The remarks provoked outrage among Indian Australians and unease inside the Coalition. Price said she regretted the way her words had been interpreted but refused to issue an apology.
“The regret that I have is that I wasn’t clearer in terms of my comments on the ABC,” she told Credlin.
“I spoke to The Australia Today, an Indian-Australian media outlet in order to make those clarifications and had a very lovely conversation with them after they reached out to me.”
Instead, Price shifted focus to her broader argument that Australia’s high migration levels are unsustainable.
“Mass migration is of huge concern. And it does apply pressure on Australian families, on our infrastructure, on hospitals, schools, our housing.”
She argued that Labor aggressively courts migrant communities, just as it does Indigenous voters, while Liberal colleagues had been quick to side with what she described as “left-wing media pressure.”
“Another thing that disappointed me was the fact that some of my colleagues chose to ignore those elements of this entire argument. But instead adopted the left-wing media’s approach to applying pressure to me instead of pointing out those very facts.”
Price also accused Liberal MP Alex Hawke of berating one of her staff after her ABC comments, alleging he had warned of consequences if she did not apologise.
“My concern is that my colleague did berate my staffer and which was the reason for why I contacted him in the first instance… to bring another colleague circumstances into the picture was certainly viewed as a threat.”
Hawke rejected this characterisation, saying:
“I didn’t berate anybody… I rang somebody at random and said can I speak to your boss?”
Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Sussan Ley has been criticised by the Indian community for her handling of the episode. While she has publicly said Price’s comments were “wrong” and would not be repeated, she has declined to apologise on Price’s behalf, refusing three times when asked over the weekend. Price, for her part, has urged Ley to demand an apology from Hawke.
“I’m a Liberal woman. And Liberal women need to be able to feel like they’re being supported wholeheartedly.”
In an attempt to stem the damage, Ley, Leeser, immigration spokesman Paul Scarr and NSW Senator Maria Kovacic toured western Sydney’s “Little India” precinct on Sunday night, speaking with business owners and community members.
But the fallout continues to test Ley’s leadership, with the affair being read as a wider struggle over the Liberal Party’s relationship with migrant communities.
As Credlin noted to Price during the interview, the Indian community in particular is seen by many political strategists as naturally aligned with Liberal values: small business, family, rule of law, and English proficiency.
“These are just the sort of Australians that the Liberal Party should be absolutely going out of their way to make friends with.”
Price agreed, but reiterated her concern that the scale of migration — not its source — is her primary focus.
“Look, absolutely. It’s not about who is coming in – it’s about how many migrants are coming and the pressure. The fact that we simply can’t provide for such great numbers.”
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