Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Western Metropolitan MP Moira Deeming attended a community outreach roundtable in Tarneit, as the Liberal Party seeks to rebuild trust with Indian-Australian voters following a bruising week of internal controversy.
The small, invitation-only gathering of 24 community members took place at Chatkora—a popular local eatery—over chai, samosas, pakoras and laddus. The event was organised by local Liberal member and former Wyndham councillor Intaj Khan.
The meeting opened on a tense note, with several attendees raising concerns about remarks that saw Senator Price removed from the Coalition frontbench last week. Price listened as community members outlined how the episode had been received in Indian-Australian households and small businesses across Melbourne’s west.
She later told the room she would be more careful in future to explain the point she intended to make, and criticised sections of the media for portraying her motives unfairly. (Background on Price’s removal)
Ms Deeming fielded many of the early questions, offering reassurances on respect for multicultural communities and emphasising the Liberals’ outreach in the west. (Deeming rejoined the Victorian Liberal Party earlier this year and was tasked with strengthening engagement in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
As the discussion progressed, the atmosphere softened; attendees said Price became more forthcoming after extended conversation with participants—“and after sampling the samosas and pakoras,” one joked—reiterating that her criticism was aimed at the scale and pace of migration and associated pressures on housing and services, not at any community.
Organiser Intaj Khan said the goal was a frank, respectful conversation, not a photo opportunity. “People wanted to be heard. Tonight was a start,” he said after the event. The choice of venue—Chatkora on Tarneit Road—was deliberate, he added, to anchor the conversation in the heart of the suburb’s Indian dining strip.
Both MPs left without formal statements, but participants said they were invited to continue the dialogue at future meetings focused on cost-of-living, public safety, and pathways for young people in the west.
Earlier, she attended a packed community event in Perth. Posting on social media, the Northern Territory senator described her evening at the Indian Society of WA’s Community Centre in Willetton as “wonderful,” thanking Liberal colleagues Michelle Hofmann, Senator Matt O’Sullivan and Nick Goiran MLC for hosting her.
“I was also fortunate to meet several community leaders, whose passion and commitment reflect the immense contribution that Australians of Indian heritage and their community make to Western Australia,” Senator Price wrote.
“It is community spirit like this that keeps our democracy strong.”
The outreach came as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley issued a formal apology to Indian Australians for Senator Price’s earlier comments suggesting concerns about Indian migrants and their voting patterns. Ms Ley removed her from the shadow ministry after she refused to apologise directly or back her leadership.
Senator Price has accepted her removal but stood by her call for debate on the pace of migration and its impact on housing, schools, and infrastructure. She insisted she never intended to disparage the Indian community and said she had received “overwhelming outreach” from Australians, including Indian leaders, in support of her.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called her sacking “a big loss to the frontbench,” while Labor’s Julian Hill claimed the real issue was her refusal to support Ms Ley.
Despite the controversy, Senator Price signalled she would continue speaking out on national issues, including Indigenous communities, climate, and economic policy.
In an exclusive interview with The Australia Today’s editor Pallavi Jain, Senator Price stressed that her remarks were not intended to disparage Indian-Australians, who she described as “a hugely successful diaspora” that has made “a massive contribution” to Australia in business, culture, and skills.
“My comments were never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community, I absolutely acknowledge the fact that the Indian community has made a massive contribution to Australia more broadly.”
“I cherish our Indian community. I have absolutely no ill will toward Indian Australians in general,” Price said, adding that her own family has Indian heritage and that she has worked closely with Indian businesses and families throughout her political career.
“My children have Indian heritage themselves and one of my sons actually spent seven weeks on exchange at the Doon School in Dehradun when he was younger.”
Senator Price clarified that her concerns were directed at mass migration’s pressure on housing and infrastructure, not at specific migrant groups. She condemned recent extremist rallies, saying: “Any kind of discrimination in any form is unwarranted and it should be condemned and called out.”
“I certainly did do that with regard to the marches, the march that took place this weekend and the marchers that occurred prior to that that were the pro-Palestinian marches, the extremism is not welcome in Australia and certainly singling out of particular communities. Again, I support our Indian community wholeheartedly.”
On calls for an apology, Price said she had already clarified her remarks but emphasised her ongoing commitment to unity:
“I certainly do not want the Indian community to feel like I have any ill will… I want to continue to work closely with my friends right across the board.”
The Australia Today presented Senator Price with its internal poll findings, which showed 60% of Indian-Australians would vote Liberal, 33% Labor, 6% Greens and 3% others. The results challenged her earlier reference to a report suggesting Indians overwhelmingly back Labor, highlighting instead that Indian-Australians, like other Australians, vote on policies rather than as a single bloc.
Senator Price acknowledged the diversity of political opinion within the diaspora, drawing parallels with Indigenous representation. “Not all Indian Australians think the same or vote the same,” she said, welcoming The Australia Today’s polling which showed many Indian-Australians support the Coalition.
“For me going forward, I will certainly keep that in mind. I suppose I never really started out these conversations with the concept that all Indian Australians all thought the same or voted as a block because I understand how that feels as somebody coming from the Indigenous community that is viewed in that particular way.”
Highlighting the vital role Indian-Australians play in filling workforce gaps, Price praised their contribution in communities such as Alice Springs:
“In the community of Alice Springs where I am from we are richer for the fact that we have a wonderful contributing Indian community that I count amongst friends of my own. So, yes, that’s the truth of the situation.”
Concluding with a call for unity, Price assured the community that “for every person that says something disparaging, there are many, many, many more that will stand alongside our wonderful Indian community.”
“The overall sentiment is that we are respectful of all of those that come to our country and want to work cohesively with one another around the country. You can be assured that there is, for every person that says something disparaging, there are many, many, many more that will stand alongside our wonderful Indian community.”
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