Jacinta Price says she could be forced out of Senate due to court fight
'I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this,' Price, who controversially defected from the Nationals to run for the Liberal deputy leadership in May, wrote in a message to a mailing list this week ahead of a trial in October.
'If it goes well for them – defamation cases can go either way, after all – they might even bankrupt me and cost me my seat in parliament. But I will not go down without a fight. I will never back down on my principles.'
Under section 44 of the Australian Constitution, members who are undischarged bankrupts or insolvent are ineligible to sit in parliament.
A stumble in Price's political career would deal a blow to the federal Coalition's right-wing star power. The Northern Territory senator's profile skyrocketed after she played a key role in defeating the 2023 Voice referendum and was elevated to opposition Indigenous affairs minister.
Price, whose divisive views on Indigenous issues have troubled other Indigenous leaders, has used her time in parliament to fight for free speech and resist 'political correctness'. She has also called for a wide-ranging inquiry into land councils, which negotiate with governments and corporations on behalf of Aboriginal landholders.
She is being sued in the Federal Court over a press release she sent last July about the Central Land Council in which she claimed that a vote of no confidence had been moved against its chief executive, Les Turner.
'Through last week's vote, a majority of Central Land Council members showed their support for the dismissal of the CEO due to unprofessional conduct,' the release said. It claimed the no confidence motion was unsuccessful but had been backed by the then-chair of the land council, Matthew Palmer.
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