TRANSCRIPT
The Coalition is in damage control after Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price made false claims that Labor was taking in more migrants from certain backgrounds to bolster their vote.
Singling out Indians coming to Australia, Senator Price made the allegations on ABC's Afternoon Briefing, following a series of anti-immigration rallies in Australia.
"There is a concern with the Indian community, because there's been large numbers and we can see that reflected in the way that the community votes for Labor at the same time. So if they're going to see a reflection that okay these individuals are going to vote for us more so than other parts of the community; will then of course they're going to express the view that will get those sorts of individuals into our communities."
An hour after making the remarks, she issued a statement saying she made a mistake, adding that Australia "maintains a longstanding and bipartisan non-discriminatory migration policy".
Language used by organisers and speakers at the weekend's anti-immigration rallies - and in promotional materials - have been condemned by experts for fuelling misinformation on immigration data - and for targeting Indian Australians.
Senator Price says she believes that raising concerns about migration does not mean that you are racist.
Federal Opposition leader Sussan Ley told Sky News, the Coalition's migration policy is not discriminatory.
"Every day that I'm opposition leader, I'm fighting for every single Australian, no matter where you came from, and our Australian Indian community are amazing. You contribute as Australian Indians, so much to our country. We know how hard you work, your family values, and the contribution you make across this country, and as opposition leader, I value that incredibly."
She says it is important to note that Senator Price has since corrected her comments.
However, Senator Price doubled down on the comments, telling reporters in Canberra that she has nothing to apologise for.
"I don't believe I have anything to apologise about. In the context of discussing the marches that took place on the weekend, it was the ABC interviewer who pushed the issue, who brought up the issue of anti-Indian migration. What I was doing was highlighting the fact that there is huge concern for Labor's mass migration agenda; which is applying pressure to housing to infrastructure to services. And then I was further pursued on this line of talking. So what I did was point out the fact that, yes, Indian migrants are the second largest migrant group to this country, and soon to be largest migrant group to this country."
Senator Price went on to cite a poll from RedBridge, saying that around 85 per cent of those who have Indian ancestry in Australia, voted for Labor in the 2022 federal election.
Speaking to SBS, Redbridge director Kos Samaras says the Coalition has damaged it's chances with the Indian community.
"None of this is going to be good for the Coalition. Well, we have to acknowledge, though, that many Chinese and Indian Australians that arrived in this country, did so under the John Howard policy of skilled migration. This is a pivot, which that government flipped to away from family reunion to skilled migration. And it was certainly on paper, a very clever bit of policy, not only from an economic perspective, because that's where the country was heading in terms of its skilled needs and wants. But also from a cultural perspective, these two communities should have been voting Coalition."
The President of the Council of Indian Australians, Shail Wadhwa, told SBS News, the community deserves an apology.
"Having this statement by Senator price is really not helping. Actually, it's making the community more divided. So she should be, I think, showing some facts and figures before making such comments which divide the community further. And I guess, the wider Australian-Indian Community expect she should be apologising to the community."
He says the Senator's comments came at a time when the Australian-Indian community are feeling unsafe.
"Having this comment coming very untimely, and is adding the fuel to diaspora. And of course, after speaking to so many people, they started feeling unsafe. And even the day on the rally, lot of people chose to stay home, not to go out."
According to Kos Samaras, the Coalition is not doing itself any favours by alienating migrant communities.
"These are two very significant communities, the Indian community, for example , in Victoria and Sydney, is absolutely significant in number of electorates. When we speak to - whether it is the Indian community or the Chinese community in Australia. They talk to us about their values. They are small business-minded. They are the two very highly educated constituencies. They've got conservative values around family and aspiration. So, on paper they should be voting conservative. Then we asked them, so why aren't you voting conservative? And their answer is pretty blunt, the Coalition does not like them. And I don't think anything that's occurred over the last week or so, particularly over the last couple of days, will go in any way, shape or form of reversing that mindset."
