Opposition leader Sussan Ley has dismissed Jacinta Nampijinpa prize from her front bench after the senator refused to apologize for her comments about Indian migrants.
Ley announced the decision on Wednesday evening and said that Price did not have “maintained the standards” that she had set as a leader.
“Although he has been given enough time and space for this, Senator Nampijinpa Price did not succeed considerably for comments from Indian Heritage,” said Ley.
“She also refused to give confidence in my leadership of the liberal party and unfortunately she made her position untenable in my shadow control.”
Price said she had spoken with Ley and had accepted her decision.
“I took the opportunity to express the leader my disappointment that some colleagues ignored the most important point I made about the harmful effects of mass migration,” she said in a statement.
“I never intended to be awaiting our Indian community. And I don’t want any bad will to the Indian community or another migrant group.”
She said that the Saga had been a “disappointing episode” for the liberal party and that she regretted that she was not clearer about her comments.
“My concern is not a migration itself – it’s the size of migration,” she said.
In an interview with the ABC’s background briefing program last week, Price claimed that the federal government had a “focus” on bringing in migrants “from certain countries about others” before the Indian community was selected.
Ley’s looting of prize comes after mounting criticism of the senator’s comments, with some of her coalition points from them distant from them.
Liberal front bencher Alex Hawke said Price would apologize, while Julian Lezener apologized to the Indian community on behalf of her.
On Wednesday morning, Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed that Indian officials expressed concern for the federal government after rhetoric in anti-immigration protests where members of the Indian community were selected.
“We communicated with them, not at my level, but at the official level, and they have seen the very important government reactions,” she said.
Wong emphasized the views that were shared during the anti-immigration protests did not reflect the broader community.
“Those protests did not represent Australia. I don’t think Australian are values of division,” she said.
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