If Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is the answer then the Liberal Party isn’t asking the right question.
Having represented the Northern Territory in the Senate and sat in the Nationals party room for the past three years, Price defected to the Liberals last week. She announced yesterday her intention to run as Angus Taylor’s deputy in Tuesday’s parliamentary party leadership contest.
Angus Taylor and defector Jacinta Price have formed a leadership ticket for the Liberal Party
The 43-year-old senator’s prominent part in the No campaign helped defeat the Indigenous Voice to parliament referendum and made her a “rock star” in the eyes of many party loyalists, to borrow a phrase from Angus Taylor’s interview with The Australian Financial Review on Sunday. That is the foundation of her large following among the Liberal Party’s rusted-on conservative base. Taylor rightly argues, “the traditional role of deputy leader is to work with our supporters, the branch members, the state divisions and make sure we are robust and prepared for elections”.
However, the deputy also needs to be a reliable performer. Price’s fans seem to be forgetting that her promotion in February by Peter Dutton to take charge of an Elon Musk-style DOGE position as shadow minister for government efficiency was not a success.
Dutton’s embrace of a Trumpish agenda proved a major factor in the crushing election loss that turfed him out of parliament. Price’s tin-earned sloganising about seeking to “Make Australia Great Again” was a viral moment that assisted Labor’s campaign to portray a Coalition government as risky.
