3 months ago
11
Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has denied she participated in an attempted “coup” to oust an Indigenous leader from a land council, as she faced a second day of questioning in a high-stakes defamation fight.
Price is defending a Federal Court defamation suit filed against her by Les Turner, the chief executive of the Northern Territory-based Central Land Council, over a press release she issued in July last year. The trial, estimated to run for at least a week, started in Darwin last Monday.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price outside the Federal Court in Darwin last week with her husband Colin Lillie, left, and her legal team.Credit: David Hancock
The court has heard Price was contacted by the then-principal of Alice Springs’ Yipirinya School for Indigenous children, Gavin Morris, in June 2024 before she published the media release, which was critical of Turner, the following month. It was distributed to almost 2000 journalists.
Price agreed during her evidence on Monday that she knew before she issued the release that Morris was “desperate” to leave the school and wanted Turner’s job, but said she did not support that push. “Yipirinya needed him more,” Price told the court of her thinking at that time.
Loading
The court heard that Price, then shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, said in a text message about Morris in July 2024, before she circulated her release: “I advise him not to be the replacement for the CLC. He needs to focus on Yipi [the school].”
Under questioning by Turner’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, Price denied she had been involved in an attempted “coup” to oust Turner as chief executive of the CLC.
“No, I didn’t participate in a coup. That is incorrect,” Price said.
Morris is no longer principal of the school. He was found guilty this year in Alice Springs Local Court of four counts of aggravated assault against students while he was principal.
In text messages to Price, sent in June 2024 and tendered in court, Morris said that “there is [sic] some pretty big movements about to go on at the Central Land Council” and “they are planning a coup and getting rid of the CEO and executive … This will happen is [sic] 5 weeks”.
Price replied to his messages: “That’s fantastic.” Morris said in the messages that CLC chair Matt Palmer “and his team” had the “full support of all 90 delegates”.
Asked why she wrote that this was a fantastic development, Price said that she believed Aboriginal communities were taking matters “into their own hands”.
In the opening line of her media release, published on July 21 last year, Price said that a “motion of no confidence was moved last week in relation to the CEO of the Central Land Council”. Turner was not named, but there is no dispute that it identified him.
The press release continued: “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.”
It said the motion was “unsuccessful” but that it had been “backed by the Central Land Council chair Matt Palmer”.
However, Price has conceded during her evidence that she now knows that there was no vote.
In documents filed in court, Price has said she directed her senior adviser in July 2024, before her media release, to “engage with” Morris “to assist” Palmer. Morris emailed that staffer “the text of a draft media release proposed to be issued by Mr Palmer” about Turner, the documents say.
On July 20, 2024, Palmer issued a media release headed: “CLC Council voice no confidence in CEO Lesley Turner.” Price’s media release was published shortly after that development.
Price repeatedly denied in court that she had been involved in an attempted coup, and said her staff member had merely offered support for the chair of the Central Land Council.
In documents filed in court, Turner says the media release conveyed a number of false and defamatory claims about him, including that he “no longer had the support of the majority of Central Land Council members because of his unprofessional behaviour in that role”.
Price has admitted this claim was conveyed, and is not seeking to prove it was true. Instead, she is seeking to rely on the defence of qualified privilege, which protects some publications of public interest where a publisher acted reasonably. Reasonableness is expected to be the key battleground in the case.
The hearing continues.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Most Viewed in National
Loading
