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NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, one of the most senior politicians in Australia with Indian heritage, has accused the Liberals of cashing in on divisiveness by pushing ahead with a Sydney fundraiser headlined by firebrand Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Price will address a 200-person fundraiser for Willoughby MP Tim James on Friday night, just days after the Northern Territory senator claimed that Labor was deliberately bringing Indian migrants to Australia to stack votes.
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, one of the country’s most senior Australian-Indian politicians, says the Liberals have abandoned their once-strong multicultural roots. Credit: Kate Geraghty
Price told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program on Wednesday that the federal government was focused on bringing in migrants “from particular countries over others” and named the “Indian community” as an example. She later walked back her comments but did not apologise.
Mookhey said Price’s appearance at the fundraiser, which will be attended by some NSW Liberal frontbenchers, was “wildly insensitive” and “an effort to cash in on her celebrity that is engendered by politics of division”.
“The NSW Liberal Party once was renowned as great defenders of multiculturalism, especially under the leadership of people like Nick Greiner,” Mookhey said.
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“The Liberal Party knows better than this and I think it was an affront to most Australians to see neo-Nazis marching on our streets, and it was especially so for Australian Indians to be the target of such a hate group.
“To have actively invited Senator Price to lead a fundraising effort for them is wildly insensitive and absolutely undercuts their efforts to distance themselves from her comments.”
NSW Police estimated 15,000 people joined an anti-immigration march in Sydney last Sunday, where protesters chanted “send them back” and a neo-Nazi organisation handed out fliers and led chants of “heil Australia”.
Indian Australians later described experiencing racism and being afraid to travel into cities because last weekend’s rallies singled out immigration from India in their promotional material.
Mookhey said the NSW Liberals could not have it both ways. “On Thursday, [Opposition Leader] Mark Speakman and others were tap-dancing away from her comments and on Friday they are fundraising with her,” he said.
“I think Senator Price’s comments that the nation’s migration policies are somehow coloured by the Labor Party choosing groups based on political allegiances is just a) a very old trope, b) utterly wrong and c) it should be denounced.”
Price will be the guest of honour at James’ fundraiser at Dalton House Hyde Park on Friday night, despite her comments attracting widespread condemnation from some Liberals, including Speakman, who took to social media on Thursday to show support for Indian Australians.
Oatley Liberal MP and senior frontbencher Mark Coure also criticised Price’s comments, saying he was “disappointed to hear remarks made by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price which suggested that immigration policy has been used to target particular communities for political purposes”.
Coure, the opposition spokesman for multiculturalism, said that while Price had retracted her statements, “they risk damaging the unity and inclusiveness that define modern Australia”.
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“Migrants have helped shape every part of our national life whether it’s running small businesses, teaching in our schools, working in our hospitals or contributing to science, the arts, law, politics and culture,” Course said in a statement.
Former NSW minister David Elliott also weighed into the debate, telling a business lunch on Friday that he was “shocked” by Price’s comments.
“They come educated and with a strong work ethic,” Elliott told the lunch of business leaders.
“As corrections minister, they were the least represented in our criminal justice system, and as the CEO of the engineering peak body I’m here to tell you we’d be buggered if we stop recruiting highly educated engineers from the subcontinent.
“We won’t win seats in western Sydney with that attitude, and let’s not forget that 2000 Indians died fighting side by side with Australians on the Gallipoli peninsula.”
James defended the decision to invite the Northern Territory senator to his dinner, saying Price was a “politician of conviction and courage”.
“She’s clarified her position, corrected her comments and that’s clear now, she has stood by and made it abundantly clear that Australia has and maintains a longstanding bipartisan non-discriminatory migration policy,” James said.
Asked whether it was appropriate for Price to headline the fundraiser, Speakman said: “Tim James is doing his job, namely working for his community, and he has my full backing.”
Liberal senator Dave Sharma, who has Indian heritage, said the Indian community was a valued part of Australia. “They make immense contributions across our society, our nation and our economy, in so many positive ways. I want them to know that they are both welcomed and appreciated.”
Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley also posted a video on social media on Thursday, hailing the “amazing contribution” the Indian diaspora has made to Australia.
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