Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price warned against more ‘surprise’ moves

Northern Territory Labor has claimed Country Liberal Party (CLP) Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s party-room defection was driven by “ego”, saying she should have been “up front” with voters before the election.

The controversial senator shocked political observers on Thursday afternoon by defecting to the Liberal party room, in a move away from the traditional position of sitting with the Nationals.

The CLP is an NT-specific party aligned with the federal Coalition, with its senators joining the Nationals party room and lower house members sitting with the Liberals under a long-standing convention.

Senator Nampijinpa Price’s move has sparked speculation she will run for deputy Liberal leader on a joint ticket with Angus Taylor, when the party meets on Tuesday to fill the power vacuum left by Peter Dutton.

Senator Nampijinpa Price formally notified her own party of the move on Thursday afternoon, writing that a “sense of duty” had guided her decision.

Territory Labor leader Selena Uibo criticised Senator Nampijinpa Price’s move, in comments echoing those from the senator’s own National party colleague, senator Matt Canavan.

Ms Uibo told the ABC she believed Senator Nampijinpa Price’s decision was driven by “ego” and should have been flagged before the election.

“Jacinta Price should have been up front with Territorians,” she said.

“She cannot represent Territorians in a better way by changing party rooms — she is there for herself.”

“[It’s] something that Territorians really dislike about politicians — when politicians have their own personal agenda for their own purposes and their own personal ambitions.”

Two days after the announcement, the CLP leadership is yet to formally respond to the move, despite the ABC contacting the party for comment multiple times.

But speaking to Darwin radio station Mix 104.9 on Friday morning, NT CLP Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby said her party “supports” the defection.

“By her making that decision — a very important one which we fully support — it will mean they will do their rebuild after the election, but she will still be a Country Liberal Party senator,” she said.

Senator’s move a ‘considerable gamble’

Amateur political historian Alex Nelson said Senator Nampijinpa Price was the first and only CLP senator to defect from the Nationals to the Liberal party room in the party’s history.

The former CLP insider said the move was “a considerable gamble”.

“I think Senator Price’s rather abrupt decision is very short term in its outlook and hasn’t really taken into account the long-term consequences,” Mr Nelson said.

“Given that phenomenal victory that Labor has just won, you’re looking at a minimum of two terms of Labor remaining in future.

“Whoever wins the position of opposition leader right now is not likely to be in that role in that time six to eight years away.”

He said in effect, the senator would now be aligned with Liberal Party policies and platforms, rather than those of the National Party.

However, he believed she would need to rein in her tendency to “catch everyone by surprise” to succeed.

“She does seem to have a bit of an inclination to make statements out of left field in a sense,” he said.

A spokesperson for Senator Nampijinpa Price said she was unavailable for an interview with the ABC on Friday.

But in an interview with Sydney radio station 2GB on Friday morning, she did not rule out a leadership tilt.

“People are going to speculate, there will be leaks, all that sort of stuff occurs, so I’m being very considerate with the decisions I’m making and spoken to a raft of people,” she said.