One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has told Sky News she tried to recruit Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to run for One Nation in the Senate ahead of the last federal election, a revelation that comes days after Price was removed from the Coalition frontbench over controversial comments about migration.
Hanson said she approached Price before the election and encouraged her to join One Nation, but that Price declined the offer. Hanson made the comments on Friday while speaking with Sky host Rowan Dean and expressed public support for Price after Opposition Leader Sussan Ley asked the senator to stand down from the shadow ministry on Wednesday.
Price, an Indigenous senator who served as the Coalition’s Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Defence, was removed from the frontbench after remarks she made on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program about what she described as Labor’s "mass migration agenda" and the alleged electoral impact of large numbers of Indian migrants. Senior Coalition figures had urged Price to apologise for the remarks in the days following the interview.
In a statement on X on Wednesday evening, Price said she had accepted Ley’s request to step down and reiterated regret "in not being clearer" about her comments. She said her concerns were about the scale of migration and its pressures on housing, infrastructure and services rather than a criticism of any migrant community. "I never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community," she wrote.
Hanson, who founded One Nation and has campaigned on restricting immigration, said in the Sky interview that Price "was telling the truth" and urged her to "stand strong". Hanson also suggested there was "a future for her in politics" and told Price to consider "where you see the future of this nation going and make the right decisions."
The episode has prompted debate within and beyond the Coalition. Sky News host and former Liberal staffer Peta Credlin criticised Ley’s handling of the dispute, calling it the "beginning of the end" for the opposition leader. Social media responses included calls from some supporters for Price to replace Ley as Coalition leader, while other senior figures in the Coalition pressed for a quicker apology and damage control.
Ley, who became Opposition Leader in May, moved to contain the fallout after the ABC interview, which senior Coalition members and external commentators said distracted from the opposition’s broader political messaging. Price’s removal returns her to the backbench and removes her portfolio responsibilities as the party assesses the political consequences.
Price has long been a prominent and sometimes polarising figure within the Coalition, raising issues related to Indigenous communities and national security as part of her public profile. Hanson’s outreach underscores the political competition on the conservative right in Australia, where One Nation and the Liberal Party vie for voters concerned about migration, economic pressures and cultural issues.
Hanson also referenced recent public demonstrations, saying Australians were "fed up" with what she called mass migration and noting large turnouts at recent March for Australia rallies. Price said in her X statement that the episode was "disappointing" for the Liberal Party and expressed hope that the party would grow stronger from the episode, adding that she would "learn from it."
The saga highlights tensions over migration policy in Australian politics and the difficulty parties face in balancing internal discipline with contentious public debate. Officials within the Coalition and across the political spectrum have yet to indicate any formal policy shifts prompted by the controversy, and it remains unclear whether the dispute will have longer-term effects on party leadership or electoral strategy.