A speech by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, draped in an Australian flag, on the subject of the flag has raised tempers on the Senate floor.
Six minutes into her speech, Greens senator Nick McKim rose to his feet asking the deputy president of the Senate to rule that her flag was out of order as it was a prop.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price draped in the Australian flag in the Senate on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Today is Flag Day, commemorating the 124 years since the Australian flag was first flown. Other flags, including those of Israel and Palestine, have been deemed out of order in the Senate in recent months.
Props are generally not allowed to be displayed in either chamber of parliament.
Speaking on a point of order, McKim said: “If it’s OK for Senator Nampijinpa Price to wrap herself in this flag, I would intend to wrap myself in a Palestinian flag and come into the chamber and exercise the same rights that Senator Nampijinpa Price is currently exercising.
Price removed the flag before rising to her feet to resume her speech, saying to McKim: “Snark all you like. It’s revolting. You don’t love this country the way I do”.
Greens Senator Nick McKim.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
She went on to attack the Greens saying they had rallied alongside a terrorist organisation – presumably a reference to the pro-Palestine marches in Sydney that featured Iranian imagery.
Price also accused Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi of calling for genocide against Australian supporters of Israel. McKim rose to defend Faruqi and there was some back and forth before Price withdrew her comments.
During the cross-chamber fight, Price called out: “Why don’t you acknowledge and pay your respects? I’m an Indigenous person.”
“The Greens certainly don’t respect or acknowledge Indigenous Australians in this Senate,” Price said as she resumed her speech, before speaking out against flag burning at demonstrations.
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