A respected Aboriginal elder in a troubled remote outback community has lashed out at Jacinta Price in an extraordinary attack after the outspoken senator incited violence in remote Indigenous communities.
Senator Price’s grandmother, Tess Napaljarri Ross, was reportedly assaulted by another woman in the Northern Territory’s Yuendumu village.
She posted a graphic photo of her badly injured grandmother claiming that the respect typically given to Indigenous elders in the community had been ignored when she begged Australians to stop turning a blind eye.
The conservative politician also took a swipe at ‘self-proclaimed’ Yuendumu elders who previously called for the community to stop using guns.
Senator Jacinta Price (left) raised the issue of violence in Indigenous communities after her grandmother Tess Napaljarri Ross (right) was recently attacked
Senator Price claimed they had not called for an end to attacks among indigenous locals, adding: “Community-led violence is ignored and sometimes even encouraged.”
It sparked an outraged response from Yuendumu Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, who took the senator’s claims personally.
Earlier this year, he led calls for the end of armed policing in indigenous communities after NT police officer Zachary Rolfe was acquitted of murder for shooting Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019.
Mr Hargraves did not hold back in his scathing attack targeting Senator Price, accusing her of “throwing him under the bus” to seek power and saying she should “look in the mirror” before making such claims. .
‘I am a cultural person. I tend to all cultural matters in the community. If there’s culture or a sad encounter, I’m usually for it,” he said.
“I spend all day serving my community for free every day. That is my cultural duty. That’s more than I can say for you, Jacinta.
Yuendumu Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves (pictured) has hit back at recent claims by Indigenous Senator Jacinta Price
Jacinta Price shared this heartbreaking photo of her injured grandmother Tess Napaljarri Ross last week after she was allegedly attacked in Yuendumu
“How dare you mix things up and infer that the police don’t kill anymore means I don’t care about all community issues.
“How dare you tell me I’m not doing everything I can for my community. What I want to know is who do you work for and what are your interests? Not Yapalawa.
“You’re going in the wrong direction if you work for these conservatives. History shows that they don’t care about us and they never will.’
Senator Price has faced repeated criticism for one of the few Indigenous Australians on Coalition benches, who is part of the Country Liberal Party.
Unlike other Aboriginal MPs, she refuses to support the indigenous voice and criticizes most mainstream attempts at reconciliation.
Its focus on black-on-black violence and assault due to police racism and deaths in custody also angers many indigenous leaders.
Mr Hargraves ended his scathing attack by accusing Senator Price of leaving her community to seek power for herself in Canberra.
‘Look at yourself in the mirror, who are you anyway?’ he continued
“This isn’t about us at all, it’s about you and your power. Don’t you dare throw me under the bus, depending on your schedule.’
“I’m really disgusted by what you’re doing and the way you’re doing it.”
“You have no right to make assumptions about me. Show respect.’
A week ago, Senator Price made a passionate plea to Australians living in capital cities to stop ignoring violence, when she shared a harrowing photo of her bloodied and bruised grandmother after she was allegedly assaulted.
Yuendumu Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves urged Senator Jacinda Price to ‘show respect’
Senator Price called on Australians living in ‘leaf green suburbs’ to turn their attention to violence in remote communities, while pleading with the nation to be a voice for the victims who are ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
The Country Liberal Senator discussed the issue of violence in Aboriginal communities in her first address to parliament and regularly shares videos of incidents to raise awareness.
But her calls to action took a personal turn when her grandmother was reportedly attacked by another woman in Yuendumu.
“This is what life is like in a community like Yuendumu,” she captioned a photo of her distraught grandmother’s neck and blood-soaked clothing.
“She is not respected or recognized as an elder in Yuendumu. Instead, she was recently violently assaulted by a woman younger than her. Her head was split open.’
Mrs Ross was rushed to hospital shortly after the photo was taken.
Senator Price also claimed in the lengthy Facebook post that her cousin’s four-year-old son had been repeatedly threatened with violence by older children in the same community.
“They often threatened to stab him,” she claimed.
She then lashed out at the media for “ignoring” indigenous violence.
“Imagine a grandmother being violently assaulted right in front of you on the streets of Mosman, Surry Hills, Brunswick, Northcote, West End or some other leafy green suburb. Imagine if this was your grandmother or your four-year-old son,” she wrote.
“The violence needs to stop and Australians across the country need to ask better for grandmothers like mine who are out of sight and out of mind.
“It’s not good enough for vulnerable Australian women, children and men to suffer because their suffering offends a handful of people if it’s brought to their attention.”
Tess Napaljarri Ross (right) is an indigenous elder in Yuendumu, where she is said to have been attacked. She is pictured with granddaughter Jacinta Price at her parliamentary swearing-in ceremony
Senator Price ended the position by targeting privileged First Nations people who did not speak out about “black-on-black violence.”
“Relief over hurt feelings keeps the violence going,” she wrote.
‘I want the violence to STOP! I want communities to be safer! This is everyone’s responsibility!
“You want to TELL TRUTH, then start telling TRUTH!”
A spokeswoman for the senator told Daily Mail Australia last week that the family was concerned with the matter and was not in a position to comment further.
Ms Ross traveled to Canberra to perform the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony for Senator Price before proudly watching her granddaughter be sworn into the Senate and deliver her maiden speech.
‘This is my grandmother, my eldest who attended my swearing-in ceremony in Australia’s 47th Parliament, my grandmother who performed the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony to grant me her authority to speak in Parliament, my grandfather’s sister and one of the last of her generation,” Senator Price wrote.
Senator hopes to spotlight violence in Aboriginal communities like Yuendumu (pictured), 1,528km south of Darwin