Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has moved quickly to reassure Indian Australians after migration remarks by a senior colleague sparked outrage and triggered open conflict within her party.
“Good to spend time at Little India tonight, hearing directly from small business owners and their staff,” Ley posted after visiting Sydney’s Harris Park precinct, a hub for the Indian community. “Their experiences matter in shaping policies that support enterprise, reward effort, and strengthen every community.”
The appearance was part of a wider damage control mission after Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price claimed on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program on 3 September that Labor was deliberately prioritising Indian migrants to secure votes. The suggestion drew immediate condemnation from multicultural leaders and political opponents, who warned that such rhetoric played into racist stereotypes.
Price later clarified her remarks, saying her concern was about migration numbers, not any particular community. “Of course, I regret not being clearer in my comments on the ABC last Wednesday. I know that many Australians of Indian ancestry – and Indian migrants living in Australia – are distressed,” she said. She added: “My comments were never intended to be disparaging towards our Indian community. And I wish no ill-will whatsoever to the Indian community – or any other migrant group.”
She stressed her personal ties. “Indian migrants who have come to Australia have a strong record of integration, embracing our values, working hard in many fields of endeavour, and joining the league of loyal Australian citizens. Indeed, my own children are of Indian ancestry.”
But Price also doubled down on her wider concern about migration settings. “Labor has opened the migration floodgates. It has brought in a record 1.2 million people in its first term. Yes, we need migration. But there’s a big difference between controlled, planned, and sustainable migration on the one hand and uncontrolled, unplanned, and unsustainable migration on the other hand.”
Her defence did little to calm the storm. Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi accused Price of “feeding into a racist and white nationalist agenda,” while Liberal colleague Dave Sharma quickly distanced himself, saying he supported the Indian community and rejected the stereotyping of any migrant group. Commentators also weighed in, with Sydney Morning Herald’s James Massola observing: “This is the third time this year that Jacinta Price has blamed the media after a mistake. First her use of travel entitlements, then her Make Australia Great Again speech and now her comments about Indian migrants. Common thread?”
The controversy has left Ley trying to steady the ship. Her outreach in Harris Park was seen as an effort to show the Liberals still value migrant communities, especially Indian Australians who form a large and growing share of urban electorates. Some in the community described Price’s comments as having “broken our hearts,” making visible support from senior figures all the more pressing.
The stakes are high. Political strategist Kos Samaras of RedBridge argued that Coalition MPs who do not come from New South Wales or Victoria underestimate the scale of change in Australia’s demography. “Australia is more diverse today than at any point since the late 19th century. A third of the population was born overseas, and the electorates that decide elections are now defined by multicultural majorities,” he said.
“The size of the mountain facing the Coalition cannot be overstated. Australia has entered a demographic reality not seen in more than a century. In 1891, around one in three Australians were born overseas, most from the UK and Ireland. By the mid-20th century, that proportion had collapsed, and the story of Australian politics became one of managing an overwhelmingly Australian-born electorate. But the curve has bent back. As the ABS shows, 31.5% of Australians today were born overseas, the second-highest proportion since records began.”
Samaras pointed to data showing that in the 50 most diverse seats, stretching across Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide, first and second-generation migrants account for the majority of the population. “Almost all are held by Labor, many on comfortable margins. Coalition only hold two. This is why the Coalition’s problem is existential. You cannot win government in modern Australia without winning diverse electorates. The task ahead isn’t about who comes here in the future, it is about speaking credibly to the diverse Australia that is already here.”
Premier Jacinta Allan also weighed in after convening her Anti-Hate Taskforce, where she heard from Makarand Bhagwat of the Hindu Council of Australia about the distress caused by recent rallies. “We were very distressed, all the community members were very fearful, even now they are,” Bhagwat told her. Allan said afterwards: “The Indian community is such a big and important part of what makes our state great and I know as Premier I’m certainly proud that so many from the Indian community are choosing Melbourne, are choosing Victoria as a place to live, work, raise your beautiful families and that’s why we must continue to push back against this hateful behaviour.”
The broader debate over migration is unlikely to fade. Housing shortages and infrastructure strain mean public concern is real, but the tone of political discussion is under scrutiny. For many Indian Australians, the anger was less about numbers and more about being singled out as political pawns.
Ley’s challenge is to convince them that the Liberals are listening. Her Harris Park visit was a start, but it underscored the tension between rhetoric on mass migration and the need to win support in communities built by migration. As Samaras put it: “Politics in 2025 and beyond is a contest for the hearts and minds of multicultural Australia. Pretending otherwise is a recipe for election losses.”
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