00:00She's no stranger to a fiery debate and today was no exception.
00:07Jacinta Numperjimper Price responding to a barrage of questions as she stepped into the witness box,
00:13standing by claims she made in a press release now at the centre of her defamation trial.
00:19The Senator is being sued by the Central Land Council boss Leslie Turner
00:23for a media release distributed by her office in July 2024,
00:27claiming he was no longer fit to serve as CEO.
00:31It also repeated claims made by the then Council Chairman
00:34that Mr Turner had faced an unsuccessful no-confidence motion
00:38at a meeting of male Council delegates, something Mr Turner claims never happened.
00:44Mr Turner's lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC asking the witness,
00:48As you sit here having heard the evidence this week,
00:51you still think that the content of your media release is correct, is that right? Yes.
00:56The Senator, who was the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs at the time of the release,
01:01told the court she felt there were serious issues within the CLC
01:05and that the Australian public should be made aware of that.
01:08When asked why she didn't raise her concerns with the CEO directly,
01:12she told the court she'd lost faith in the organisation.
01:16During his evidence to the court, Mr Turner accused the Senator of amplifying false claims
01:21to further her political agenda.
01:23In an affidavit from February, Mr Turner said he was outraged by the fact that
01:28Senator Price was implying that I was in some way responsible for keeping Aboriginal people in poverty.
01:34It was devastating. It cut me up. I felt that she was using me as a punching bag.
01:39Under cross-examination, the Senator doubled down on those claims as well.
01:44Over his entire tenure, nothing has changed.
01:47When asked whether she also shared blame for the ongoing challenges facing Aboriginal communities,
01:53given her role within Australian Parliament, Senator Numpajimpa Price said no.
01:58The Senator will return to the witness box on Monday.
Comments