Yuendumu elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves has criticized Jacinta Price over allegations of indigenous violence
A respected Aboriginal elder in a troubled remote outback community has launched an extraordinary attack on Jacinta Price after the outspoken senator called for violence in remote Indigenous communities.
Senator Price’s grandmother, Tess Napaljarri Ross, was allegedly attacked by another woman in the Northern Territory village of Yuendumu.
Posting a vivid photo of her seriously injured grandmother, she claimed the respect normally accorded to Indigenous elders in the community was ignored as she implored Australians to stop looking the other way.
The conservative politician also took a swipe at “self-proclaimed” Yuendumu elders who had previously stopped calling for guns in the community.
Senator Jacinta Price (left) raised the issue of violence in Indigenous communities after her grandmother Tess Napaljarri Ross (right) was recently allegedly assaulted
Senator Price claimed they did not call for an end to attacks on Indigenous peoples, adding that “violence is ignored and sometimes even encouraged” by the community.
It prompted an angry reaction from Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, the elder of Yuendumu, who took the senator’s claims personally.
Earlier this year he led calls for an end to armed policing in Indigenous communities after NT police officer Zachary Rolfe was acquitted of murder in the 2019 shooting death of Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu.
Mr Hargraves did not hold back in his scathing attack on Senator Price, accusing her of “throwing him under the bus” in a bid to seek power and saying to “look in the mirror” before making such claims.
“I’m a cultural person. I take care of all cultural business in the community. If there’s culture or a sad meeting, I tend to do it,” he said.
“I spend all day every day serving my community for free. This 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 bring together issues that suggest no more deaths are being claimed by the police, meaning I’m not attending to all community issues.
“How dare you tell me I’m not doing all I can for my community? I want to know who you work for and what your interests are. Not Yapa Lawa.
“You’re going in the wrong direction if you work for these Conservatives. History shows they don’t care about us and never will.”
Senator Price has drawn both criticism and support as one of the few Indigenous Australians in the Australian Parliament. She has been heralded as a future prime minister in some circles.
She refuses to support the indigenous voice and criticizes most mainstream attempts at reconciliation. Their focus on black-on-black violence and sexual assaults, rather than allegations of racism within the police force and deaths in custody, has drawn the ire of many tribal leaders.
Mr Hargraves ended his scathing attack by accusing Senator Price of leaving her community to seek power in Canberra.
“Look at yourself in the mirror, who are you really?” 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 to fit your agenda.’
“It really disgusts me what you do and how you do it.”
‘You have no right to speculate about me. Show respect.’
A week ago, Senator Price made an impassioned plea for Australians living in the capital cities to stop turning a blind eye to violence when she shared a harrowing photo of her bloodied and injured 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 “green suburbs” to turn their attention to violence in remote communities and she implored the nation to be a voice for victims who are “out of sight and out of the meaning”.
The country’s Liberal Senator raised the issue of violence in Aboriginal communities in her first speech to Parliament and regularly shares videos of incidents to raise awareness.
But her calls to action took a personal turn when her grandmother was allegedly attacked by another woman in Yuendumu.
“This is what life is like in a community like Yuendumu,” she wrote alongside a photo showing her distraught grandmother’s neck and her blood-soaked clothes.
“She was not respected or recognized as an elder in Yuendumu, instead she was recently violently attacked by a younger woman. Her head had split open.”
Ms Ross was hospitalized shortly after admission.
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 threatened to stab him many times,” she claimed.
She then lashed out at the media for “ignoring” indigenous violence.
“Imagine a grandmother being violently attacked before your eyes on the streets of Mosman, Surry Hills, Brunswick, Northcote, West End or any other leafy suburb. Imagine if that were your grandmother or your four-year-old son,” she wrote.
“The violence must stop and Australians across the country must demand more for grandmothers like mine who are out of sight and out of mind.
“It’s not good enough that vulnerable Australian women, children and men are suffering because their suffering offends a handful of people when it’s brought to their attention.”
Tess Napaljarri Ross (right) is an indigenous elder in Yuendumu, where she was allegedly attacked. She is pictured with granddaughter Jacinta Price at her Parliamentary swearing-in ceremony
Senator Price ended the post by targeting privileged First Nations who have not spoken out about “black-on-black violence.”
“Highlighting hurt feelings ensures the violence continues,” she wrote.
“I want the violence to stop! I want communities to be safer! This is everyone’s responsibility!
“You want to TELL the TRUTH, then start telling the TRUTH!”
A spokeswoman for the senator told Daily Mail Australia last week the family was dealing with the issue and was unable to comment further.
Ms Ross traveled to Canberra to perform the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony for Senator Price before proudly watching her granddaughter being sworn into the Senate and delivering her maiden address.
“This is my grandmother, my eldest, who attended my swearing-in at Australia’s 47th Parliament, my grandmother, who performed the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony to confer upon me her authority to speak in Parliament, my grandfather’s sister and one of the last of their generation,” Senator Price wrote.
The senator hopes to put a spotlight on violence in Aboriginal communities like Yuendumu (pictured), 1,528km south of Darwin
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11345747/Yuendumu-elder-Ned-Jampijinpa-Hargraves-blasts-Jacinta-Price-claims-Indigenous-violence.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Yuendumu elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves has criticized Jacinta Price over allegations of indigenous violence
