‘I despair for this party’: Inside Jacinta Price’s sacking

Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Coalition has survived a serious early test. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s acts of defiance have left the Liberal Party further weakened, however, and sparked a more public battle between its centre-right and far-right powerbrokers.

Price is now free to freelance from the back bench after Ley sacked her for failing to declare support for the Liberal leader at a Wednesday press conference, and for refusing to apologise for a “deeply hurtful” and misleading dig at the voting patterns of Indian migrants. Price also alleged on social media that Alex Hawke, who helped elevate Ley to the leadership, had berated her staff in “cowardly and inappropriate” conduct.

Hawke says Price’s actions have not come from a vacuum.