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Bess Price

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Bess Price
AM
Price in 2015
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
for Stuart
In office
25 August 2012 – 27 August 2016
Preceded byKarl Hampton
Succeeded byScott McConnell
Personal details
Born22 October 1960 (1960-10-22) (age 64)
Yuendumu, Northern Territory, Australia
Political partyCountry Liberal Party
SpouseDavid Price
RelationsKarl Hampton (nephew)
ChildrenJacinta Nampijinpa Price (born 1981)
Leonard (born 1973-1974, died 1984-1985)
ResidenceAlice Springs
Alma materCurtin University

Bess Nungarrayi Price AM (born 22 October 1960) is an Aboriginal Australian activist and politician. She was a Country Liberal Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2012 to 2016, representing the electorate of Stuart, and was Minister for Community Services in the Giles Ministry. She lives in Alice Springs in Central Australia, in the Northern Territory.

Biography

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Born on 22 October 1960[1] in Yuendumu, Price's first language is Warlpiri. She also knows Luritja, Western Arrernte and Anmatyerre.[2] Price lived in humpies (traditional Aboriginal dwellings) until she was nine and became a mother at thirteen years of age. A survivor of domestic violence, she left the father of her child when she was 19 and began studying to be a teacher.[3]

She attained a Bachelor of Applied Science in Aboriginal Community Management and Development from Curtin University and has worked in education and training, public administration, the media, community development, interpreting, translating and language teaching and has experience in small business management. With her husband Dave Price, she is a partner with Jajirdi Consultants working in cross cultural awareness training, community liaison and Warlpiri language services.[4]

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Years Term Electoral division Party
2012–2016 12th Stuart Country Liberal

The Northern Territory Labor government appointed Price as chairperson of its Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council. The council was set up to provide advice and make recommendations regarding the implementation and further development of the Closing the Gap and Working Future agendas and to assist the Northern Territory Government to engage with Indigenous people. In November 2011, Price announced her retirement from the Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council and intention to stand for the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory election of 25 August 2012 for the Central Australian seat of Stuart against her nephew, Labor MP Karl Hampton.[5][6] She was elected with a swing of 18%.[7]

She was nominated in 2012 for the US International Women of Courage Award.[3]

On 9 September 2013, she was named Minister for Community Services, Parks and Wildlife, Statehood and Women's Policy in the Northern Territory government.[8] On 12 Dec 2014, she was appointed additionally Minister for Local Government,[9] and on 10 Feb 2015 also Minister for Housing.[10] She lost office at the Northern Territory election of 27 August 2016.

Her paintings were exhibited in Sydney in 2017.[11]

Since 2022 she has been Assistant Principal at Yipirinya Independent Aboriginal School, Alice Springs.[12]

Price's daughter, former Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, became a Senator for the Northern Territory at the 2022 federal election and was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs by the Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton in a Shadow Ministry reshuffle in 2023. Jacinta is a leading advocate of the "No" vote in the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.[13]

Political advocacy

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Price has strongly criticised the high levels of violence in Central Australian Indigenous communities, and supported the Northern Territory Intervention instigated by the Howard government.[14][15] In December 2009 she delivered the Bennelong Society's inaugural Peter Howson lecture, also on the topic of Indigenous violence,[16] and received the Bennelong Medal.[17][18] She spoke at the Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney, on 23 March 2011[19] and appeared on ABC television show Q&A on 11 April 2011.[20] On Q&A, Price said that she supported the Intervention.[21]

I am for the intervention because I've seen progress. I've seen women who now have voices. They can speak for themselves and they are standing up for their rights. Children are being fed and young people more or less know how to manage their lives. That's what's happened since the intervention.[21][22]

In 2012, Price told SBS TV's Insight Program, that mixed heritage Aboriginal Australians should acknowledge their other heritage "And just not go one way... That has to happen here in Australia so we can all be honest and equal with each other and understanding because it creates the division".[23]

In May 2012 and again in August 2012 she criticised Amnesty International for its opposition to the Intervention.[24] Price accused the organisation of ignoring the suffering of women in Central Australia:[25]

When Aboriginal women in Central Australia ask for help, when they are killed, raped and beaten, when they cry for their abused children, you ignore them and you support those who are oppressing them. When the government tries to do something for them you call them racist and you blather on about the UN.[26]

She spoke in Sydney on 29 January 2013, at the launch of Stephanie Jarrett's book, Liberating Aboriginal People from Violence.[27] She again called for an end to violence after the stabbing death of her sister Rosalie in April 2014.[28]

Indigenous languages

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Price is a proponent of allowing the usage of Indigenous languages in the Northern Territory Parliament. She once interjected in her native language, Warlpiri, before being asked to withdraw her interjection by Speaker Kezia Purick, who later stated that unless given permission, debate in Parliament should be in English. She criticised these claims and stated that standing orders did not prohibit it, and suggested that interpreters be available in Parliament.[29]

References

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  1. ^ Rintoul, Stuart (10 August 2012). "Cry from the heart". quadrant.org.au. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Government members at odds over call to allow Aboriginal languages in NT Parliament". ABC News. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2022. Ms Price, who was born in the central Australian Aboriginal community of Yuendumu, speaks her first language of Warlpiri, as well as Luritja, Western Arrernte, Anmatyerre and English.
  3. ^ a b "Women on a mission for battered families". The Australian. 15 January 2013.
  4. ^ Violence against Women Advisory Group Joint Media Release
  5. ^ "Bess Price to run for CLP - ABC (None) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  6. ^ The CLP brings bush politics back to the town
  7. ^ NT Election 2012: Division of Stuart: Final
  8. ^ "'Refreshed ministerial team' media release". Archived from the original on 10 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  9. ^ 'NT Government announces reshuffle', NT News
  10. ^ 'New Northern Territory cabinet announced'
  11. ^ Brenda Colahan Fine Art: Bess Nungarrayi Price
  12. ^ "Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia" (PDF). Australia Day 2023 Honours List. Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  13. ^ "First preferences by Senate group: Northern Territory". AEC Tally Room. Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  14. ^ Bess Price, Against change for the wrong reasons, The Australian, 27 Aug 2009
  15. ^ Price, Bess Nungarrayi (2009). "'I Have Seen Violence towards Women Every Day of My Life': Australia, 2009". Australian Feminist Law Journal. 30 (30): 149–150. doi:10.1080/13200968.2009.10854420. S2CID 220273943. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  16. ^ "Inaugurual Peter Howson Lecture: Bess Nungarrayi Price". Bennelong Society. 3 December 2009. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Bess Nungarrayi Price on the NT Intervention". ABC AU. 15 February 2010. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Recipients of the Bennelong Medal". Bennelong Society. 3 March 2012. Archived from the original on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  19. ^ S. Hudson, Straddling black fella and white fella laws, Ideas@TheCentre, 25 March 2011
  20. ^ Q&A
  21. ^ a b "Defence, Discrimination and Regrets". Q&A. ABC Television. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  22. ^ Marcia Langton (15 April 2011). "Aboriginal sophisticates betray bush sisters". The Australian. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  23. ^ "Insight transcript". Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  24. ^ Indigenous leader slams Amnesty, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 2012; Amnesty a racist organisation, says Bess Price, The Australian, 9 August 2012.
  25. ^ "Amnesty a racist organisation, says Bess Price". The Australian. 9 August 2012.
  26. ^ Stuart Rintoul (9 August 2012). "Amnesty a racist organisation, says Bess Price". The Australian. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  27. ^ Coleman, Peter (9 February 2013). "Australian Notes". Spectator Australia. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  28. ^ 'Bess Nungarrayi Price has lost 10 siblings and talks about life in an Aboriginal town camp', NT News 9 May 2014.
  29. ^ "Indigenous MP ruled disorderly for speaking Warlpiri language in parliament". The Guardian. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
[edit]
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Stuart
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
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