Jacinta Nampijinpa Price slams 'romantic' myth about Aboriginal Australia as Indigenous senator reveals her special message to Voice Yes voters – as her 'Peter FitzSimons' interview trick is revealed

Shadow Indigenous Affairs spokesperson Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has spoken out about what she calls a romanticized “noble, savage” view of Aboriginal culture that traps Indigenous people “in abject poverty” and cycles of violence and abuse.

In a wide-ranging interview with Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday, Senator Price said the Voice referendum has changed Australia, cementing its message for 'Yes' voters and revealing how a clash with high-profile columnist Peter FitzSimons led to precautionary measures being taken at the media.

Senator Price, who led last year's successful campaign against Indigenous Voice to Parliament with Warren Mundine, said embracing mainstream values ​​was the only way forward for Indigenous people.

“For the people of Indigenous descent in this country who are living successful lives, it is because they have absolutely embraced modern Australian culture, which comes from Western culture,” she said.

“Our most marginalized and most dysfunctional people are being told to remain in a culture and way of life that no longer serves them in a modern Western society.”

She argued that 'an activist class' 'one.' ideological framework about everything' which suggested that Aboriginal people should be treated differently through a 'lens of indigenous culture'.

“It's definitely the myth of the noble savage,” she said.

“We see it again and again, especially when you have academics and people who worship traditional culture and are desperate to believe in the writings of people like Bruce Pascoe, who would prefer to compare Indigenous Australians with Europeans.”

Prof. Pascoe's best-known book Dark Emu, which is taught in secondary schools, argues that indigenous Australians at the time of European settlement had much more advanced farming, housing and cooking techniques than previously thought.

The best-selling work, which was the basis for an ABC documentary, is controversial, with some leading anthropologists and archaeologists saying the evidence it presents is weak and selective.

Senator Price believes a mythologized past is hindering the future of Indigenous people.

“It's really a romanticized version of what the academics and those who live in the big big cities think culture is,” she said.

'Everything is completely romanticized and when that happens, those who suffer the most are still ignored.

“The reason we are not making progress is because many of those with a modicum of power are perpetuating this narrative without treating Indigenous Australians as Australians.

'It is the easy way to shift the blame, and with it the agency and responsibility, from the lives of our vulnerable. We need to stop doing that and that is why I argue that we should serve Australians based on need and not race.”

Senator Price believed that October's Voice referendum, which saw more than 60 per cent of voters reject the constitutionally enshrined advisory body, showed that the average Australian “understands what is actually going on”.

“I am incredibly grateful for the common sense approach taken by the majority of Australians,” she said.

“I am grateful that we do not have a nation that will be permanently divided along the lines that would be voted into our Constitution.

“For a long time you have been vilified for raising the truth about the situation, so the referendum results have given Australians the opportunity to be more honest in addressing these issues.

“They stand up and say, 'I don't believe in that nonsense anymore.'

She said ordinary Aussies wanted to help indigenous Australians but knew “that the path we're on hasn't worked and it won't work in the future.”

The result also gave the Northern Territory Senator the confidence to 'continue the work I want to continue and a mandate to conduct an inquiry into how funding is being spent for the betterment of our marginalised'.

“I think the Australian people have shown that they are in favor of that,” she said.

'They are also in favor of a Royal Commission into the Sexual Abuse of Indigenous Children to effectively address the concerns at the outset.'

She said such a commission should delve into “what is causing the high levels of violence, the high levels of neglect and abuse of our children and our women.”

The senator also backed Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's pledge to cut funding to the Environmental Defenders Office, a legal group that challenges fossil fuel projects and will receive $8.2 million from the Commonwealth over four years .

'I feel I am an Indigenous person in the NT and a Traditional Owner myself, and know many others. “Many traditional owners are being robbed of the opportunity for economic independence through projects like the Barossa project there,” she said.

The Barossa Gas Project, which is opposed by the Environmental Defenders Office, would drill for gas in the seas off the Northern Territory.

Senator Price said well-meaning Yes voters needed to understand that Indigenous people had to be their own saviors.

“Yes voters really thought they would make a difference by voting 'Yes,' but sometimes we have to understand that we have to find our own way,” she said.

'Doing good can often be more harmful than actually letting someone fall and getting back up themselves.'

Human rights organization Amnesty International advises against calling someone an Aboriginal on its website, even if they are Aboriginal.

'Aboriginal' is generally seen as insensitive because it has racist connotations from Australia's colonial past and lumps people from different backgrounds together,” the website said.

Senator Price said she was not offended by what she was called.

“I don't mind being called Aboriginal, but I prefer a proud Australian,” she said.

“I'm also happy to be called a blackfella.”

The senator's staff began recording interactions with the media following the bitter fallout from an interview she did with Voice supporter Peter FitzSimons shortly after she was elected to Parliament in 2022.

Senator Price claimed the left-wing author was 'rude' and 'aggressive' and the pair got into a shouting match, which FitzSimons denied, with both sides saying they had witnesses to back up their account of the conversation.

Daily Mail Australia later obtained angry text messages that FitzSimons exchanged with the Country Liberal Senator, who threatened legal action if she did not withdraw her claims.

Senator Price, for her part, told him to stop “bullying her” and later urged FitzSimons to release the recording of the interview so the public could make a decision.

The recording was not released and no legal action was taken.