Yuendumu elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves blasts Jacinta Price over claims about Indigenous violence

A respected Aboriginal elder in a troubled remote outback community has lashed out at Jacinta Price in an extraordinary attack after the outspoken senator called out 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.

She posted a graphic photo of her badly injured grandmother claiming the respect typically given to indigenous elder in the community had been ignored as she pleaded with Australians to stop turning a blind eye.

The conservative politician also took a swipe at ‘self-appointed’ Yuendumu elders who previously called for no more 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 attacked 

Senator Price claimed they didn’t call for an end to attacks among indigenous locals, adding ‘community-lead violence is ignored and at times even encouraged’.

It sparked a furious response from Yuendumu elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, who took the senator’s claims personally.

Earlier this year, he led calls for the end of armed police in indigenous communities after NT policeman Zachary Rolfe was acquitted of murder for shooting dead Aboriginal teen Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu in 2019.

Mr Hargraves didn’t hold back in his scathing attack addressed to Senator Price, accusing her of ‘throwing him under the bus’ to seek power and saying she should ‘look in the mirror’ before making such claims.

‘I am a cultural person. I tend to all cultural business in the community. When there is culture or a sorry meeting I tend to that,’ he said.

‘I spend all day every day serving my community for free. That is my cultural duty. That is more than I can say for you, Jacinta.

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 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 conflate issues inferring calling for no more deaths by police means I don’t care about all community issues.

‘How dare you tell me that I’m not doing everything I can for my community. What I want to know is who you work for and what your interests are? Not Yapa lawa.

‘You are going in the wrong direction working for these conservatives. History shows they don’t care about us and they never will.’

Senator Price has drawn both criticism and support as one of the few few indigenous Australians in Australian parliament. She has been touted in some circles as a future prime minister.

She refuses to support the Indigenous Voice and criticises most mainstream attempts at reconciliation. Her focus on ‘black-on-black’ violence and sexual assault rather than allegations of racism within the police force and deaths in custody has provoked the ire of many indigenous leaders. 

Mr Hargraves finished his withering attack by accusing Senator Price of abandoning her community to seek power for herself in Canberra.

‘Look at yourself in the mirror, who are you really?’ he continued

‘This isn’t about us at all this about you and your power. Don’t you dare throw me under the bus to suit your agenda.’

‘It really disgusts me what you are doing and the way you are doing it.’ 

‘You have no right to make assumptions about me. Show respect.’

A week ago, Senator Price issued a passionate plea to Australians living in capital cities to stop turning a blind eye to violence as she shared a harrowing photo of her bloodied and bruised grandmother after she was allegedly attacked.

Yuendumu elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves urged Senator Jacinda Price to ‘show respect’

Senator Price called on Australians living in ‘leafy green suburbs’ to turn their attention to remote community violence as she implored the nation to be a voice for the victims who are ‘out of sight out of mind’.

The Country Liberal senator addressed the problem of violence in Aboriginal communities in her maiden speech to parliament and regularly shares videos of incidents to raise awareness.

But her calls for action took a personal turn when her grandmother was allegedly attacked by another woman in Yuendumu.

‘This is what life on a community like Yuendumu looks like,’ she wrote alongside a photo of her distraught grandmother’s neck and clothing soaked in blood.  

‘She has not been respected or acknowledged as an elder at Yuendumu she was instead recently violently attacked by a woman younger than her. Her head was split open.’

Ms Ross was rushed to hospital shortly after the photo was taken. 

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’ve threatened to stab him many times,’ she alleged.

She then lashed out at media for ‘ignoring’ Indigenous violence.

‘Imagine a grandmother being violently attacked in front of you in the streets of Mosman, Surry Hills, Brunswick, Northcote, West End or any other leafy green suburb. Imagine this was your grandmother or your four year old son,’ she wrote.

‘The violence has to stop and Australians across the country must demand better 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 suffer because their suffering makes a handful of people feel offended if it’s brought to their attention.’

Tess Napaljarri Ross (right) is an indigenous elder in Yuendumu where she was allegedly attacked. She’s pictured with granddaughter Jacinta Price at her parliamentary swearing-in

Senator Price ended the post by taking aim at privileged First Nations people not speaking out on ‘black-on-black violence’. 

‘Grandstanding over 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 TRUTH TELLING 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 not in a position to comment further.

Ms Ross travelled to Canberra to perform the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony for Senator Price before proudly watching her granddaughter be sworn into the Senate and deliver her maiden speech. 

‘This is my grandmother, my elder who attended my swearing in of the 47th parliament of Australia, my grandmother that performed the Mala Jukurrpa ceremony to pass onto me her authority to speak in parliament, my grandfather’s sister and one of the last of her generation,’ Senator Price wrote.

The senator hopes to put a spotlight on violence in Aboriginal communities such as Yuendumu (pictured), 1,528km south of Darwin