Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is set to return to the Liberal Party frontbench, with new Opposition Leader Angus Taylor finalising his reshaped Shadow Cabinet.
Taylor has appointed Price as Shadow Minister for Small Business, Skills and Training, marking her reinstatement to the senior Coalition team just months after she was removed from Sussan Ley’s shadow ministry.
Former leadership contender Andrew Hastie will also rejoin the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Industry and Deputy leader in the House of Representatives.
Deputy Leader Jane Hume will serve as Shadow Minister for Employment, Industrial Relations and Productivity.
Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, a moderate and supporter of Sussan Ley, will serve as Shadow Treasurer. Wilson was the only Liberal candidate to win back a seat from a Teal Independent at the 2025 election, defeating Zoe Daniel.
Price’s comeback follows her September 2025 departure from the shadow ministry, when Ley asked her to step down after a dispute over comments Price made about Indian migrants and her refusal to publicly endorse Ley’s leadership.
On 10 September 2025, Price told the ABC the Albanese government was accepting ‘large numbers’ of Indian migrants to bolster Labor’s vote share—an assertion she later conceded was a ‘mistake’.
Ley considered the remarks ‘deeply hurtful’ to Indian Australians and said maintaining confidence in the leader was a fundamental requirement for serving in the shadow ministry.
Price (pictured) will return to the Liberal Party frontbench as part of Angus Taylor’s team
At the time, Ley declared that Price had ‘failed the test’ expected of shadow ministers. Price later described her comments as ‘clumsy,’ though she stopped short of issuing an explicit apology.
Hastie’s return to a senior role further signals Taylor’s intention to bring former leadership aspirants back into the fold and stabilise the party after months of internal turbulence.
Sussan Ley’s former Deputy Ted O’Brien will move to Shadow Foreign Minister and will be supported by Senator Dave Sharma, who will serve as the Shadow Minister for International Development.
Senator James Paterson, who was key to Taylor’s victory over Ley, will serve as the Shadow Minister for Defence.
Just days after Taylor ousted Ley as Liberal leader, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price used a fiery appearance on The Karl Stefanovic Show to signal her political comeback.
‘I’m back, baby. I’m back. Don’t worry about that. I’m back,’ she said.
‘I was having a breather, but I’m back.’
Price also targeted colleagues she accused of abandoning her during last year’s controversy, specifically Manager of Opposition Business Alex Hawke, who had publicly urged her to apologise.
‘I think it was fairly evident that Mr Hawke there had a good old crack,’ she said.
Tim Wilson (pictured) has been appointed as Shadow Treasurer under Angus Taylor
‘I had a very stern conversation with him.
‘Don’t try to gaslight me or accuse me of something I’ve done and have not done, and don’t try to force me to apologise for something that doesn’t require an apology. And don’t apologise on my behalf, I’ve got my own voice.’
