Trust matters: Jacinta Price fails to declare directorship of family trust
A late disclosure, an undeclared directorship, and unanswered questions about investments in Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s discretionary family trust.
Sean Johnson19 March 2025
A version of this article appeared in Crikey on 14 March 2025
Coalition Senator and shadow government efficiency minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price failed to declare her shareholding in the corporate trustee for her family trust to the Senate interests register within the required time and hasn’t disclosed she is a director of the company.
ASIC records show the trustee Kuja-Purda Jukurra Pty Ltd was registered on August 1, 2024, with Senator Price listed as the sole shareholder, director and secretary. Under the Senate’s resolutions relating to senators’ interests, Price should’ve declared her shareholding and directorship within 35 days, by September 5, but she didn’t declare her holding until October 29, 54 days past the deadline. Price, who has accused others of lacking transparency, still hasn’t declared her directorship of Kuja-Purda Jukurra.
The two breaches of the resolutions put Price at risk of being found guilty of serious contempt of the Senate if she is found to have knowingly failed to notify the register of a change to her interests. While we don’t know whether she knowingly failed to notify the register, we can say Price has neglected to declare her interests on time before, including free flights and accommodation from conservative lobby group Advance Australia in November 2022, and free accommodation from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in October the same year. Neither was declared until May 2023.