Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price plotted with a school principal to oust the chief executive of an Aboriginal land council she defamed in a media release, a court has been told.

The senator is fighting a claim by Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner that she defamed him in a July 2024 release.

Turner said the release falsely reported a no-confidence motion had been moved against him by council delegates.

A hearing of the case began on Monday in the federal court in Darwin before Justice Michael Wheelahan.

The Northern Territory senator’s release implied Turner had “behaved so unprofessionally that it warranted his dismissal” and was “unfit to continue to occupy the role of CEO”, according to his claim.

He and Nampijinpa Price sat on opposite sides of the publ

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