Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has come under fire in the Federal Court witness box over a press release from her office that sparked a defamation case, including being grilled about whether she knows “what a vote is”.

Price is defending the defamation suit filed against her by Central Land Council chief executive Les Turner. The trial, estimated to run for at least seven days, started in Darwin on Monday .

The opening line of the press release, released by Price’s office in July last year and sent to almost 2000 journalists, said that a “motion of no confidence was moved last week in relation to the CEO of the Central Land Council”. Turner was not named, but there is no dispute that it identified him.

The press release continued: “Through last week’s vote, a majority of Cen

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