Matters of the Heart

The moving story of an Indigenous woman who beat disadvantage and violence to become one of Australia's most influential political voices. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was nine months pregnant and due to give birth the night she attended her high school formal. With her baby tucked in her arms, she completed year 12 from her hospital bed. Early in their relationship, she took her future husband, Colin, to the Alice Springs morgue to identify the body of a family member who'd been killed. Nothing about the life of this passionate and steely Warlpiri woman could ever be described as ordinary. In this remarkable memoir, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price candidly recalls her journey from the remote outback communities of Yuendumu and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory - a young girl with big dreams and the red dust of her ancestors under her fingernails - to the corridors of Canberra and beyond. Honest, raw and at times heartbreaking, Matters of the Heart is a deeply personal reflection of how a young Indigenous woman, growing up surrounded by violence and tragedy, beat the odds to become one of the most powerful political voices of our time. 'I've been to hell and back, and I've survived.'

About the Author :
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a political phenomenon. She is a Country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory and the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs. She has dedicated her working life to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, especially in relation to domestic violence, and has never been afraid of fighting for what she believes in - for example, as a prominent spokesperson for the No campaign in the lead-up to the Voice referendum in 2023. She has worked as the Indigenous program director at the Centre for Independent Studies and, in 2015, was elected to the Alice Springs Town Council. In 2022, she was elected as senator for the Northern Territory, and, since April 2023, has served as the Coalition's shadow minister for Indigenous Australians. John Howard was Australia's 25th prime minister. After a meteoric rise to become treasurer, aged 38, in Malcolm Fraser's government, the self-described economic liberal and social conservative was sidelined. But in 1996, Howard bounced back to lead the Coalition to a resounding victory and become our second longest serving prime minister. He is the author of The Menzies Era, about Australia's longest serving prime minister, Robert Menzies, and of the bestselling autobiography Lazarus Rising. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a political phenomenon. She is a Country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory and the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs. She has dedicated her working life to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians, especially in relation to domestic violence, and has never been afraid of fighting for what she believes in - for example, as a prominent spokesperson for the No campaign in the lead-up to the Voice referendum in 2023. She has worked as the Indigenous program director at the Centre for Independent Studies and, in 2015, was elected to the Alice Springs Town Council. In 2022, she was elected as senator for the Northern Territory, and, since April 2023, has served as the Coalition's shadow minister for Indigenous Australians. Sue Smethurst is an award-winning author and journalist who has spent more than 20 years working in the media across television, radio and magazines. She was a senior writer with the Australian Women's Weekly, and has written eight books, including Behind Closed Doors, Spartacus and Me, Blood on the Rosary and A Diamond in the Dust.