Jacinta Price is confronted by Natalie Barr on Sunrise over Indigenous Voice to Parliament 

Newly promoted shadow minister Jacinta Price has defended her mission to destroy the indigenous Labor vote in parliament, insisting: ‘I have to do this.’

The former deputy mayor of Alice Springs was appointed shadow minister of the Coalition for Indigenous Affairs in the reshuffle of opposition leader Peter Dutton yesterday.

She replaces Julian Leeser who resigned from the shadow cabinet after the Liberal party confirmed she would campaign for a no vote in the upcoming referendum on enshrining the vote in the constitution.

Senator Price was tackled on Wednesday about her new role on Seven’s Sunrise and host Natalie Barr questioned her about the criticism she would face.

She said she was prepared for the backlash she would receive because of her high-profile new job, but said she was used to abuse.

“I’ve been prepared all my life,” said the Northern Territory Country Liberal senator.

“When it comes to Indigenous politics, if you can survive that, you can survive just about anything.

“I have been attacked and slandered online for some time now. It’s nothing new to me. If there are children who suffer in silence, I must do this. I am obliged to do this.

“I’m in a privileged position, so it’s my job to fight on their behalf.”

She said she was ready for the personal attacks that would come her way, but said she was on a mission to help those most in need.

“It’s definitely a role that I understand gets a lot of criticism,” she said. I don’t mind constructive criticism at all.

“But there’s a lot of filth going around out there.

“I do what I do because I know there are people who don’t have a voice, who are marginalized, who need someone to stand up for what’s happening for them in their lives, especially our children.

“That’s what propels me forward. I think sometimes my concern is definitely for my family. But otherwise I treat it like water off a duck, because the work I have to do is really important.’

She said her focus would be on addressing issues faced by Indigenous Australians in remote communities, insisting they were not born disadvantaged because of their race.

“My focus would be where people’s first language isn’t English,” she said.

‘Where people still live close to the traditional way of life and where facilities are very, very limited.

‘And that’s where my focus would be first and foremost – to relieve the most disadvantaged in this country, and not treat all Indigenous Australians as if we were disadvantaged simply because of our race.

“We are not inherently disadvantaged because of our race as a group of people.”

Senator Jacinta Price was deputy mayor of Alice Springs, which was rocked by a crime spree last year (pictured), but she says the vote would make no difference

Senator Price insisted that the Voice to Parliament would not solve any of the inherent problems that remote communities face – such as the crime spree in Alice Springs – and would instead split the country.

“It’s not something new — bureaucracies set up to help indigenous disadvantaged people have always existed,” she said.

“The only difference is that we put this in our constitution, which I think divides us along the lines of a race.

“I think we should be able to continue the day-to-day work we do to alleviate backlogs without having to change our constitution.”