5 July 2024

Payman quits Labor to sit on the Senate's crossbench as an independent

| Chris Johnson
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Senator Fatima Payman

Senator Fatima Payman has quit the Labor Party over her conscience vote. Photo: Region.

First-term senator Fatima Payman has quit the Labor Party and moved to the crossbench following a week of power shifts and speculation about her future.

The West Australian senator said she had felt exiled by her ALP colleagues after she crossed the floor on 25 June to vote in favour of a Greens motion calling for Australia to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese initially suspended her from caucus for one meeting, but outraged factional leaders insisted he take tougher action and so he made the suspension indefinite.

On Thursday (4 July), Senator Payman walked out of the Senate just as the Prime Minister was being asked about her in the House of Representatives Question Time.

After a conference outside the chamber, she walked back in and sat on the crossbench as an independent.

At her media conference, Senator Payman said Mr Albanese had given her an ultimatum when he summoned her to the Lodge – vote with the party or leave the party.

She said although she still believed in Labor’s principles, there was no middle ground between the party’s rules and her conscience.

READ ALSO Party before conscience could be a problem in a modern political world

Senator Payman said she had been deeply torn while deciding what to do.

“On one hand, I have the immense support of the rank and file members, the unionists, the lifelong members, the party volunteers who are calling on me to hang in there and to make change happen internally,” she said.

“On the other hand, I am pressured to conform to caucus solidarity and toe the party line.

“My conscience leaves me no choice.”

The now independent senator said the PM had also told her she should give her Senate seat back to the party if she left the ALP.

The Prime Minister has denied saying that.

But the party definitely wants to keep the seat Labor and pressure is on for Senator Payman to quit parliament altogether – which she says she definitely won’t be doing.

It now means the government needs to negotiate an extra Senate vote from the crossbench on legislation the Coalition opposes.

On Wednesday, Mr Albanese suggested – in response to a question in parliament – that Senator Payman had been planning a move for about a month.

Those remarks from the PM, Senator Payman said, sealed her resolve to leave the party.

“I did not expect the Prime Minister during QT [Question Time] yesterday to make an assumption – or I wouldn’t want to say accusation, but it felt like an accusation – where I have been planning this for a month,” she said.

“Because it is not true. I have not. The vote was purely based on my conscience.”

She later insisted she only made up her mind to quit the party on Thursday morning, but was spurred on by the PM’s conversation with her at the Lodge.

“That made me realise maybe there’s an expectation that I must make this decision asap,” she said.

READ ALSO Prime Minister slams ‘unworthy’ perpetrators behind graffiti attacks on Canberra war memorials

Senator Payman also quashed suggestions she would join a party with grassroot campaigners Muslim Vote.

The group issued a statement to the same effect, stressing that it was not even a party.

“The Muslim Vote is not a political party. We are a united collective dedicated to empowering Australian Muslims in the electoral process,” the statement said.

“The sentiment for genuine representation is stronger than ever, and amplifying these voices is crucial.

“The Muslim Vote is not a religious campaign but a political one. Negatively framed media stories and political discourse are dishonest attempts to incite fear and confusion.

“Uplifting community political literacy and participating in political advocacy should be embraced and celebrated.”

ALP national president Wayne Swan outlined his party’s thinking in a statement.

“Our past achievements tell us there is simply no substitute for the power of collective action to deliver social progress domestically and internationally,” he said.

“Senator Payman’s decision to place herself outside the party can only empower Labor’s opponents on the far right and on the left who have always opposed progressive foreign, economic and environmental policy.”

Asked in Question Time on Thursday about his conversations with Senator Payman, the Prime Minister denied being in any way aggressive.

“A short while ago I received a message from Senator Payman, addressed to me… ‘Dear Prime Minister, thank you for your leadership. It has been an honour and privilege to serve in the Australian Labor Party’,” he said.

“And it went on to indicate her resignation as a member of the ALP.”

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What’s her citizenship

@Oscar Mike
Australian

No, her citizenship is not “What’s” so that is an incorrect assertion. The correct one can be found on Wikipedia.

What is your citizenship?

You know and we know that even DFAT couldn’t help her to bin her old passport. Why don’t you just say you what you mean: she’s foreign looking and you don’t like it.

They had a massive dirt file on her to keep her under control . Any politician found to be a dual citizen should have to pay their wages back for the time held

Capital Retro10:09 am 05 Jul 24

It’s interesting that she channels God when explaining what is guiding her decisions and the left are accepting this.
But it was different when Scott Morrison and Zed Seselja were accused of putting God before the left’s progressive narrative and they were hounded out of office.

@Capital Retro
Seselja was thrown out by the ACT electorate because he chose to go against the majority wish of the constituents he was supposed to represent, CR. Nobody cared who Seselja sought guidance from, as long as he represented the wishes of the ACT.

In the same way, if the citizens of WA believe that Payman is not representing them, generally or in her stance on Palestine, then they are free to turf her out at the next election.

That’s exactly how a secular democracy works.

Capital Retro11:00 am 05 Jul 24

Rubbish response, as usual.

Oh come on now JS. You must have seen on here the constant “god botherer” and “Christian fundamentalist” accusations levelled at Seselja on a constant basis. Plenty of people clearly had an issue with his religion.

A valid point CR, I agree religion has zero place in government at any level.

Unfortunately the two you use for comparison both belong either under the Big Top or in a care facility where the jackets help them hug themselves ALL the time.

Payman did sell out the party that funded her campaign so her scruples seem to be questionable.

Capital Retro, your assumption is erroneous.

Capital Retro1:44 pm 05 Jul 24

If I assume something I qualify it as such so your comment is invalid.

@Ken M
Yes, Seselja was a known “god botherer”, even from his days in the ACT LA.

If “… people clearly had an issue with his religion”, how come he was re-elected, to both the local Legislative Assembly and subsequently as a Senator for ACT on several occasions, before eventually being consigned to the political scrap heap at the 2022 Federal election?

The answer is quite simply. It was only when Seselja let his adherence to his brand of dogma, take precedence over representing the wishes of the majority of ACT citizens – specifically Territory Rights and Same Sex Marriage, that ACT voters decided that he was no longer suitable to represent them.

You may not perceive your own assumptions, Capital Retro, whereas to others they as obvious as.

But people clearly did have an issue with his religion. There were just not enough of them at the time to oust him. It is inaccurate to say “nobody cared”, because the vitriol toward his religion was very present here and on other platforms.

Ken M
Yes, there certainly was vitriol towards his religion, but (IMHO) that really came to the fore mostly when, as I said, Seselja started to follow his own agenda based on his dogma rather than the ACT people’s will.

The reality is we have no way of knowing, as the ballot paper never asks why, it only “asks” which candidate/party.

They weren’t ‘hounded out of office.’
They were voted out of office.
It’s called democracy.

And the knives are now out, in true ALP form, questioning her citizenship. LOL

Capital Retro10:11 am 05 Jul 24

Well, why not question it? She only wants a theocracy.

@Ken M
Yes, I’ve just seen the report of that news. The only surprise is that Labor didn’t pull it out as soon as she started to show she might be a “problem”.

Why not have questioned it in the 2 years she was in their party?

@Capital Retro
As usual, CR, high on bigotry low on facts.

Where has Payman ever said she wants Islam to be adopted as the ‘state religion’ in Australia?

Capital Retro11:57 am 05 Jul 24

Would you tolerate being called an infidel?

Yes.

Any more witty queries for us today?

@Capital Retro
I used to get called “a Catholic dog” by the public school kids way back when, CR, and I used to laugh it off. So yes being called “an infidel” would be in the same category.

It’s amusing when you realise the people he is throwing his support behind consider him “cattle” unless he is one of them.

infidel :
1. a person who does not believe in a religion or a particular religion; an unbeliever.
2. an adherent of a religion other than Christianity; especially a Muslim.
AOD

I do not think that word means what some people think it means.

Capital Retro7:54 pm 05 Jul 24

In the context of this thread, in Islam an infidel is someone who does not believe in God or God’s existence. So Christians and Jews are not infidels as they believe in God.

From comments you have made in relation to religion this means you are an infidel.

In any context, an infidel is defined as someone of non-faith in the god of the believer who so labels them.

I can assure you I am an equal-opportunity infidel.

Another reason why above the line voting in the Senate should be abolished.

The ALP received over 500k above the line votes in WA that got this Senator elected. She received 1600 first preference below the line votes herself.

Capital Retro10:09 am 05 Jul 24

The science is settled on that one, chewy.

@chewy14
While I agree with your sentiments, we both know that’s not going to happen.

Above the line voting favours the major parties, and as we both know, one thing that will always engender a spirit of bipartisanship is a potential threat to their mutual controlling influence in elections.

Should have toughed it out and made the party expel her. As she said, she still believes in Labor principles, it’s just that the Labor party believes in career before conscience.

@bikhet
I doubt the party (i.e. Albo) would have expelled Payman. Its much more convenient to virtually expel her through exclusion from parliamentary party deliberations, etc. but retain her obligation to vote along lemming-like party lines.

That way, when next she steps out of line – as would have eventually happened as Gaza is not going to miraculously go away because of the winter recess, “the party” can say “she forced our (my) hand”. While that argument may stand up in the Albo’s safe haven of the party room, it won’t stand the pub test amongst a lot of true believers, let alone the rest of the electorate.

Capital Retro10:04 am 05 Jul 24

She believes only in Islam which doesn’t recognize the separation of powers that western democracies embrace.

@Capital Retro
Again, you are letting your bigotry get in the way of facts, CR.

There are many democracies which have a religion, other than Islam, as their state religion.
As an example, the King of Australia, who also happens to be the British monarch, is the head of the Church of England. Also, the 26 most senior bishops in the Church of England are Lords Spiritual and have seats in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Capital Retro, secularisation of democracy was not at the behest of churches. They all have that problem.

Capital Retro1:51 pm 05 Jul 24

Hey byline, I remember when Labor lost the election to Tony Abbott years ago and the ABC commentator at the National Tally Room said “look’s like we have lost this election”?

“we” are “us” according the Julia Gillard on the 6th November 2011 at the ALP annual conference so your DNA is clear for all to see now.

Capital Retro1:53 pm 05 Jul 24

JS, if “clutching at straws” was music, you would be a brass band.

Capital Retro1:54 pm 05 Jul 24

Give me a break, tryline.

OK. How long (don’t be unreasonable)?

Before I have a rest, your comment at 1.51 pm just above is simply unrelatable to any comment I have made. Did you mean to refer to someone else, or what were you thinking?

@Capital Retro
“clutching at straws” = CR-speak for I have no facts (nothing new there) to counter your argument so I will just refer to my tattered cliche book.

Stephen Saunders9:02 am 05 Jul 24

Ah, politics in a multicultural nirvana. Be mindful of woke Greens, posh Teals, and Muslim Teals. Don’t offend the Chinese voters, as Morrison and Shorten allegedly did. Be respectful of Indian electorates. Too easy.

@Stephen Saunders
Ah, the good old days, when preservation of the natural order was the only thing with which god-fearing Christians needed to concern themselves.

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