Suspending Senator Fatima Payman from the ALP caucus indefinitely is a headache the PM doesn’t need. Photo: Fatima Payman Instagram.
The decision to suspend Senator Fatima Payman indefinitely from the Labor Party caucus could turn out to be problematic for Anthony Albanese come election time – but right now, it exposes the draconian nature of ALP rules.
The first-term senator from Western Australia, who is a Muslim, crossed the floor late on Tuesday last week (25 June) to vote in favour of a Greens motion calling for Australia to recognise Palestinian statehood.
It was a political ploy by the Greens to drive a wedge through the government. It worked.
After the vote, Senator Payman said each step across the chamber to vote against her party “felt like a mile”.
It was a big deal and very much a matter of conscience for her.
But that’s where the Labor Party has a hard time because, for the ALP, it’s the party over conscience every time.
It put the Prime Minister in an awkward position.
He had sympathy for Payman’s move, as did Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who talked down any suggestion of punishment for the maverick senator.
The PM found a compromise and suspended Payman for one sitting of caucus.
But that only served to incense the party’s factional hardball hotheads who came down on the PM with force, causing him to impose a tougher penalty on Senator Payman.
She made Albanese’s task easier by inflaming the issue further during a weekend media interview when she said she would cross the floor again.
So on Tuesday (2 July), the federal Labor caucus unanimously endorsed the Prime Minister’s decision to suspend Senator Payman from caucus until she agrees to toe the party line.
It can be taken as a given that the discussions the PM had with the senator were conducted with respect and understanding, but Albanese’s hands were tied.
He had to be seen to be acting swiftly and harshly against the errant senator to appease his factional overlords – despite the bad look it gives the electorate for a middle-aged white guy to be kicking out a young, female, Muslim member of his party who stood by her principles.
There are those inside the ALP who sympathise with Senator Payman – some publicly – and who feel her pain. She has spoken of being isolated by other Labor MPs and senators. Factionalism in the ALP is as brutal as it is archaic.
The rules that demand a proportionately high level of reprimand for voting on conscience need ditching.
We live in an age and era of far greater sensitivity and consideration to diversity than has ever been the case.
There is more nuance and complexity in all decision-making these days.
Maybe it’s time the ALP rule book and the party apparatchiks caught up with that.
As it stands, the isolated Senator Payman is entertaining the idea of quitting the party to join the crossbench.
She already decided to absent herself from Senate Question Time yesterday (why wouldn’t she?). There are reports she will align with a grassroots movement representing the Muslim community.
Talk of the incident being a “line in the sand” is being bandied about.
It could all add up to some serious headaches for the Prime Minister, who not only needs Payman’s vote in the Senate now but also her endorsement during next year’s election campaign.
The Opposition is capitalising on Labor’s dilemma.
Asked in the House of Reps’ Question Time yesterday what he’s going to do about Payman feeling isolated in his party, Albanese was quick to answer that last week the Opposition was demanding to know what action he was going to take against her.
“The fact is that earlier today, the caucus unanimously adopted a motion that Senator Payman is more than welcome to come back to the team if she’s part of the team,” the PM said before explaining he had held “very civil” conversations with her.
The Coalition is enjoying this spectacle. This trainwreck.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten, in a media interview later in the day, explains it this way.
“All of us as candidates, when we choose to get the privilege to run for the Labor Party, we actually sign a document which says we’ll stick together,” he said.
“She’s obviously finding that very difficult on the issue of Palestine.
“I don’t think anyone in the Labor Party is critical of her view about Palestine. I mean, it’s a traumatic time. People are dying.
“We all want to see the Israeli tanks out. We want the hostages returned. But we also need to make sure we have processes where the party is cohesive, so I think a bit of time and distance can work these issues through.”
Maybe a bit more distance from the outdated ALP rule book is more the remedy that’s needed here – and into the future.
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