Labor Senator Fatima Payman Suspended Indefinitely: Defies Party on Palestine Issue

Labor senator Fatima Payman has been suspended indefinitely from the Labor Party caucus by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after a series of defiant actions regarding her support for Palestine.

Senator Payman confirmed to the ABC that she had been suspended following a conversation with Albanese at the Lodge. However, the government has left open the possibility for Senator Payman to return.

The senator crossed the floor of the Senate to vote for a Greens motion recognizing a Palestinian state earlier this week. She told the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that she had no intention of quitting the party.

The Western Australian senator’s actions came after months of her public support for the people of Palestine, as the war continues between Israel and Hamas.

A government spokesperson said that by her own actions and statements, Senator Payman had ‘placed herself outside the privilege’ that comes with participating in the federal parliamentary Labor Party caucus.

If Senator Payman decides she will respect the caucus and her Labor colleagues she can return, but until then, Senator Payman is suspended from the right to participate in federal parliamentary Labor Party caucus meetings and processes, the spokesperson said.

Labor Party rules do not permit members to vote against the caucus position, and it was the first time a Labor politician has crossed the floor while Labor was in government since 1988.

Each step ‘felt like a mile’ when crossing the floor, the senator told reporters last week after she. She said if Labor wanted diversity in its party, it had to accept diversity of views and opinions.

Gay senators Louise Pratt and Penny Wong didn’t mince words on Senator Payman’s decision to cross the floor this week and noted they had to vote against marriage equality in the years when Labor was against same-sex marriage.

Senator Wong told the ABC that even though she disagreed with Labor’s position on queer marriage for years, she had those arguments internally in what she described as ‘the right way to go about it’.

Senator Payman said Senator Wong and Senator Pratt campaigned within the party for 10 years or more for same-sex marriage but as the death toll rose in the war, Palestinians didn’t have 10 years.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Insiders that all members of the Labor caucus were a team, and Labor served in parliament because it was a party, not an individual.

He said Senator Payman would not be a senator ‘if not for the fact’ Labor was next to her name.

Without kind of prejudging what may or may not occur in terms of Senator Payman’s actions going forward — I cannot overemphasize enough how important all of us who are members of the team regard the obligations of being a member of the team in terms of the way in which we behave, Mr. Marles said.

The decision to suspend Senator Payman was made by the Labor Party senior leadership team, including Mr. Marles, Senator Wong and Don Farrell.