ROGUE LABOR SENATOR WHO BROKE RANKS OVER PALESTINE QUITS PARTY
A tearful Fatima Payman has sensationally quit the Labor party after two weeks of mounting tensions over her position on the war in Gaza.
The 29-year-old first term West Australian senator had complained she had been 'exiled' by her Labor colleagues after she crossed the floor and sided with the Greens on a motion about recognising the state of Palestine.
On Thursday - the final sitting day before a winter break - the renegade senator finally confirmed she will join the crossbench with friend David Pocock, and Lidia Thorpe.
'With a heavy heart, but a clear conscience, I have announced my resignation from the Australian Labor Party.
'Effective immediately I will sit on the crossbench to represent Western Australians.'
Labor will now have to negotiate with Ms Payman as part of the crossbench when they want to pass legislation in the senate, if they do not have the support of the Coalition.
To reach a majority in the Senate without the Coalition, Labor will need the support of all 11 Greens, plus three members of the eight-strong crossbench.
Ms Payman was elected to a six-year term in 2022 during sweeping Labor victories in Western Australia. She will serve the remaining four years as an independent.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had reportedly privately told Ms Payman that she was elected using Labor's platform, and that she should quit the Senate entirely so that the government could reappoint someone from within to the Senate position.
The hostility between Ms Payman and many of her Labor caucus has been palpable - and mounting - since she first decided to cross the floor.
Initially, she received no more than a slap on the wrist, but her decision to appear on an unsanctioned ABC interview where she proudly said she'd cross the floor again if she had her time over prompted the PM to intervene again.
She was suspended indefinitely from the party, and senior Labor ministers have been doing the media rounds all week parroting the same party line - that Ms Payman will be welcomed back into the fold when she begins acting like a team player.
They all say she is not being bullied, and that they'd be willing to forgive and forget. Some have said they know 'everyone makes mistakes'.
But Ms Payman does not accept that what she did was a mistake. She voted with her conscience, she says, and on behalf of the rank and file Labor members she has spent time speaking with.
She says her actions reflect the sentiment in her community, and constituents have supported her decision to put her career on the line to back her own conviction.
It comes after her husband Jacob Stokes's tweets surfaced from earlier this year where he said: 'I think the worst thing to happen would be for her to resign.
'Making government shift its foreign policy position does not happen overnight.
'She needs to work her way up, and be there to recruit more Muslims into the party and into Government.
'THAT's how we get representation.' Mr Stokes's profile has now been set to private after his tweets were published.
Recently, there has been concern within Labor that Ms Payman was showing up more senior members of government who have been elected in areas with a high Muslim population.
The Greens have vowed to campaign on the ground in some of these seats, pointing out to constituents 'if Senator Payman can do it as a 29-year-old woman and first term senator, then your elected member could too'.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese indicated in Question Time this week that he believes Ms Payman had been strategising her exit from the party for a month.
She told the ABC that is not the case, and reportedly said she believes the party has said that because they are upset with her.
Ms Payman has not been seen in the Senate since Monday, after announcing she would abstain from voting on any matters except for 'matters of conscience'.
'I have been exiled,' she said at the time.
'I have lost all contact with my caucus colleagues. I have been removed from caucus meetings, committees, internal group chats and whips bulletins.
'These actions lead me to believe that some members are attempting to intimidate me into resigning from the Senate.'
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