Anthony Albanese woke up this morning and chose weakness- after being betrayed by one of his own, Fatima Payman, in the most public of fashions, writes PETER VAN ONSELEN

Anthony Albanese is tiptoeing through the political tulips when it comes to one of his Labor senators breaking party rules and crossing the floor on the issue of Palestine. 

WA Labor senator Fatima Payman defied both her prime minister and party when she sided with the Greens in a motion to recognise Palestinian statehood. 

Yes, the Labor rule to maintain the collective and not vote against the party is set in stone. Theoretically at least. And yes the PM has quite explicitly condemned the Greens for stoking violence when it comes to issues surrounding Palestine and Israel. 

But such principles matter less than raw political decision making. Albo has a problem when it comes to balancing the competing interests on this vexed topic within his own party. Not dissimilar to the challenges President Joe Biden faces within the American Democrats. 

Slapping down the 29-year-old Australian senator for what she did would only have increased tensions within Labor. 

So on Wednesday morning, he chose weakness by refusing to expel her from the party – but for strategic reasons. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) only selectively applies the rules when it suits him. Right now it suits him not to expel a young senator for breaking them

For a start, she is a young female senator of diversity. The last thing the 61-year-old PM wanted to be seen doing was enforcing party rules to destroy her career. 

It is one thing to kick an ageing union official like CFMEU boss John Setka out of the party for breaking the rules. 

Doing it to a young advocate for Palestine, however, would have infuriated activist voters and party members Albo doesn’t want to pick a fight with. 

Not as he counts down to an election where every vote might count.  

Kicking Senator Payman out of the Labor Party for crossing the floor – which is what the rules prescribe should be done – would have split the factions, given the Greens a surge in support at Labor’s expense. 

It also probably would only have increased tensions at besieged Labor electorates around the country. The PM has pointed to the damage being done to his party’s electorate offices by Palestinian protestors. 

Palestinian protestors aren’t happy with the Labor government’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas

Equally, given that Albo relies on the support of the factional left to maintain his party room dominance as leader, taking action against the good senator from WA would also have been risky business on that score. 

If the election is close and the PM gets back, only leading a minority government, how forgiving would the Left faction be next time he sought to sell out some of its policy values? 

Labor’s left currently feels like it isn’t being adequately heard on when it comes to Palestine. The PM faces a constant struggle responding to their demands without losing the mainstream or the majority of the right.  

While it is true that by not reprimanding her for acting against the rules there is a risk of copycat actions by others in the months and years to come, Albo will hope that he can deal with such circumstances on their own merits away from the glare this issue is currently receiving.

To be sure, this isn’t the first time a Labor MP has crossed the floor and not been reprimanded for doing so. Harry Quick did it in 2005, so did Graeme Campbell in 1988. On both occasions political pragmatism trumped the rules, although Campbell eventually left the party anyway. 

Plenty more over the years have been turfed out for breaking party rules.  

While I have long disagreed with the Labor approach of stifling the conscience rights of its MPs and senators to cross the floor free from the risk of party expulsion, as and when it suits them, having such rules only matters if they are applied when inconvenient. 

Senator Fatima Payman (pictured) has sided with the Greens in a senate vote to recognise Palestine as a state

Not merely when it is convenient to use them to clamp down on dissent for the sake of superficial party unity. Or to rid the party of members it suits it to offload. 

Selective following of the rules is akin to a lawless process run by leaders who pick and choose.  

Would Albo be so relaxed were one of his MPs to cross the floor in a nuclear energy debate, for example? 

Labor MPs would never cross the floor on this issue because they know Albo would come down on them like a tonne of bricks. 

The exact opposite of his response to Senator Payman. 

That’s how politics too often works: power and pragmatism trumps principles. Agree or disagree with her, at least Senator Payman stuck to her principles. 

A rarity in modern politics.