Fatima Payman’s punishment for voting against her Labor colleagues is causing problems for the government on a day they hoped would be about celebrating their cost-of-living measures.
The 29-year-old first-term Senator announced on Monday afternoon she will abstain from voting on any matters except for a potential ‘matter of conscience’.
Doing so places Labor’s sheep exportation bill at risk, prompting questions about whether Ms Payman’s decision is an act of revenge against her party for treating her poorly.
‘I have been exiled,’ she claimed.
‘These actions lead me to believe that some members are attempting to intimidate me into resigning from the Senate.’
Ms Payman was on Sunday suspended indefinitely from her party’s caucus meetings after she revealed she’d have no qualms crossing the floor again on motions involving Palestine.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took stronger action on Ms Payman in an effort to refocus on his tax cuts, which come into effect from today.
In spite of his best efforts, Ms Payman’s future has dominated the first day of the final sitting week before the winter break.
The 29-year-old first-term Senator announced on Monday afternoon she will abstain from voting on any matters except for a potential ‘matter of conscience’
Question Time in both the House of Representatives and the Senate involved jeers, heckles and statements about Labor’s response to Ms Payman’s decision to side with the Greens last week when they introduced a motion in favour of a Palestinian state.
Additionally, ministers doing the media rounds on Monday morning to spruik the Stage 3 tax cuts and $300 energy bill rebate were inundated with questions about Ms Payman’s future.
The PM had already been receiving internal pressure from some Labor figures to take stronger action against Ms Payman for crossing the floor.
Mr Albanese made it clear on Monday morning that she was receiving further punishment because she is distracting from the tax cuts and cost of living measures the government has introduced, rather than her stance on Israel.
‘It’s not because of her support for a policy position that she’s advocated, it’s because of the question that you’ve just asked me. Today is July 1. It’s a day where we want to talk about tax cuts. We want to talk about our economic support for providing that cost of living relief without putting pressure on inflation,’ Mr Albanese told ABC RN.
‘And instead, you have seamlessly segued into the actions of an individual which is designed to undermine what is the collective position that the Labor Party has determined.
‘No individual is bigger than the team. And Fatima Payman is welcome to return to participating in the team if she accepts she’s a member of it.’
In the Senate, Ms Payman spent much of Question Time with her head in her laptop, even as Greens Mehreen Faruqi sprung to her defence, describing Labor’s sanctions as ‘shameful’.
Ms Faruqi asked if Labor would sanction Israel and the Netanyahu government, given it had imposed sanctions on Ms Payman.
‘I understand why you want to run a political line here in this chamber,’ Senator Penny Wong said.
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