How a ‘stunt’ split Australia’s parliament

When Fatima Fayman voted against her government through the Senate, she knew it would have consequences.

The Australian Labor Party has strict penalties for anyone who undermines the party’s collective stance, and acts of resistance can lead to expulsion – a practice that has been around for 130 years.

The last time a politician in power tested market conditions was before Mrs. Payman was born.

But last Tuesday, the 29-year-old joined the Green Party and independent senators in supporting a resolution calling for Palestinian statehood.

Officially, the Australian government supports a two-state solution, but has declined to back the motion after failing to insert a condition that any recognition must occur “as part of the peace process”.

Within hours, Ms. Payman was temporarily banned from her party room, and will be banned indefinitely until the end of the week, after publicly vowing to return if given the chance.

“Senator Payman has, by his actions and statements, taken himself out of the privilege of sitting on the Labor delegation to the federal parliament,” a government spokesman said.

Prime Minister and Labor leader Anthony Albanese put it more succinctly: “No individual is greater than the team.”

On Monday, Ms. Payman responded that she had been “banned,” meaning she had been excluded from party conference meetings, group chats and all committees.

The removal of the senator, who was widely regarded as the most diverse member of Australia’s parliament, has sparked mixed reactions, with many questioning whether it is realistic and fair for politicians to draw a line under issues that affect their communities.

Mrs Payman rose to prominence in the Australian Parliament.

As the first and only federal politician to wear the hijab, she has been portrayed as a poster child for the country’s most marginalized people: young women, immigrants and Muslims.

She recalled walking across the Senate floor as “the hardest decision” of her political career, adding that each step during the short walk “felt like a mile.”

But the 29-year-old said she was “proud” of what she had done and “deeply disappointed” others had not followed her lead.

“I have walked with my Muslim brothers and sisters who have felt for a long time that their voices were not being heard,” she said.

The Israeli military launched an operation to destroy the Hamas group that rules the Gaza Strip in response to an unprecedented Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel on October 7, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 hostage.

More than 37,900 people have died in Gaza since then, 23 of them in the past 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip health ministry.

This has emerged as a politically volatile issue in Australia, with both sides trying to manage it carefully.

As in many other countries, there have been protests in both Jewish and Muslim communities, and Islamophobia and anti-Semitism have increased dramatically.

The senator’s move drew both praise and criticism.

Ann Alley, the first Muslim woman elected to Australia’s parliament in 2016 and a strong advocate for an end to the conflict in Gaza, said she disagreed with Senator Payman’s approach.

“I choose to do things in a way that will make a real difference on the ground. Fatima chooses to do things her way,” she told news outlet ABC.

But Josh Burns, a Jewish Labor MP from Melbourne, has a different worldview from Payman on issues such as the creation of a Palestinian state, and has been one of Payman’s biggest supporters.

“Members of Parliament come from a variety of communities and backgrounds, and balancing all those perspectives isn’t easy, but we must be an example to the Australian community of how to debate difficult issues respectfully.”

The country’s Islamic bodies also issued a joint statement describing Ms Payman’s actions as “courageous” and calling on Labour to “respond to the voice of the people it represents”.

“Political calculations and attempts to help both sides will have disastrous consequences in Palestine and ultimately end in failure,” it reads.

But Ms Albanese called the resolution a “stunt”, adding: “We need real solutions… This stunt by the Greens is designed to put Fatima Payman in a difficult position. That’s what it’s designed to do.”

The punishment that Mr. Albanese gave Mr. Payman was more lenient than the total banishment that party rules required.

And he left open the possibility that she could rejoin the team if she were willing to change course. “Fatima Payman is welcome to rejoin the team if she accepts that she is part of the team,” he said in an interview Monday.

Australian politicians have voted against their beliefs to fit party politics.

Queer MPs (including current Foreign Secretary Penny Wong) felt similarly conflicted when the Labor coalition formally opposed same-sex marriage.

Although Ms. Wang has faced personal attacks over the issue, she has maintained that quiet advocacy within the party is a better path than public criticism.

And she says it took 10 years for same-sex marriage to become legal.

“Even when we disagree, we have those debates internally, as you’ve seen over the years with the same-sex marriage equality debate. That’s what I did, and I think it’s the right way to do it,” she told ABC.

But when asked whether she should have followed suit, Ms Payman said: “It took 10 years to legislate same-sex marriage… these Palestinians haven’t had 10 years.”

According to Kos Samaras, one of Australia’s largest pollsters, these contrasting approaches reflect the changing needs of the Australian people.

He says a growing number of young, multicultural voters are aligning with politicians who aren’t afraid to take a stand on issues their constituents “feel passionate about.”

He also argues that immigrant communities are no longer receptive to political messages that effectively urge them to “bow their heads”.

“Australia has a terrible history from a social and political standpoint. Whenever people from diverse backgrounds express their views, they are overwhelmingly told to bow their heads.”

“That’s the formula that works when new people come to a country and start a new life and try to be invisible. It won’t work for the children of those immigrants. That’s who we’re talking about.

“These are people who have grown up in a country that has often made them feel like outsiders and they are not prepared to remain silent any longer,” he added, noting that recent polling by his team found many young Australian Muslim women feel they lack a political voice.

Ms. Payman, a refugee who fled Afghanistan with her family after the Taliban took over in 1996, says these feelings guide her political stance.

“I was not elected to be a symbol of diversity,” she said after her temporary suspension last week.

“I was elected to serve the people of Western Australia and to uphold the values ​​instilled in me by my late father.”

Ms Payman said she believed the government was isolating her in an attempt to “blackmail” her into resigning.

But Mr Albanese was adamant that his decision was the right one, stressing it was not about Ms Payman’s “policy positions” but a decision to “damage” her party.

For now at least, the young MP has pledged to “abstain from voting on House of Lords matters unless a matter of conscience arises that upholds the genuine values ​​and principles of the Labour Party”.