Labor senator Fatima Payman has crossed the floor to support a motion regarding Palestinian recognition, describing it as the “most difficult decision” she has had to make.
In crossing the floor to support the Greens’ motion to “recognise the State of Palestine”, Senator Payman, 29, put herself at risk of expulsion from the Labor Party.
Unlike the Liberal Party, the Labor Party requires all members to vote in line with the collective position taken by caucus. Crossing the floor can result in suspension.
Senator Payman’s decision marked the first time a Labor politician has crossed the floor while Labor has been in government since 1986. During the vote, she stood up and walked to the other side of the Senate chamber, alongside independent senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe.
However on Wednesday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Senator Payman would not face expulsion from the party.
“Fatima has made clear that she continues to maintain her Labor values, that she wants to represent the people of WA in the Senate as a Labor senator, as she was elected at the last election,” Marles told the ABC.
“There won’t be any expulsions or any activity of that kind.”
Speaking to reporters after crossing the floor, Senator Payman said “What you just witnessed was the first Labor member to cross the floor in almost 30 years. My decision to cross the floor was the most difficult decision I have had to make”.
“Although each step I took across the Senate floor felt like a mile, I knew I did not walk alone. I’ve walked with the West Australians who have stopped me in the streets and told me not to give up. I’ve walked with the rank-and-file Labor party members who told me we must do more. I’ve worked with the core values of the Labor party – equality, justice, fairness and advocacy for the voiceless and the oppressed.”
Senator Payman went on to say she was proud of what she did and that she was “bitterly disappointed” her Labor colleagues did not feel the same.
“I am proud of what I did today,” she said.“We cannot believe in two-state solutions and only recognise one.”
Senator Payman, whose family fled the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan shortly after her birth, said she was not a diversity “token”.
“I was not elected as a token representative of diversity, I was elected to serve the people of Western Australia and uphold the values instilled in me by my late father,” she said.
“Today I have made a decision that would make him proud and make everyone proud to err on the side of humanity.”
Upon her election to the Senate, Payman made Australian history as the first Muslim woman who wears a hijab to sit in federal parliament.