Senator Fatima Payman: Independent Role Offers Freedom, Slams ALP Invisibility

Independent senator Fatima Payman, who split from Labor over the issue of recognising Palestinian statehood, says her new role has given her access and connections with West Australians that were not possible as an ALP member. She likened remaining in the Labor caucus in Federal Parliament to “keeping a seat warm and being invisible until the next election”. Senator Payman was speaking in Broome on Monday in the middle of a 12-day, 12-town regional tour of the State. While in Broome she attended a vigil for Palestinians killed in the Gaza conflict, which called for the immediate recognition of an independent Palestinian state — the issue that led to her being suspended from the Parliamentary Labor Party. Senator Payman, who was first elected to Parliament as a WA Labor senator in 2022, crossed the floor of the Senate to vote for a Greens motion recognising a Palestinian state on June 24, splitting from her party’s position. During a later interview on ABC Insiders, she doubled down on the issue, saying she would defy the ALP rules again to vote to recognise a Palestinian state. As a result, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suspended her indefinitely from the caucus and emphasised that Labor’s rules “required people respect each other and not engage in an indulgence”. On July 4, Senator Payman announced she would quit the Labor Party and sit as an independent senator. Almost a month following the tense political period, Senator Payman reflected on the press attention, calling it challenging. “I don’t think any 29-year-old wants to be caught in a media storm like that,” she said. Despite the Labor Party’s strong reaction to her crossing the floor, Senator Payman said she felt at “ease” on that fateful June 24 morning. “It was the nine months before (crossing the floor) which were the most difficult of my life,” she said. “The stress of being controlled constantly and told what to say was paralysing.” “If I visited a mosque, people would not even acknowledge me. “I was getting the cold shoulder from both sides, and I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere.” The emotional and physical stagnation she endured during her time in the ALP is paradoxically fuelling her current high-energy, action-packed schedule. Senator Payman says she is now determined to hear as many regional voices as possible. In one day in Broome, she toured Headspace, visited Broome’s Milliya Rumurra Aboriginal Corporation, met with workers at Broome PCYC, and attended the Palestinian vigil. When Senator Payman walked across the sand-dusted grass to greet the local attendees of the vigil, faces lit up with people eagerly awaiting their turn to shake the senator’s hand. She will return to the Senate when it next sits on August 12 and is passionate about bringing the issues plaguing the North West regions to wider public attention. “People living in Perth are definitely not experiencing things that people are going through in the North West,” she said. “I look forward to advocating for the North West because I feel like we often forget the North West exists. “A lot of money and resources go into the South West where a lot of tourism takes place, but what about the powerhouse and engine room of our country?” At the press conference where she announced she was leaving Labor, Senator Payman labelled questions from journalists who asked if she would start a Muslim party as “insulting.” “When people try to paint me as a one-trick pony who only cares about one issue, well, they’ve got it wrong,” she said. Senator Payman was travelling to Kununurra on Tuesday to continue her 12-town tour.