Senator Payman Maintains She Will Remain An Independent ‘At This Stage’

Former Labor Senator Fatima Payman, now an independent for Western Australia, speaks to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on July 4, 2024. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Former Labor Party MP turned independent Fatima Payman maintains she has no plans to join another party or movement “at this stage.”

The MP, who left the Labor Party despite being elected on the party’s ticket as a senator for Western Australia at the last election, said it has been a tough few weeks.

In an interview with the ABC, Ms Payman outlined her plans.

“Look this is day five as an independent for me, but I haven’t thought about forming any coalitions at this stage, the crossbench senators have been very welcoming but also sending messages of solidarity, and making sure that I am OK,” she said.

“It really has been a really tough past few weeks but look, after coming back home, I know that I'll hit the ground running and I will do what’s best for West Aussies.”

Ms. Payman’s resignation from the centre-left party comes as the grassroots movements, Muslim Votes Matter and The Muslim Vote, emerge with the aim of tackling Labor strongholds in Melbourne and western Sydney.

Senator Says Locals Not Satisfied With Labor

The 29-year-old said it will “depend on the bills that are brought forward” when asked if the government can rely on her vote.

She also said she looked forward to having a voice “without any boundaries or restrictions of party rules and confinements,” while pledging to try to visit “every single town” in Western Australia and meet with locals.

She says locals had told her the “Australian Labor Party that they elected were not serving their best interests.”

“They voted for a change in government, they wanted to see values of justice, equality and freedom upheld, and they are just not seeing that, so for me it’s important to prove myself, which I will,” she said.

The Afghan-born MP also described recent media commentary and “background” provided by her former Labor colleagues as “bizarre” and that it was not really constructive.

“But in saying that, I’m not going to dwell on what people have been doing. It’s quite flattering that people still want to talk about me and give information that I'd given to them in confidence,” she said.

The background information provided to media related to Ms. Payman’s eligibility to sit in the parliament given concerns about her dual Afghan citizenship, which she has taken steps to renounce.

Section 44 of the Constitution prohibits foreign and dual citizens sitting in parliament.

Prime Minister Says Payman Only Received 1,600 Votes

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted Ms. Payman was elected on a Labor ticket, not on her own.

He conceded that her defection to the crossbench “hasn’t been helpful” and agreed it was “quite clearly” well planned on her behalf.

“Bear in mind that Senator Payman received 1,600 votes. The Labor ticket received over 510,000 votes. That’s why Senator Payman was elected. It wasn’t because people put a number one next to her name,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr. Albanese said he had campaigned for the senator’s election.

“It was because she was number three on the Labor ticket when she was elected. People really welcomed that, we want to be a diverse party,” he said.

“And I went to her first speech, for example, across in the Senate to make sure I was showing her that support. And she received every support whilst she was a Labor senator.”

Opposition Continues Probing

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on the other hand continued to probe Ms. Payman’s citizenship status.

“I mean, it’s pretty red hot if there is a constitutional issue the Labor Party knew about it, so they’ve supported a member of Parliament knowing that she wasn’t constitutionally valid to sit in the Parliament—which I think is an outrage. That’s quite different than somebody who has a Section 44 issue,” he said on the Today Show.

In a speech to the Liberal National Party state convention in Brisbane, Mr. Dutton said he can now understand why Mr. Albanese decided to stay in Australia to deal with domestic politics rather than attend NATO.

“In part, you can now understand why, because we know this week that Senator Fatima Payman has decided to abandon the Labor Party,” he said.