The Prime Minister has expelled a Labor senator from the party's caucus for a series of defiant actions supporting a Palestinian state. In an explosive interview on the ABC, WA Senator Fatima Payman vowed to continue her rebellion after crossing the floor in support of Palestine. However, just hours later, she was summoned by the Prime Minister and given an indefinite suspension.
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00:00On live TV, a rebellious warning.
00:05If the same motion on recognising the state of Palestine
00:08was to be brought forward tomorrow, I would cross the floor.
00:11Fatima Payman, the young backbench senator who crossed the floor
00:15this week, determined to not be a token for diversity,
00:18even if it costs her popularity in the party.
00:21As I understand, there's been various colleagues
00:24who have been upset with me and frustrated.
00:26I've received the cold shoulder,
00:28but there has been an overwhelming majority
00:30who have stood up in solidarity.
00:32Her choice to vote against the rest of her party,
00:35a breach of Labor rules.
00:37Caucus solidarity, what it is to be a member of the team,
00:40is fundamentally important to every one of us.
00:43It's the heart of the obligations that we have.
00:46An obligation the Prime Minister decided she no longer met,
00:50summoning her to the Lodge to indefinitely suspend her
00:53from the party's caucus.
00:55When we get elected to Parliament,
00:57there's a range of things that we commit to.
00:59If people can't keep those commitments,
01:01then obviously things need to change.
01:03That is how we operate and it's how we've always operated
01:05and everybody knows that.
01:06Senator Payman knows that.
01:07It's about time that the Prime Minister
01:09demonstrated some leadership.
01:11The reason this is such a big deal is because
01:13under Labor Party rules, you have to vote with the caucus,
01:16even if you disagree.
01:18It's led to many reflecting on Penny Wong,
01:21who years ago had to oppose same-sex marriage
01:24as she worked from within the party to win support on the issue.
01:28Their advocacy from within,
01:30it took 10 years to legislate same-sex marriage.
01:34We're talking about 40,000 Palestinians being massacred here.
01:38These Palestinians do not have 10 years.
01:41That urgency on full display elsewhere in the capital,
01:45at a site honouring lives lost in conflicts gone by,
01:48a call to end the current one.
01:51But done in a way that's drawn quick condemnation.
01:54The government labelling the graffiti
01:56horrible and completely unacceptable.