Australian Story brings an insight account of Senator Fatima Payman’s decision to break ranks with the Labor Party. Offering a rare insight into the conflict between personal and party priorities, and revealing the toll Senator Payman’s actions have taken on her and her new husband.
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00:00Morning! How are you guys going?
00:07Welcome to big school as an independent.
00:09Oh my goodness, very exciting.
00:12Today's first day back here in Parliament as an independent senator for Western Australia.
00:18Dodgy pens, we've got dodgy pens. Who's in charge of pens in this new gig?
00:23It's quite a lot for me to take in. It's like running your own small business when you have
00:27to set up your own website, recruit your own team, make your own policy positions on matters.
00:33You need to have a look at this NDIS.
00:36Yes. I feel a bit naive about how politics works and I may have come into politics with
00:43being overly ambitious and optimistic and you know soon that was crushed really fast.
00:50I don't think the Labor Party are too fond of the whole situation that's happened
00:54but they have to deal with the senator now.
00:59She's the face of the new generation of politicians, the youngest senator in Parliament
01:03and has created history by becoming the first hijab wearing Muslim in Australian Parliament.
01:08She had it all. She had youth on her side, she was bright, she was articulate, she was perfect.
01:16And Fatima, that's what government looks like.
01:19And you know what? It looks like Australia.
01:23Perverse, strong, men and women, people of different backgrounds.
01:28When the Fatima payment got into the Senate, this was a big moment for Labor
01:33but there was an element of surprise there and she was an unknown factor.
01:36The death toll in Gaza has passed 20,000 Palestinians.
01:40Labor, Labor, Shame, Shame!
01:43I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
01:45It felt like my own party is just treating me as you need to look like you but sound like us.
01:54I was so conflicted. I have to toe a particular line that doesn't sit with my conscience and my values.
02:01It's not often that your wife is in a public fistfight with the Prime Minister. It was a lot.
02:08I know that she was struggling. I was not there.
02:11a lot. I know that she was struggling. I was a bit disappointed that despite every effort
02:18to reach out to her, she decided to take the action that she took. Now there's some news
02:23just in, Labor Senator Fatima Paynen has crossed the floor. It's really hard to underestimate
02:31just what's at stake in a moment like that.