"We must punish Labor"

On Tuesday, Labor Senator for Western Australia Fatima Payman crossed the floor of parliament to vote in favour of a Greens motion calling on the Senate to recognise a Palestinian state.

The motion failed after Labor and the Coalition voted against it, but Payman’s decision to go against her party was historic. Only three federal Labor politicians have crossed the floor since 1986; Labor policy states that any MP who crosses the floor can be expelled from the party, although deputy leader Richard Marles has said Payman will not face expulsion.

Speaking outside the Senate chamber after the vote, Payman said she was “proud of what I did today”.

“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.”

Mahmud Hawila is a barrister at Black Chambers, a former state prosecutor and ex-police officer. Last year, Hawila represented Jews Against the Occupation and Palestine Action Group Sydney, the organisers of the Palestinian solidarity protest outside the Sydney Opera House in October, in their successful legal challenge against the NSW Police ban on their organising further actions. He has been advising pro-Palestinian protest groups in an informal capacity ever since, and has become a prominent voice in Sydney’s Palestine justice movement.

He says that Payman’s crossing the floor is a watershed moment for campaign groups like The Muslim Vote, Vote 4 Palestine and Muslim Votes Matter, which are working together to unseat MPs like Jason Clare in Blaxland, Tony Burke in Watson, Anne Stanley in Werriwa, Maria Vamvakinou in Calwell and Chris Bowen in McMahon.

“Senator Payman has shown us what true political leadership looks like,” he says. “She has also shown that Labor does not care for diversity or even want our brightest stars. All they want are people who will toe the line at any cost. They want people who are willing to be accomplices in genocide.”