Why freezing out Fatima Payman wouldn’t look good for Labor

When a record number of women and non-white MPs were elected to Labor’s benches in 2022 – a smiling 27-year-old Senator Fatima Payman among them – Labor MP Anne Aly described it as a “watershed moment for us”. This federal parliament was Australia’s most diverse and Labor could claim the kudos. Now the party has arrived at a watershed moment of the wrong kind.

Payman – the first woman to wear a hijab in federal parliament – has fallen out of favour with her colleagues after becoming the first Labor MP to cross the floor and vote against the party since 2005. New Senators David Pocock and Fatima Payman arrive during the opening of the 47th Parliament, at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday 26 July 2022. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen “I was not elected as a token representative of diversity,” Payman said, justifying the moment she voted against her colleagues to recognise Palestinian statehood .



But it’s not so simple. This week shows that celebrating diversity is all well and good, until it clashes with convention, command or control. Labor MPs are grumbling.

Payman has been suspended from caucus. Some are pushing for harsher punishment, saying that failing to do so sets a precedent that will destroy party unity. They make a fair point, particularly those who held the line on gay marriage .

Others say she must be kept in the fold. Of course, ostracising the new Muslim MP would not play well for thousands of voters in Labor’s multicultural seats already .