Labor defector Senator Fatima Payman has announced her new political party – ‘Australia’s Voice’ – days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested she should enter the next election early.
Senator Payman, who represents Western Australia, resigned from the Labor Party in July and joined the crossbench over irreconcilable differences with the party over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Rather than give up her seat, she opted to remain in parliament as an independent, angering Mr Albanese.
On Wednesday, Ms. Payman formally announced her new party “for the disenfranchised,” which will contest the Senate race in every state, along with marginal seats in the House of Commons.
“If we have to drag the major parties kicking and screaming to do what needs to be done, we will do it,” she said.
She mentioned abolishing negative gearing, with the cost of living and education among her party’s priorities.
Senator Fatima Payman is pictured during her press conference on Wednesday
‘Australia’s Voice believes in a system that puts people first. We reject the status quo that serves the powerful and forgets the people.
“Australia’s Voice is here to build… It’s a movement for a fairer, more inclusive Australia. Australia’s Voice will never be silenced.”
Mr Albanese took a swipe at Ms Payman in the pages of the Australian Financial Statement earlier this week.
He said she should run in the next federal election, expected in 2025, rather than wait until her term ends about three years later.
“Senator Payman should test Democratic support for her actions by running in the next election herself under the banner of her new political party,” he said.
Ms Payman described Albanese’s attack on her as “standover” tactics and “intimidation”.
It is clear that Ms Payman will try to capitalize on growing dissatisfaction with the major parties by offering policies aimed at winning votes from moderate Liberals, along with Labor and Greens voters.
Ms Payman was elected to a six-year term in 2022 in a Labor landslide in WA.
Senator Fatima Payman announced her new political party on Wednesday: ‘Australia’s Voice’
Her tensions with Labor came to light when she first decided to speak out about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Initially she received little more than a slap on the wrist from the party, but her decision to appear on an unsanctioned ABC interview, where she proudly said she would cross the floor again if she had more time, was for the prime minister to intervene again.
She was suspended indefinitely from the party, and senior Labor ministers repeatedly said Ms Payman would be welcomed back if she started acting like a team player.
Labor sources say she was not bullied and that they would be willing to forgive her and move on.
But Ms Payman does not accept that what she did was a mistake. She voted with her conscience, she said, and on behalf of the Labor members she spoke to.
She said her actions reflect the sentiment in her community, and that voters supported her decision to risk her career to support her own beliefs.
During her resignation press conference in July, Ms. Payman said, “unlike her colleagues,” “she knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of injustice,” citing the death threats she and her family have received in recent weeks.
“My family did not flee a war-torn country to come here as refugees so that I can remain silent when I see atrocities being inflicted on innocent people,” she said.