Two officeholders quit Labor in protest of Fatima Payman ill-treatment
4 Min Read
The turmoil occurs at a time when two new groups are attempting to mobilize Muslim voters and supporters to make their voices heard in the next federal election.
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Australian senator Fatima Payman during an address (X photo)
Labor's multicultural branch in Western Australia is in disarray, with two officeholders leaving the party in protest of Fatima Payman's ill-treatment.
In early July, Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman resigned from the Labor Party to continue to serve in the upper house as an independent, marking a significant split with the Albanese government over the issue of Palestine.
During a press conference, Payman expressed that she felt “deeply torn” and saw “no middle ground,” believing that her principles no longer aligned with the leadership of the Labor Party.
She mentioned having multiple discussions with the prime minister, deputy prime minister, and foreign minister about Palestine, addressing the issue on various fronts.
Fatima Payman: “Unlike my colleagues, I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of injustice”
— 6 News Australia (@6NewsAU) July 4, 2024
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The branch's treasurer and vice-president have quit, with one stating the party has "become a spineless jellyfish" that "throws its own under the bus at the drop of a hat."
Multicultural Labor is one of WA Labor's direct branches, which are distinct from geographical branches. Payman was the secretary of this branch until being elected to the Senate in 2022.
Adam Demir served as the branch's vice president until Payman withdrew from the Labor Party two weeks earlier. Demir expressed his displeasure with the party's treatment of Payman in a WhatsApp group discussion with other branch members.
Demir wrote in a WhatsApp message seen by Guardian Australia that he was resigning "as we all witnessed what happened to Senator Fatima Payman and ALP’s spineless stance about the Genocide in Gaza and its total disregard for the Multicultural members."
“I wish good luck to those who want to remain as useful fools waiting to be discarded like a toilet paper once they are used.”
'A facade to grab the multicultural vote'
In a formal letter of resignation, he told WA Labor that since October 7, he has discovered that the ALP "has created the illusion that it stands for freedom of speech, diversity and the recognition of the State of Palestine,” adding that it was clear the stance of the ALP along with its treatment of Fatima Payman indicates that the party does not represent the marginalized but rather portrays a "facade to grab the multicultural vote."
He told Guardian Australia that he wanted the Australian government to brand the war on Gaza a genocide, asking that ministers carry out the Labor party platform's stance of recognizing Palestine as a state as "an important priority for the Australian government."
Guardian Australia also met with the Multicultural Labor branch's former treasurer who spoke on condition of his name remaining unpublished and verified he left ALP the same day as Demir.
The turmoil occurs at a time when two new groups are attempting to mobilize Muslim voters and supporters to make their voices heard in the next federal election.
Since December, the Albanese administration has called for a ceasefire in Gaza without explicitly calling the war a genocide and affirming "Israel's right to self-defense" after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The government's position that it will only acknowledge Palestine as part of a peace process has sparked outrage among Labor members, who claim that this condition was not stated in the party's national platform and amounts to an endless delay.
On Wednesday, Labor Minister Chris Bowen stated that the government would "make our foreign policy choices and decisions based on evidence and good policy, not on electoral politics."
Bowen, who represents McMahon in western Sydney, told the National Press Club Wednesday that the party takes "nothing for granted, no vote for granted, no seat for granted," adding that the Labor administration voted to grant "greater rights to Palestine" at the UN General Assembly in May.
