Labor to meet after provocative senator suspended over Gaza

Government MPs are to meet for the first time after an explosive interview resulted in the suspension of a senator from the Labor parliamentary group.

Senator Fatima Payman has vowed to continue crossing the party in support of Palestinian statehood, defying Labor expectations that members should vote as a bloc.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who had previously banned the senator from attending a meeting in a single party room, simply suspended her from caucus, with a government spokesperson accusing her of “putting herself outside privileges” of the party.

Labor factions will hold meetings on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s caucus meeting, where tougher sanctions, including the potential expulsion of Senator Payman, could be discussed.

The Western Australian senator crossed the floor on Tuesday to support a Greens motion for Palestinian statehood.

She ruled out leaving the party on Sunday, suggesting her vote was in line with Labor’s core principles.

Labor’s 2023 national platform specifically calls for Australia to recognise Palestine as a state and expects this issue to be a high priority for the government.

“For me, the rank and file members of the party are the trade unionists, the phone bankers, the door knockers, the lifelong members of the party who developed the platform,” Senator Payman told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.

“The decisions the caucus makes are obviously up to them, but I have no plans to leave the party because I firmly believe I have stood for all the values ​​that we, as the Labor Party, should stand for.”

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie indicated his support for Senator Payman, saying his actions were consistent with Labor’s call for a two-state solution in the Middle East.

“Of course Senator Payman is right, you cannot honestly advocate for a two-state solution unless you are prepared to recognize the sovereign state of Palestine,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“To do otherwise is to attach ourselves to the American and Israeli governments…it’s quite simple actually.”

Confirming the indefinite suspension on Sunday, a government spokeswoman said Senator Payman’s “actions and statements” had forced their hand.

“If Senator Payman decides she will respect the caucus and her Labor colleagues, she can return, but until then she is suspended from participating in Labor federal parliamentary caucus meetings and processes,” they said.

The death toll in Gaza is approaching 38,000, according to the local Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel launched the campaign in Gaza after the designated terrorist organization Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostage – according to Israeli counts – in an attack on October 7, 2023.