Senator Bridget McKenzie and Independent MP Zali Steggall have clashed in a heated debate over the growing push for greater Muslim representation in Canberra and speculation Labor Senator Fatima Payman will move to the crossbench.
Senator Fatima Payman is expected to quit the Labor Party today.
This comes after Ms Payman refused to change her views on the war in Gaza which doesn’t align with Labor’s position.
Ms Payman broke more than a hundred years of protocol in defying that after crossing the floor of the Senate to support Palestinian statehood and then vowed to do it again.
Speaking to Sky News host Peter Stefanovic on Thursday morning, Senator McKenzie blamed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the WA Labor Senator’s course towards becoming a “sectarian MP” – which put Australia in the “difficult position” of having religiously motivated political parties in parliament.
Ms Payman was indefinitely suspended from the Labor caucus following a meeting with Mr Albanese on Sunday afternoon after she vowed to cross the floor again after doing so to vote against the government in a Greens motion to recognise a Palestinian state.
Speculation has grown that Ms Payman will quit the Labor Party on Thursday, but not leave politics altogether – as Muslim leaders have backed in the Perth-based Senator, including the imam of Perth’s prominent Nasir Mosque.
Rumours have risen this week with speculation Ms Payman will quit the Labor Party on Thursday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
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It came after a spokesperson for The Muslim Vote group on Monday told the ABC there was an effort to “mobilise the Muslim community to vote as a bloc in the next federal election”.
The Muslim Vote campaign’s website said it was “empowering” Muslims in the electoral process, and began its movement in the aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel.
However, prominent Muslim community leader Dr Jamal Rifi told Sky News he “definitely” did not support the movement and that Muslims should continue to be part of existing political parties.
Dr Rifi said he did not believe in a Muslim, Christian or White Australia vote and “we should be part of the mainstream, and Ms Payman’s penalty should be “where it ends”.
Lebanese Muslim community leader Doctor Jamal Rifi discusses Labor ministers crossing the Senate floor and the rise of a new religious political party in The Muslim Vote with Sky News host Andrew Bolt.
“We are Australian, we are well served by different parties that exist and we should work through the systems, and principles, I do not believe in Muslim vote, Christian vote, white Australia vote or any other votes,” he said.
“I believe … to be part of the mainstream, to interact and also if you have any ideas or anything, it is exactly what Fatima Payman has done, she joined the Labor Party.”
On the issue, Ms Steggall said it was “dangerous” to have religiously motivated politicians and there should be a separation of religion and politics in a liberal democracy.
“I don’t know that Senator Payman’s decision to how she’s voted, or decisions about her future, in fact relate to religion as opposed to her views when it comes to the Palestinian people and their plight,” Ms Steggall said.
Senator McKenzie said Australia was one of the world’s “great multicultural success stories”, but if an “Islamic teal movement” continued to grow in western Sydney the country would become more divided.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said if an “Islamic Teal movement” continued to grow in western Sydney the country would become more divided. Picture: Sky News Australia
Ms McKenzie said it was Mr Albanese’s leadership that led to the “rife” Islamic motivated political movement.
“We sought to divide people on whether you’re Indigenous or not last year, now we’re looking at whether you’re Christian, atheist or Muslim, we’re dividing on religion, and I think that is a huge concern,” Ms McKenzie said.
“It is about common values and that is what our country was built on, and what I’m concerned on, following the behaviour of the prime minister that has led to this, is that we’re going to have a movement that is purely based on Islam.”
Ms Steggall said Senator McKenzie’s comments were “pretty outrageous” and people were voting based on their community values and “on the merits”.
Independent MP Zali Steggall said Senator McKenzie’s comments were “pretty outrageous” and people were voting based on their community values and “on the merits”. Picture: Sky News Australia
“We know there is a huge frustration from communities when they look at political parties when they fail to frequently reflect the views of their electorates and their communities,” the independent MP said.
Senator McKenzie pressed Ms Steggall on the “Palestine issue” and how the “majority of voters” in some western Sydney seats had a “very different view” around the Gaza War which was not in Australia’s national interest.
“I’ve been on the Galilee border, two months ago, Hezbollah are firing rockets,” Ms McKenzie said.
“This is not some imaginary war you can just waffle away in your teal language, Zali.
“These are real things and governments need to make real decisions and I think this is an absolutely existential threat to the Labor Party because they’ve ignored it for too long.”
Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson says the rumours Senator Fatima Payman is expected to quit Labor is a “symptom of a weak Prime Minister” and a “divided” party.
“Particularly on issues like Israel-Palestine, the Labor Party is deeply divided,” Mr Paterson told Sky News Australia.
“Has frankly been in an internal fight for the best part of nine months since the 7th of October.”
Ms Steggall criticised her counterpart and “career politicians” for “capitalising” on the distress of communities surrounding Israel’s Gaza war and the fallout since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, calling for the country to focus more on social cohesion.
“What we’re seeing in parliament is political parties on both ends of the spectrum trying to wedge the government on this issue to try and gather votes from communities,” Ms Steggall said.
Sheikh Wesam Charkawi spoke to ABC on Thursday about The Muslim Vote’s campaign and mentioned that its candidates would likely be announced as early as next week.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the seat of Blaxland has a Muslim voting population of almost 32 per cent, while next door at Watson it is more than 25 per cent.
Sheikh Charkawi said there had been a “significant” shift away from Labor in Blaxland and Watson due to “weak” support for Palestinians since the war.
“Thirty per cent of voters in the seat of Blaxland wanted representation on an issue that they didn’t get out of Jason Clare. So why should they put him there?” he said.