Albanese suspends Labor MP from caucus for crossing floor on Palestine vote

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suspended Labor senator Fatima Payman from next week’s caucus meeting for crossing the floor to recognise Palestinian statehood, but some MPs believe the senator should be expelled from the party or lose her spot on the party’s Senate ticket.

Albanese revealed Payman’s punishment in question time on Wednesday afternoon after cabinet ministers publicly assured the first-term senator would not be expelled from the party because she held different views, after Payman voted with the Greens to recognise Palestine on Tuesday night.

Labor senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor to vote with the Greens to recognise Palestinian statehood.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I met with senator Payman earlier today. She will not be attending the Labor caucus [for] this session,” he said.

The penalty was seen as mild by some in the caucus because crossing the floor is a move that typically leads to an MP being expelled from the party.

Several Labor MPs, who asked not to named so they could freely discuss the situation, said they believed Payman had gotten off lightly.

One noted that “I think the rules are clear and we should follow them”, referring to the fact that Payman could have been expelled, while a second MP asked “I’m keen to know what this means going forward. Can we now cross the floor without any consequences”?

Several Labor MPs said it was likely Payman would lose her winnable third spot on the senate ticket when her six-year term ends in about four years.

“We have to get through the current round of preselections first, but you could safely infer [that it is under threat],” a third MP said.

Payman’s decision to cross the floor buoyed the Greens, who are now preparing to test government MPs’ loyalty to the Labor Party line with another motion supporting Palestine.

The motion, which is still being finalised, is likely to be presented to the lower house of parliament next week after Payman became the first Labor MP to cross the floor in 19 years when she voted with the Greens to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Albanese’s decision to sanction Payman came after Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles had said earlier on Wednesday that she would not be expelled from the party.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament Labor senator Fatima Payman would not be attending next week’s caucus meeting.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Last month, a similar Greens’ motion recognising Palestinian statehood was blocked from coming to a vote in the lower house.

Greens party leader Adam Bandt said Payman had set a precedent and that other Labor MPs who supported Palestinian statehood, or had reservations about other government plans, should now be able to vote with their conscience without threat of expulsion.

“[Labor MPs] Peter Khalil, Ged Kearney, Josh Burns, Justine Elliot and Graham Perrett now have no excuse for continuing to toe the party line, for not having the courage to cross the floor themselves on issues that they say matter to their electorate,” he said.

“We are going to keep coming [with motions supporting Palestine], to push to get Labor to put some pressure on this extreme [Israeli] government and it’s up to other Labor MPs as to whether or not they’re going to show the same kind of courage.”

If further MPs were to cross the floor, it would represent a fracturing of unity within Labor over the war in Gaza and a challenge to the prime minister’s authority.

Senator Payman voted with the Greens and ACT independent David Pocock.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Perrett would not say whether he would support a motion in the House of Representatives, accusing the Greens of stunts and vote harvesting.

“I’m imagining it didn’t really derail [Israel] from what they’re doing,” Perrett said of the Senate motion.

Speaking after she crossed the floor on Tuesday, Payman said the move was the “most difficult decision I have had to make”.

Payman declined to comment when approached on Wednesday.

“Although each step I took across the Senate floor felt like a mile, I know I did not walk these steps by myself, and I know I did not walk them alone,” she said, before adding she was “bitterly disappointed that my colleagues do not feel the same way”.

Tuesday’s vote came in the ninth month of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. On October 7 last year, Hamas fighters crossed the border into Israel and killed 1200 people, as well as taking more than 250 people hostage, according to the Israel Defence Force. Gazan health authorities report more than 37,000 people have died during the subsequent invasion.

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