Payman’s defection a masterclass in political sabotage
Last week five anti-Israeli MPs were elected ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour representatives, while back in Canberra we saw our own social fabric again threatened by religious extremism.
The Parliament House protest was organised anti-Semitism at its worst, plain and simple. One of the banners displayed a Hamas red triangle symbol, the official emblem of the terror group. And then there was an unfurling of a banner – inscribed with the anti-Israel words “From the River to the Sea”. Both show the depth to which social cohesion has plunged in this country.
The black banners draped across the facade of Parliament House is testament to the growing fissures now evident in our society. Freedom of speech can’t justify such an offensive slur on our values at one of our most important national institutions.
The protesters also accused Australian armed services of genocide. So we should be under no illusions that this was a direct attack on those service men and women who served in Iraq against Saddam Hussein, as well as in Afghanistan, where justice was served to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
What’s most disturbing, however, is that this fracturing is being presided over, and in some cases actively stoked, by some members of the political class in this country.
It’s time for the PM to call out these acts constantly, rather than simply saying they are “not helping the Palestinian cause”. These are weasel words. We need national leadership without caveats.
No Australian – least of all our service men and women – should be faced with pro-Palestinian graffiti at the Australian War Memorial. Jewish students on university campuses should not feel unsafe. And bishops in western Sydney should be able to give sermons without being stabbed by extremists.
In Australia, many of the Lebanese diaspora are familiar with the sectarian fights driven by Muslim and Christian militia alike. Many moved to Australia a long time ago to live a better life. Yet why do so many feel emboldened to import their hatreds, prejudices and anti-Semitic views, which are now culminating in the debasement of our own democratic institutions?
As I’ve argued before, what’s failing here is the national political leadership. The Prime Minister and Labor frontbench have all but acquiesced to this rising tide of offence and abuse; they have failed to call out Islamist extremism by name for fear of offending some hate-preaching imam in Tony Burke’s electorate.
Labor must stop pandering to voters with extreme politics and stand up for what’s best for Australia, not just what’s convenient for six seats in western Sydney and Melbourne’s inner north. Having crossed the Senate floor to vote against Labor on Gaza, Senator Payman has further exposed the Labor leadership on this question.
Anthony Albanese has been too slow to act. But when he finally did it was typically weak. No expulsion, just a “please don’t come to our next meeting”. A month ago the senator’s husband, who ran Payman’s campaign, seemed to advocate branch-stacking the ALP with Muslim activists.
Why did the Labor leadership not anticipate these difficulties if, as Albanese has now claimed, it was plotted for months? Payman has made Albo look slow and weak. It’s also an indictment on Penny Wong and her ability to enforce Labor discipline.
Albanese can’t just wish away this challenge to Labor. He must take it head on.
Senator Payman’s timing was a perfectly orchestrated act of political sabotage designed to completely blow up a week that should’ve been focused on tax cuts, power bill subsidies and fighting the cost of living. Payman made it all about herself and her extremist views, such as accusing Israel of genocide and repeating the anti-Semitic phrases of the parliamentary protesters.
No doubt she will use the media attention she has now successfully cultivated and remain a thorn in Labor’s side.
It’s clear there’s a level of professional activism from the left, with the Greens aiding and abetting these protests, including those on our streets and on our campuses. But that’s even more reason for the PM to stand up and confront this political threat.
Payman’s defection and the protest outside Parliament House feels like a seminal moment. Hate speech is not just in a western Sydney mosque, it’s now bled into our national parliament.
The PM reaps what he sows. He condemned the actions out the front of Parliament House only after the fact, but it did not go far enough.
The appointment of Jillian Segal as an anti-Semitism envoy is welcome, if long overdue. The PM’s more recent comments calling out the Greens over Hamas shows his politics is on message. We just need to hear far more of it.
This leadership gap has delivered strength to those who hate our society. Enough is enough. It’s time our leaders found the courage to act in our national interest, and not just electoral interests.
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