Fatima Payman should refer herself to the High Court and clarify if she is or isn’t eligible to sit in the Senate as a dual citizen.
After the 2017-18 citizenship crisis triggered seven by-elections and forced the resignations of eight senators, the ALP should have thought twice about actively risking a Section 44 challenge.
Anthony Albanese and Labor ministers, who are filthy with Payman’s betrayal, on Friday said the 29-year-old’s eligibility was a matter for her.
While there is little appetite from the major parties to let the Section 44 genie out of the bottle, Payman’s eligibility should be tested in the High Court.
The court must assess whether Payman has taken reasonable steps to renounce her Afghan citizenship.
As difficult as it might be for Payman to revoke her citizenship given the Taliban’s return to power, there is a constitutional obligation to outline what steps have been taken and whether they are acceptable.
The WA senator would need to seek her own advice because she can no longer access the ALP’s legal documentation.
Payman’s resignation has raised internal questions around Albanese’s management of his backbench and his ability to keep his caucus united.
It has also fuelled concerns about the rise of religious-based parties and the impact of Muslim-Australian candidates in Labor-held Sydney and Melbourne seats.
The influential Dai Le and Frank Carbone “Western Sydney Community” alliance has emerged as another serious threat to Labor MPs.
Combined with the rise of the Greens and antipathy towards the major parties, Albanese’s Labor Party is facing its own teals-style rout at the next federal election.
Similar to the Liberal Party, the ALP has taken for granted traditionally safe seats.
Voters in western Sydney electorates, many held by Labor cabinet ministers, were told the ALP would seek greater input from them after they rejected same-sex marriage. They also swung hard against Albanese’s voice referendum.
Le’s victory over Kristina Keneally in Fowler at the 2022 election highlighted the growing mood in western Sydney for representatives more aligned with local communities.
After Payman’s exit from Labor, 38 out of 227 lower-house MPs and senators – just over one in six – now sit on the crossbench. That number is likely to nudge closer to 20 per cent of parliamentarians following the next election.
Albanese on Friday led the government’s evisceration of Payman’s intentions, motivations and planning that led to her resignation from Labor. From next week, the Prime Minister will seek to put the Payman fiasco behind him. Following a disastrous fortnight, Albanese is determined to reset his government over the five-week parliamentary break. He must drag the debate back to the cost-of-living, execute a ministerial reshuffle and re-energise his troops.
Since the Indigenous voice referendum in October, Albanese has struggled to keep his head above water and manage the government’s responses to the immigration detention scandal, re-emergence of asylum seeker boats, sticky inflation, Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy and fallout of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Labor MPs are seeking stronger leadership from Albanese as the ALP moves to an early election war footing.
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