Rogue senator Fatima Payman ‘won’t create Mid-East peace’, says ALP colleague Louise Pratt

West Australian Labor Left senator Louise Pratt has taken a swipe at Fatima Payman, declaring that crossing the floor on a Senate vote ‘is not going to create peace in the Middle East’.

ALP senator Fatima Payman in question time on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

West Australian Labor Left senator Louise Pratt has taken a swipe at Fatima Payman, declaring that crossing the floor on a Senate vote “is not going to create peace in the Middle East”, as a group of prominent ALP members consider calling on party chiefs to sanction the rogue senator.

The Australian understands Labor members are discussing sending a letter to the party’s national executive demanding it look at penalising Senator Payman at its meeting on Friday.

“In the space of less than 24 hours, the federal Labor leadership has torn up a 130-year-old rule with no consultation of caucus, the national executive, or party membership,” one senior Labor source said.

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

The source questioned whether Anthony Albanese, deputy Labor leader Richard Marles and the party’s Senate leader Penny Wong were suggesting that the “solemn principle of caucus ­solidarity” had been broken. “It must be galling for Labor MPs who voted against marriage equality when it was not the agreed, binding caucus position – such as Wong – to witness this spectacle … A dangerous precedent is being set where any Labor MP can cross the floor on any issue without any repercussions,” the source said.

The Prime Minister revealed in parliament on Wednesday that he had asked Senator Payman not to attend next week’s caucus meeting after she defied her party’s position and backed a Greens motion in the Senate to recognise Palestine as a state.

Despite being asked not to ­attend a caucus meeting, Senator Payman remains a member of the ALP and will sit with the government during Senate proceedings.

The Prime Minister’s move to discipline the 28-year-old senator – in a way that is being seen as a “soft touch” and not categorised as a “suspension” from caucus – put him at odds with Mr Marles, who had ruled out “any consequences” for Senator Payman’s actions earlier that same day.

But the sanction is nowhere near enough for angry Labor MPs, who argue a snap caucus meeting should have been called to hold a vote on recommending national executive suspend or expel her from the party.

Labor senator Louise Pratt. Picture: AAP

Several senior Labor figures said they had no memory of a party member physically crossing the floor in federal parliament and not being suspended, censured or expelled as a result.

Senator Pratt – who supported Labor’s position against marriage equality in 2010 and voted against the Turnbull government’s proposed plebiscite on the issue in 2016 despite being part of the LGBTQI+ community herself – said that while there were times when it was “hard to be bound” by the Labor Party vote, working “within the tent” was the most ­effective way to create whole-of-government change.

“In the context of marriage equality, while it was hard to be bound at the time, we knew that we needed to change the whole of the government position and it was and it was the long game to be able to use the party’s numbers to get to that outcome,” Senator Pratt, who will step down at the next election, told The Australian. “Whereas a Senate vote is not going to, for example, create peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine.”

Pollster and former Labor strategist Kos Samaras said Mr Albanese “knew how dangerous” the situation was given the anger among Muslim constituents in recent months, adding that the Prime Minister “really had no choice” in allowing Senator ­Payman to remain in the party.

“Labor has a problem with the broader, Australian-Muslim diaspora,” Mr Samaras said.

“There is already a perception among young millennial and Gen Z Muslims in this country who were born here … that they have been treated by society as outsiders. We’ve interviewed dozens of these people and they’re very frustrated. They’re going to the Greens or the independents.”

Mr Samaras said the western Sydney seats of Jason Clare (Blaxland) and Tony Burke (Watson) and the outer Melbourne electorate held by Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell) would be “ground zero” for how this sentiment played out at the polling booths of the next election.

While echoing the comments of many Labor MPs that Senator Payman’s actions would lead to a “new precedent” of few to no ­consequences being enforced on members who crossed the floor, Mr Samaras said this extension of freedom for Labor members to express their views might be a “good thing” for the major party, which experienced its lowest ever primary vote at the last election as support for the Greens and independents surged.

According to Labor sources, Senator Payman had been “fiercely protected” by the influential WA arm of the United Workers Union, or “Missos”, with whom she was in contact over the weekend ahead of the vote.

That support had emboldened the senator and may help to explain why the government was so quick to rule out her expulsion.

There are also whispers in Labor circles that Senator Payman has lost a number of staff in recent months. Some are believed to have been fearful that an ­association with the senator would hurt their longer-term ­futures within the party.

Former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon – who has advocated for party members to be able to more freely express their personal convictions – said there were times when party solidarity was vital. “I don’t recant from the views I expressed (on less party discipline) … but some issues demand solidarity, not by mandate, but guided by common sense,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

One Labor source said failure to maintain discipline in the government’s position on Israel was “a disgrace”.

“What’s to stop the Greens and crossbench picking off Labor backbenchers one by one on pet issues until they tear the caucus into pieces?” the source said.

Another source within WA Labor said that Senator Payman’s actions had left him and many other senior people in the party furious.

“It’s quite an arrogant thing to do, to completely trash a century of Labor Party tradition and rules around caucus solidarity to make a personal point. It’s just not something you do,” they said.

“Penny Wong had to vote against marriage equality when there wasn’t a conscious vote on that. It’s just not what is done.”