The deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, has hit back at claims Fatima Payman’s resignation from Labor was orchestrated, insisting that Muslim women are often “stereotyped” as unable to make their own decisions.
Faruqi said she had “been in touch with Senator Payman over the past few weeks and also way before that” and believed the first-term senator made up her own mind after “following her moral compass” and listening to the community.
“I’m very proud of her as another Muslim woman for standing strong on her convictions,” Faruqi told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
Payman resigned from the Labor party on Thursday, saying she was leaving with a heavy heart but a clear conscience as she argued her own government’s response to the bloodshed in Gaza amounted to indifference.
The 29-year-old senator had previously been suspended from Labor’s federal caucus after warning publicly that she might cross the floor a second time to support a motion to immediately recognise Palestine as a state.
Anthony Albanese said on Friday there had been “meticulous timing of events” and he had “heard a month ago, where this was going to go”.
A day before Payman’s resignation, Albanese told parliament he expected “further announcements in coming days which will explain exactly what the strategy has been for more than one month now”.