Furious Labour activists have attacked rebel senator Fatima Payman for daring to vote against the party, with one branding her a “rat” who will end up “forgotten, despised and alone”.
The newly independent Western Australian senator announced her resignation from the ALP during a press conference in Parliament on Thursday, following growing tension with her former Labor colleagues over the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Ms Payman accused the Albanian government of failing to take a stand on the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza following Israeli military action after a surprise Hamas terror attack on 7 October last year.
Since crossing parliament to vote in favour of Palestinian statehood and then leaving the party to sit on the independent benches, Ms Payman has been criticised by die-hard ALP supporters.
Among the strongest critics was Ben Davison, a long-time union activist who hosts a political podcast with his wife, the Guardian columnist Van Badham.
On the day Ms Payman announced her departure from the ALP, Mr Davison wrote a scathing post on X.
“We’ve had rats before and we’ll have them again,” she wrote. “They usually end up forgotten, despised and alone.”
He then pointed to the fact that Ms Payman won her WA seat just 1,600 votes short of the 500,000 total votes the party received.
Ben Davison is pictured with his wife Van Badham. Together they host a political podcast
Fatima Payman is photographed during her resignation press conference on Thursday
“A rat with 1,600 votes, whose only issue is unimportant to the majority of the people of the state she is supposed to represent as a Labor senator, will disappear faster than most rats,” she wrote.
In another comment, he criticised Ms Payman’s comments about her experience fleeing to Pakistan from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, before her family settled in Perth as refugees.
“My family did not flee a war-torn country to come here as refugees so that I would remain silent when I see atrocities inflicted on innocent people,” she said during her news conference on Thursday, fighting back tears.
Mr Davison wrote: ‘And to say that she is the only person in the Labour parliamentary group whose well-known difficulties are the embodiment of arrogant self-serving lies.
“She is a petulant, childish and individualistic woman who has betrayed her party and Western Australia. She should resign now and stand as an independent in the election.”
Ms Payman did not suggest she was the only person in the parliamentary group who had experienced difficulties.
Ben Davison launches scathing attack on Fatima Payman for leaving Labour (pictured posts)
Another ALP supporter, Matt Martin, also criticised the senator for crossing the floor (pictured)
Another X user, Matt Martin, echoed the same sentiment: ‘I’ve sat on many ALP upper house selection votes, both at state and Senate level, and I can assure you that Fatima Payman is a rat.
“She knew what she was getting into and should be expelled from the Party.”
However, in a sign of divisions within the party, the left-wing wing of the New South Wales Young Labor Party backed Senator Payman’s decision to join the independent group.
She will speak at an event organised by the section called ‘Palestine and the Labour Movement’ next Tuesday.
Senator Payman will speak via Zoom. Other speakers will include New South Wales Labor MP Anthony D’Adam and Maritime Union of Australia delegate Erima Dall.
“To force action on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a larger and more powerful movement for Palestine is still needed,” the event description reads.
‘Trade unions have supported many social movements in the past, but most have yet to give their full backing to Palestine.
‘In the run-up to the protest at the NSW Labor conference, this forum will discuss the links between unions and the Labor Party and how we can build greater support among Labor Party members and the labour movement.’
