Furious Labor 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, scorned and alone’.
The newly-independent Western Australian senator announced her resignation from the ALP during a press conference in Parliament House on Thursday, after a escalating tensions with her former Labor colleagues over the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Ms Payman accused the Albanese government of failing take a stance on the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza from Israeli military action which was launched after the surprise terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 last year.
Since crossing the floor to vote in favour of Palestinian statehood, and then quitting the party to sit on the crossbenches, staunch ALP supportershave slammed Ms Payman.
Among the louder critics was Ben Davison, a long-time union activist who hosts a political podcast with his Guardian columnist wife Van Badham.
The day Ms Payman announced her departure from the ALP, Mr Davison penned a scathing X post.
‘We’ve had rats before, we’ll have rats again,’ he wrote. ‘They usually end up forgotten, scorned and alone.’
He then pointed to the fact that Ms Payman won her seat in WA with only 1,600 below-the-line votes of the 500,000 overall votes the party received.
Ben Davison is pictured with his wife Van Badham. They run a political podcast together
Fatima Payman is pictured during her resignation press conference on Thursday
‘A rat with 1600 votes, whose only issue is a non-issue for the majority of people in the state she’s supposed to represent as a Labor Senator, will disappear quicker than most rats,’ he wrote.
In a further comment, he then took aim at 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 from a war-torn country to come here as refugees for me to remain silent when I see atrocities inflicted on innocent people,’ she said during her press conference on Thursday, fighting back tears.
Mr Davison wrote: ‘And to say she’s the only person in the Labor caucus whose (sic) known hardship is the embodiment of an arrogant self serving lie.
‘She’s a petulant, childish, individualist who has betrayed her party & Western Australia She should resign now and stand as an independent at the election.’
Ms Payman did not suggest she was the only person in caucus to have undergone hardship.
Ben Davison issues a scathing attack on Fatima Payman for leaving the Labor Party (posts pictured)
Another ALP supporter Matt Martin also slammed the senator for crossing the floor (pictured)
Another X user, Matt Martin, echoed the sentiment: ‘I’ve been involved in many upper house selection ballots in the ALP – both state and senate – and I can assure you Fatima Payman is a rat.
‘She knew what she signed up for and she should be expelled from the Party.’
However, in a sign of the divisions within the party, the NSW Young Labor Left branch supported Sen. Payman’s decision to join the crossbench.
She will feature speak at an event organised by the branch called ‘Palestine and the labour movement’ next Tuesday.
Sen. Payman will appear via Zoom. Other speakers include NSW state Labor MP Anthony D’Adam and Erima Dall, a Maritime Union of Australia delegate.
‘Forcing action over Israel’s genocide in Gaza still requires a bigger and more powerful movement for Palestine,’ the event description read.
‘Unions have supported many past social movements, but most are yet to throw their full backing behind 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 win greater support among Labor members and the labour movement.’
