WEBVTT - Senator Fatima Payman goes rogue

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<v Speaker 1>You can listen to the Front on your smart sneaker

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<v Speaker 1>the news from The Australian. From the Australian, Here's what's

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<v Speaker 1>on the Front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Thursday, June twenty seven.

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<v Speaker 1>Buckle in for another rate rise. Inflation has gone up

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<v Speaker 1>Leading Jewish organizations say Sydney University is no longer for

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<v Speaker 1>Jewish students and staff. An exclusive story in The Australian

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<v Speaker 1>Today says they're offering assistance to any Jewish students who

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<v Speaker 1>want to leave. She's a twenty nine year old Afghanistan

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<v Speaker 1>born former pharmacy assistant and she's gone rogue. Senator Fatima

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<v Speaker 1>Payman has broken ranks with the Labor Party that put

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<v Speaker 1>her in power, defying Anthony Albanesi to vote with the

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<v Speaker 1>Greens on Palestinian statehood. Today, our national editor Dennis Shanahan

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<v Speaker 1>on why this is a serious challenge to Anthony Albanesi's authority.

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<v Speaker 2>She's the first Labor senator to cross the Senate floor

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<v Speaker 2>in more than three deses.

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<v Speaker 1>Labor Senator Fatima payment made a daring decision to defy

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<v Speaker 1>her party and across the floor. I believe that I

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<v Speaker 1>have upheld the party ethos and called for what the

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<v Speaker 1>party's platform as stipulate.

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<v Speaker 3>The promise has been done over by a twenty nine

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<v Speaker 3>year old woman from Western Australia on his team. It's

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<v Speaker 3>as simple as that.

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<v Speaker 1>On Tuesday, a huge moment in federal politics about the

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<v Speaker 1>biggest issue in foreign policy right now, the conflict in Gaza.

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<v Speaker 1>Labor Senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor and voted against

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<v Speaker 1>her own party. It was a symbolic move. Payment voted

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<v Speaker 1>with the Greens on one of their motions, formal recognition

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<v Speaker 1>of the state of Palestine. The government's position is to

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<v Speaker 1>support recognition of Palestine only as part of negotiations towards

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<v Speaker 1>a two state solution that is Israel and Palestine coexisting.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not about the policy issue in the Middle East.

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<v Speaker 1>Dennis Shanahan is the Australian's National Editor.

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<v Speaker 2>This hasn't solved anything about the Middle East. It's a

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<v Speaker 2>bit like the Heckler's facing Jerry Seinfeld trying to stop

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<v Speaker 2>Jewish comedians. It was a pointless vote, but as a

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<v Speaker 2>result Senator Payman has sowned vision within the Labor Party,

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<v Speaker 2>given a victory to Adam Bandt, and actually made it

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<v Speaker 2>harder for Labor MPs to oppose the violence and the

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<v Speaker 2>protests as well as stand up for Jewish Australians. This

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<v Speaker 2>is a precedent on an issue which is not a

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<v Speaker 2>conscience vote and which opens all sorts of possibilities for

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<v Speaker 2>the Greens to exploit and for Labor MPs to come

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<v Speaker 2>under increasing pressure in their seats if they don't start

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<v Speaker 2>to take similar action.

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<v Speaker 1>What Dennis is talking about is an ironclad rule of

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<v Speaker 1>the Australian Labor Party decision made collectively by caucus, that

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<v Speaker 1>is all the members of Parliament, and everyone towes the

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<v Speaker 1>party line.

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<v Speaker 2>What about Ed Husick in Western Sydney, with a large

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<v Speaker 2>Moslem population and a Moslem himself, who I have to

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<v Speaker 2>say has been absolutely straight down the line on this issue.

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<v Speaker 2>He has not been for promoted any sort of violence

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<v Speaker 2>or protest. He has appealed for peaceful negotiation while standing

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<v Speaker 2>up for Islamic Australians. But what we see now is

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<v Speaker 2>if there's another vote, what does ed Husick do? And

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<v Speaker 2>people can then point to Senator Payment and say, look ed,

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<v Speaker 2>look what she did. Why can't you.

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<v Speaker 1>Labor has been here before. In the mid nineteen nineties,

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<v Speaker 1>when Labor was in opposition, one of its senators, Mal Colston,

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<v Speaker 1>had his eye on a new job in the set

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<v Speaker 1>it as vice president. The promotion came with a pay

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<v Speaker 1>bump of about ten thousand dollars and a few extra benefits.

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<v Speaker 4>Senator Hill, Madam President, I remind the Senate at the

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<v Speaker 4>time has come when it is necessary for the Senate

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<v Speaker 4>to choose one of its members to be deputy President

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<v Speaker 4>and chairman of committees.

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<v Speaker 1>Colston's own party didn't nominate him for the Senate vice presidency,

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<v Speaker 1>so the coalition swooped in they.

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<v Speaker 2>Would support him in the vote if he voted for himself,

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<v Speaker 2>which he did, and so he voted against the Labor

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<v Speaker 2>candidate for himself and became Vice President of the Senate.

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<v Speaker 1>It was high drama in the Senate, Labor betrayed by

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<v Speaker 1>one of its own.

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<v Speaker 2>The word of this government and its officeholders in this

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<v Speaker 2>place is worth nothing.

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<v Speaker 3>Is worth nothing is.

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<v Speaker 2>Ye send it alive.

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<v Speaker 1>But Colston's victory was short lived.

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<v Speaker 2>He was expelled from the party. He was called the

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<v Speaker 2>king Rat. He was pilloried in Parliament and elsewhere. He

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<v Speaker 2>was completely excoriated by the Labor Party. And he was

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<v Speaker 2>the last one to be expelled for crossing the floor.

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<v Speaker 1>The point is Labour's long standing tradition is to expel

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<v Speaker 1>MPs who break the rules. And guess who's been the

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<v Speaker 1>most hardline practitioner of that tough standard. Anthony Alberonizi, a

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<v Speaker 1>longtime party operative from the left faction, famous for enforcing discipline.

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<v Speaker 1>Albanezi has a cameo in the classic nineteen ninety six

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<v Speaker 1>documentary Rats in the Ranks, which is about the most

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<v Speaker 1>brutal layer of politics local councils. Incumbent like Art Mayor

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<v Speaker 1>Larry Hand is battling it out with three rivals from

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<v Speaker 1>his own Labor Party for the mayoralty in nineteen ninety four.

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<v Speaker 1>There's duplicity, dirty tricks and backstabbing all around.

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<v Speaker 2>I've been bugger if I was gonna sit there and have

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<v Speaker 2>idle hit shot out to stab men number it's pretty pathetic.

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<v Speaker 1>Early Labour sends head office enforcer, the young Anthony Albanesi,

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<v Speaker 1>just sort things out. He suggests the warring wannabe mayor's

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<v Speaker 1>pull a name out of a hat.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh yes, And Anthony Alberanesi was in that to his

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<v Speaker 2>arm pits, and he was there and at the end

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<v Speaker 2>he tried to keep away from the camera because there's

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<v Speaker 2>a couple of shots. But what we've actually seen is

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<v Speaker 2>that Anthony Alberanesi has a long history of expelling ALP

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<v Speaker 2>members for as little as voting against his preferred mayoral

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<v Speaker 2>candidate in a local light Art council election. And what's more,

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<v Speaker 2>he boasted about it. So what we've actually seen is

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<v Speaker 2>a repudiation of his own long history of taking action

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<v Speaker 2>against ALP members who vote against the party, against members,

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<v Speaker 2>and his own authority in calling for a balanced position

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<v Speaker 2>on Israel and Palestine, his own authority in condemning the Greens,

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<v Speaker 2>and the challenge he now faces not from a single senator.

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<v Speaker 2>She is two years in the Senate. She doesn't represent

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<v Speaker 2>any She got into the Senate with it with one

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<v Speaker 2>nine hundred primary votes. She got there on the Labor ticket.

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<v Speaker 2>She owes the Labor Party for getting into the Senate,

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<v Speaker 2>for being where she is and being able to do

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<v Speaker 2>what she can do. So is a question of loyalty

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<v Speaker 2>to the Labor Party. All that is being undermined by

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<v Speaker 2>what she's done, coming up.

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<v Speaker 1>The high personal price many Labour MPs have paid to

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<v Speaker 1>follow the party's rules. We'll be back after this break.

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<v Speaker 1>When she was elected to the Senate in two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and one, Penny Wong became Australia's first openly gay cabinet minister.

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<v Speaker 1>She and her partner Sophie Aloash are married with two daughters.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the happiest ending to a long and complicated story.

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<v Speaker 1>In those early days of Wong's career, Labour's position on

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<v Speaker 1>same sex marriage was crystal clear. Marriage is between a

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<v Speaker 1>man and a woman. Wong spoke about it during an

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<v Speaker 1>appearance on the ABC's Q and A program in twenty ten.

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<v Speaker 1>Now I accept that you and some other people in

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<v Speaker 1>the community would like us to have a different position

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<v Speaker 1>in terms of marriage.

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<v Speaker 4>That isn't the position of the party.

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<v Speaker 1>That year, for a second time, Wong voted against changing

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<v Speaker 1>Labour's position on same sex marriage under Julia Gillard's leadership.

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<v Speaker 1>The first had been two years earlier when Kevin Rudd

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<v Speaker 1>was PM. Wong copped a lot of flak for those

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<v Speaker 1>votes and for towing the party line despite being an

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<v Speaker 1>openly gay woman. On that same episode of Q and

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<v Speaker 1>a legendary Labor headkicker, Graham Richardson leapt to Wong's defense.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm amazed somewhat by these questions. Really, you would not

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<v Speaker 3>have had many of the things that have now happened

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<v Speaker 3>that she's already referred to if people like Penny weren't

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<v Speaker 3>in the Labour Party and weren't pushing for him. There

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<v Speaker 3>are a lot of people in the Labor Party who

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<v Speaker 3>don't agree with this stuff. At the moment, there's nowhere

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<v Speaker 3>near a majority, but there will be over time, because

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<v Speaker 3>people like Penny will work for it and it'll get

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<v Speaker 3>up in the end. But give her a break, for

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<v Speaker 3>God's sake. She's part of a corpus. There's a whole

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<v Speaker 3>lot of it. She doesn't run the government, she's a

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<v Speaker 3>part of it, a part of it. There's a thing

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<v Speaker 3>called cabinet slide of barity, and if she wants to

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<v Speaker 3>break it, she gets nowhere, you'll lose someone who fights

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<v Speaker 3>for your cause. That my friends is dumb.

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<v Speaker 1>See Penny Wong was bound by that same century old

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<v Speaker 1>rule that dictates Labor members don't cross the floor on

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<v Speaker 1>matters of policy, and so she sacrificed her own personal

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<v Speaker 1>position to vote with the caucus. That's what Labor expects.

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<v Speaker 1>There are some exceptions when the party agrees a particular

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<v Speaker 1>matter can be a conscience vote. That is, each member

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<v Speaker 1>can decide how to vote according to their own conscience.

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<v Speaker 1>The Israel Palestine issue is not like that. Labour's policy

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<v Speaker 1>is to support Palestinian statehood as part of a two

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<v Speaker 1>state solution. The Greens want an unequivocal endorsement of Palestine

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<v Speaker 1>as a state.

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<v Speaker 2>Now this motion, this was not a conscience vote. There

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<v Speaker 2>may be other motions and I wouldn't be surprised to

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<v Speaker 2>see the Greens moving another motion in the House to

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<v Speaker 2>try and flush out more people in the Labor Party.

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<v Speaker 2>Adam Band has used Senator Payman's vote immediately saying calling

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<v Speaker 2>on other Labor MPs to vote against the Labor Party

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<v Speaker 2>policy on a two party solution in the Middle East.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's really the social division at home which is

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<v Speaker 2>the real problem. Senator payment has voted with the Greens

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<v Speaker 2>and pro Palestinian sympathizers that the Prime Minister has condemned.

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<v Speaker 2>He has excoriated them in the Parliament. He has attacked

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<v Speaker 2>the Greens for giving sympathy to antisemitic thoughts and actions,

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<v Speaker 2>damaging and attacking, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of

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<v Speaker 2>damage to MPs, including Labor MPs and Josh Burns in

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<v Speaker 2>anti Semitic attacks. And so Senator Payment has backed that

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<v Speaker 2>whole sentiment of social division here in Australia.

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<v Speaker 1>What will be hurting Albanezi the most of the moment.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you think the fact that he's got a renegade

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<v Speaker 1>who he can't touch for those optics reasons that you

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<v Speaker 1>described before, or that the Greens have had a win here.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh well, I think it's essentially that the Greens have

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<v Speaker 2>had a win. But what that represents is a lack

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<v Speaker 2>of authority from the Prime Minister. Lack of authority is

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<v Speaker 2>what is damaging Antony Albinese's leadership. He cannot continue to

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<v Speaker 2>win if he loses continues to lose authority. He's lost

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<v Speaker 2>authority over the voice, he lost authority over his denial

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<v Speaker 2>on changes to tax cuts. He lost authority on this

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<v Speaker 2>very issue of Palestine and social division and anti Semitism

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<v Speaker 2>in Australia. And now we have a senator challenging his authority,

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<v Speaker 2>joining the Greens the people he's condemned in Parliament that

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<v Speaker 2>all the other MPs have voted against. And so it

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<v Speaker 2>is a lack of authority.

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<v Speaker 1>Dennis Adahan is The Australian's National editor. Thanks for joining

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<v Speaker 1>us on the front and don't forget to join our

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<v Speaker 1>subscribers at the Australian dot com dot au