I am not a fan of Australian Labor Party Senator Fatima Payman, nobody knew who she was until she decided to vote against the government, was reprimanded and then quit the Australian Labor Party and took her Senate vote with her. She has a duty to represent the people of Western Australia and she has not done that – she has failed us.

Senator Payman was elected as a Senator of the Australian Labor Party, how the Senate vote works in Australia is where you vote above the line. That means you vote for a party and they pre-select candidates, you do not vote for the candidate. There is an option to vote below the line, then you have to vote for every candidate in order and by party. Therefore, the vast majority of people vote above the line.

Therefore, a Senator is a party Senator and we all know Fatima Payman was pre-selected based on the Australian Labor Party diversity policy. That is not the best candidate by the person who meets the diversity criteria. Now she is looking to join a movement to create a party to be named the The Muslim Vote, this is a concern as these racist policies will target Israel and Jews. Their cry of From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free does a disservice to every government fighting terrorism. Gaza needs to be freed from Hamas, but that is not her policy – just her personal ideals that the people have no interest in. 

What we know is Hamas is a designated terrorist organisation, they support sexual violence against women. All the funding Hamas received did not go to the people of Gaza, they used that funding to construct tunnels under Gaza, store weapons to attack Israel and hide kidnapped women and old people. We now know Hamas has linked tunnels to hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure to prevent Israeli forces targeting these tunnels and entry/exit areas. The last thing we need in Australia is a religious based voting sponsoring terrorism, Senator Payman needs to pull her head in and do her job, that is to represent the people of Western Australia.