Australia news live: Fatima Payman says she would cross the floor again on Palestine but has no intention of quitting Labor | Australian politics
Fatima Payman says she would cross the floor again if Palestine motion brought forward
Labor senator Fatima Payman is now on Insiders. She says she would cross the floor again if another motion on recognising the state of Palestine is put to the senate:
Obviously, you and I both don’t have a crystal ball, so it’s really difficult to say. If the recognition on the state of Palestine was to be brought forward tomorrow, I would cross the floor.
She said she crossed the floor knowing the risk of expulsion from the party.
Key events
The ABC’s defence correspondent, Andrew Greene, has posted about this pro-Palestine graffiti in Canberra:
Were cannabinoids to blame for hallucinations after having mushroom gummies? And what is the “healthy high” industry? Natasha May has investigated:
Albanese says Future Made in Australia bill will be put to parliament this week
Karen Middleton
Anthony Albanese has visited a shop specialising in Indian sweets in suburban Melbourne to spruik the government’s cost-of-living relief rolling out from tomorrow in the form of tax cuts, a rise in the minimum wage, an extra fortnight’s paid parental leave and a series of household energy rebates.
“It’s an appropriate place to be, because our objective is to hit the sweet spot,” Albanese said alongside Labor MP Tim Watts at the Sweet Magic store in Watts’ Gellibrand electorate:
The sweet spot in putting downward pressure on inflation while providing cost of living relief.
Albanese said the government’s Future Made in Australia bill, to underpin investment in clean-energy innovation and investment, would go before parliament this week:
All of this being achieved whilst we have delivered a second budget surplus. And that is our objective here, to make sure that we get through the short-term issues which are there for cost of living pressures on families here in Melbourne and around Australia. But we want to make sure, as well, that we get the economic settings right.
He criticised Peter Dutton for having a “thought bubble” policy on nuclear power.
Albanese made his comments at what was supposed to be a doorstop news conference in the Melbourne suburb of Truganina, about 22km from the Melbourne CBD. His office gave 90 minutes’ notice but on Sunday morning when staffing is light, no media managed to get journalists there and consequently there were no questions.
Man charged with murder over death on pier south of Melbourne
AAP reports a man of no fixed address has been charged with murder after another man died on a Melbourne pier.
The man was discovered at Frankston pier, 40 kilometres south of Melbourne’s CBD, just after 6am on Saturday.
The 45-year-old man, from Cranbourne North, died at the scene, while the 36-year-old man was arrested on the nearby foreshore.
He was charged by homicide squad detectives and will appear before Melbourne magistrates’ court on Sunday afternoon.
The two men are not believed to have known each other.
They withstand ocean storms, extreme heat and may impact everything from coral reefs to the deep sea. Why has it taken so long to pay attention to the neuston?
This, from James Bradley, is fascinating:
Known collectively as the neuston, these creatures are not tied to any one place. Instead, they move with the wind and the water. Sometimes they gather into huge drifts, living islands of velella and bluebottles like those that wash occasionally ashore on beaches in Australia or the western coast of the Canada and the United States. At other times they clump together around drifting debris or spread out sparsely over hundreds or even thousands of square kilometres.
From the Ancient Order of the Hoodeners to the modern-day Australia hobby horse championships, who knew a horse head on a stick could be so fascinating and so fun:
Labor’s adapted the Star Wars opening crawl to spruik its tax cuts. The education minister, Jason Clare, has entered the always-dangerous zone of politicians being funny on social media (in an era where they’re regularly likened to the Mos Eisley cantina):
Byron Bay is to be stripped of its nudist beach – and naturists blame ‘conservative creep’
Duncan James, vice-president of Northern Rivers Naturists, says:
Many of the beach users have described the clothing-optional beach as their happy place, a place where they can disconnect from modern day stresses, a place they can feel at one with nature.
Payman says she will continue advocating for ‘just and lasting solution’
Payman says if people expect Hamas to release hostages, they should also expect Israel to release the 8,800 “hostage” Palestinians being detained. And she says, in reference to Penny Wong previously voting with the ALP against marriage equality:
It took 10 years to legislate same-sex marriage. We’re talking about 40,000 Palestinians being massacred here. These Palestinians do not have 10 years.
And so that’s why I will use what is within my power as a backbench senator to continue advocating for a just and lasting solution. And I think that’s what fair Australians want. And that’s what I’ve been talking to people on the ground in Western Australia – whether they be rank-and-file members or the locals – and that’s what I’ve been hearing.
Payman says she has got the “cold shoulder” from some in parliament over her stance but that there has been an “overwhelming majority who have stood up in solidarity doing their welfare check”.
Payman says diversity in parliament also means ‘diversity of views and opinions’
Payman makes this point on diversity:
When it comes to my election, we know that the 47th parliament has been the most diverse parliament ever. You can’t have that diversity … but not have the diversity of views and opinions. And I think it’s important for us to consider that, you know, modern-day Australia looks very different to what it did 20-30 years ago, and it’s going to keep evolving that way.
She says the contested phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” to her means “freedom from violence, freedom from oppression, and freedom from inequality”:
And this is the right of Palestinians to self-determine their futures and their aspirations.
She confirms she supports a two-state solution.
Payman says she has no intention of quitting Labor
Payman says Labor is a party with a conscience and “champions of human rights, whether that be justice, fighting for freedom, or equality”:
So I believe that I’ve been abiding by those principles of the party.
She says she won’t leave the party, although she makes a distinction between the party as a whole and the Labor caucus. She says she has been blessed with enormous support.
Fatima Payman says she would cross the floor again if Palestine motion brought forward
Labor senator Fatima Payman is now on Insiders. She says she would cross the floor again if another motion on recognising the state of Palestine is put to the senate:
Obviously, you and I both don’t have a crystal ball, so it’s really difficult to say. If the recognition on the state of Palestine was to be brought forward tomorrow, I would cross the floor.
She said she crossed the floor knowing the risk of expulsion from the party.
On inflation, Marles says the number will “bounce around a bit”, but says the government has been completely focused on putting downward pressure on inflation, and cost-of-living relief such as the tax cuts and so on that will roll out from tomorrow.
And on Labor senator Fatima Payman crossing the floor in support of a Palestinian state, Marles says the government “sought to act with restraint here”, that while initially there was to be no punishment, now she has been asked not to attend caucus meetings. He says:
When we stand … for election, the word Labor is next to our name, and that is the same for Fatima Payman as well. Without kind of prejudging what may or may not occur in terms of Senator Payman’s actions going forward, I cannot overemphasise enough how important all of us who are members of the team regard the obligations of being a member of the team in terms of the way in which we behave.
But he won’t say what will happen if she crosses the floor again.
Marles ‘very concerned’ about defence contract accused of ‘unethical conduct’
Marles is now talking about this story – defence has referred a $1.2bn contract with Thales to the national corruption watchdog after the auditor-general found evidence of “unethical conduct”. Marles says he is “very concerned” about the case:
I am very concerned about the facts of this particular case. It is why we wanted to see the secretary of the department refer this to the [National Anti-Corruption Commission] as quickly as possible – that is what has happened, and it will be fully investigated. Obviously we’ll look at whatever the outcomes of that investigation are.
My sense is that there is not a systemic issue, but it’s really important that we never see one.
