Labor defector Senator Fatima Payman has announced her new political party - Australias Voice - days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested she should contest the next election early.
Senator Payman, who represents Western Australia, resigned from the Labor and joined the crossbench in July due to irreconcilable differences with the party over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Rather than resigning her seat, she chose to stay in Parliament as an independent - earning the ire of Mr Albanese.
On Wednesday, Ms Payman formally announced her new party for the disenfranchised, which will contest the Senate race in every state, along with marginal lower house seats.
If we need to drag the major parties kicking and screaming to do what needs to be done, we’ll do it, she said.
She singled out abolishing negative gearing, dealing with the cost of living and education as some of her partys priorities.
Senator Fatima Payman announced her new political party on Wednesday: Australias Voice
Australias Voice believes in a system where people come first. We reject the status quo that serves the powerful and forgets the people. Australias voice is here to build… It is a movement for a fairer more inclusive Australia. Australias Voice will never be silenced.
Mr Albanese took a swipe at Ms Payman in the pages of the Australian Financial Review earlier this week, saying she should contest the 2025 federal election, rather than wait until her term expires some three years later.
Senator Payman should test democratic support for her actions by contesting the next election herself under the banner of her new political party, he said. Ms Payman described Mr Albaneses attack as standover tactics.
It is understood Ms Payman will attempt to capitalise on growing dissatisfaction with the major parties by offering policies aimed at gaining votes from moderate Liberals, along with Labor and Greens voters.
Ms Payman was elected to a six-year term in 2022 during sweeping Labor victories in WA. Her tension with Labor was laid bare when she first decided to cross the floor over the Israel and Palestine conflict.
Initially, she received no more than a slap on the wrist, but her decision to appear on an unsanctioned ABC interview where she proudly said shed cross the floor again if she had her time over prompted the PM to intervene again.
She was suspended indefinitely from the party, and senior Labor ministers repeatedly said Ms Payman would be welcomed back into the fold if she started acting like a team player.
Labor sources say she was not being bullied, and that theyd be willing to forgive and forget.
But Ms Payman does not accept that what she did was a mistake. She voted with her conscience, she said, and on behalf of the rank and file Labor members she spoke with.
She said her actions reflect the sentiment in her community, and constituents supported her decision to put her career on the line to back her own conviction.
During her resignation press conference in July, Ms Payman said unlike her colleagues, she knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of injustice, later citing the death threats she and her family have received in recent weeks.
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.