Usman Khawaja accuses Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia from the very top’
The Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja has accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of “fuelling Islamophobia from the very top”.
During a press conference yesterday, Dutton predicted that if the Labor party retains government it would be a minority and “will include the Greens, it’ll include green teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from western Sydney, it will be a disaster”.
Khawaja responded to this in a post to X, and wrote:
As a Muslim who grew up in Western Sydney I find this comment from someone who is running for PM an absolute disgrace. Bigotry at its finest. Fueling Islamophobia from the very top.
Dutton’s office was contacted for a response and directed us to an interview he gave on the Today show earlier this morning. While not directly addressing this incident, Dutton was asked if he has a problem with religion-based parties and said:
I don’t have any problem with a party that has a religious view. My problem is not with somebody of Islamic faith – quite the opposite – not with somebody of Jewish faith. But when you say that your task is to, as a first order of priority, to support a Palestinian cause or a cause outside of Australia, that is a very different scenario. So, I think when that is the main cause, we have all sorts of problems and I just don’t see that in any other party in the country at the moment.
Key events
Sarah Basford Canales
Earlier this morning, Peter Dutton hopped on his usual Channel 9 Today Show slot with Bill Shorten.
Like every federal politician this morning, he was asked about Senator Fatima Payman’s decision to quit the Labor party yesterday and join the crossbench.
The 29-year-old first-time senator was indefinitely suspended from the Labor caucus this week for threatening to cross the floor again on votes for Palestinian statehood. On Thursday, she announced her resignation with a heavy heart but a clear conscience.
But a story in the Australian this morning has suggested unnamed “senior figures” within Labor are questioning her eligibility as senator due to being born in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
Dutton said the parliamentary eligibility crisis of 2017 and 2018 was “pretty red hot” and if the Labor party knew about Payman wasn’t “constitutionally valid to sit in the Parliament” that would be an outrage.
It’s pretty red hot if there is a constitutional issue the Labor party knew about it, so they’ve supported a member of parliament knowing that she wasn’t constitutionally valid to sit in the parliament – which I think is an outrage. That’s quite different than somebody who has a Section 44 issue. So, there’s that question to answer.
Shorten said the party’s Western Australian brand “would have checked that out”.
Sarah Basford Canales
Ley dismisses Khawaja claim that Dutton is ‘fuelling Islamophobia’
The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has dismissed claims by the Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja that Peter Dutton made Islamophobic remarks yesterday (see previous post).
Ley responded on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning:
Now on the matter of Usman Khawaja, he is a good guy and a great cricketer, but he’s wrong on this. I believe Australians don’t want to see religious independents. Our political system has always been secular, and it has welcomed all, and we don’t want any religious independents calling the shots in a minority Labor government, particularly under this weak and distracted prime minister, because this is all that news channels are talking about today, Fatima Payman, her citizenship.
Ley then turned to the issue of Senator Payman, who yesterday quit Labor to sit on the crossbench after finding herself at odds with the party’s inaction on recognising Palestinian statehood.
We’ve got a young woman who is claiming that she has been bullied out of the Labor party by the Labor party, and overnight this issue of her citizenship being raised, perhaps at the direction of the prime minister, yet again another attack on her.
Who is looking after her welfare? I asked the prime minister questions in the parliament this week and he just fobbed them off. I think it’s important as a young vulnerable Muslim woman in this parliament with the claims that she was making.
Usman Khawaja accuses Dutton of ‘fuelling Islamophobia from the very top’
The Australian cricket player Usman Khawaja has accused the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of “fuelling Islamophobia from the very top”.
During a press conference yesterday, Dutton predicted that if the Labor party retains government it would be a minority and “will include the Greens, it’ll include green teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from western Sydney, it will be a disaster”.
Khawaja responded to this in a post to X, and wrote:
As a Muslim who grew up in Western Sydney I find this comment from someone who is running for PM an absolute disgrace. Bigotry at its finest. Fueling Islamophobia from the very top.
Dutton’s office was contacted for a response and directed us to an interview he gave on the Today show earlier this morning. While not directly addressing this incident, Dutton was asked if he has a problem with religion-based parties and said:
I don’t have any problem with a party that has a religious view. My problem is not with somebody of Islamic faith – quite the opposite – not with somebody of Jewish faith. But when you say that your task is to, as a first order of priority, to support a Palestinian cause or a cause outside of Australia, that is a very different scenario. So, I think when that is the main cause, we have all sorts of problems and I just don’t see that in any other party in the country at the moment.
Sarah Basford Canales
Education minister ‘presumes’ Fatima Payman can continue as senator
The education minister, Jason Clare, says he “presumes” the now independent senator Fatima Payman will continue on as senator after reports emerged that senior Labor figures were questioning whether her Afghan citizenship could force her out.
On Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, Clare said he “honestly [didn’t] know the answer to that” and that he presumed she would continue to serve as an independent senator.
Clare continued:
More generally, I’m just really disappointed that this has all happened, because ultimately we all want the same thing; we all want the war to end in Gaza, we want the slaughter and the suffering to end in Gaza, and we want two countries established there, two states, two people who can live side by side in safety and security without what we’re seeing happening right now.
Sarah Basford Canales
Dating apps complying with new safety code could get ‘blue tick’, ministers say
As my colleague Josh Butler wrote about earlier, the federal government has announced a new industry code to keep users safer online from harassment and abuse.
Dating apps that sign up to the code, which so far have included Bumble and Grindr but not yet Tinder and Hinge, will be required to introduce harm detection systems, target users found to have breached policies, establish a transparent and prominent complaint reporting systems with support resources for users, and publish regular transparency reports about their actions.
This morning the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, and social services minister, Amanda Rishworth, spoke from Parliament House revealing there would also be a new ratings system for users to determine the level of safety features an app might have.
“We are confident that this has given a very clear indication to the sector that the government expects more,” Rowland said.
The communications minister said “some form” of blue tick system may be implemented to show users which dating apps are compliant with the new rules.
Rowland said the code would be up and running in three months and reviewed by the eSafety commissioner in nine months. Rishworth said:
These type of technological companies do rely on a social licence here in Australia and my message to those that haven’t signed up, is always encourage them seriously to think about signing up to this code. I think there is a public mood here in Australia that technological companies do have safety of Australian consumers, and particularly when it comes to violence gets women at the forefront of their mind … they don’t have to do it today. But look at it very seriously.
Government announces $50m to help unlock energy efficient equipment for small and medium businesses
The Albanese government has announced it will allocate $50m to support discounted loans for farmers, freight companies and other small and medium businesses buying energy efficient equipment.
The investment through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation would go towards discounted finance – worth $250m by the non-bank lender Metro – for EVs, rooftop solar and batteries, a statement said.
Farmers would also be able to access discounted finance for energy efficient farm and building machinery such as tractors, harvesters, earthmovers and cranes.
Climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen said:
Clean technologies like EVs, solar, batteries and electric machinery are a great way for businesses to save on energy bills and decarbonise.
Assistant climate change and energy minister Jenny McAllister said the discounted loans would mean savings on energy bills and the cost of financing:
We want to help small businesses across industries and across the country make every watt count. These lower cost energy performance upgrades mean more control over energy use and emissions, especially in hard-to-abate sectors.
UK election results
For those wishing to follow all the latest on the UK election results, you can follow our separate live blog below:
Keir Starmer is going to be the next UK prime minister, returning Labour to power and bringing an end to 14 years of Conservative rule. But who is he and what does he stand for? You can listen to more with the Full Story podcast here.
Payman ‘obviously passed eligibility to be elected’, Malarndirri McCarthy says
Labor senator and minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has spoken with ABC News Breakfast about Fatima Payman’s decision to quit Labor.
McCarthy said Payman “brings so much to the caucus” and for “those of us who do call her a really close friend, I think that this has been a very sad time”:
But I also know that Senator Payman is very firm in the direction that she would like to go, and I sincerely wish her all the best.
McCarthy was asked about a story in the Australian newspaper that says senior Labor figures are raising Payman’s Afghan citizenship as a risk to her remaining in the Senate because of a potential breach of section 44 of the constitution.
McCarthy responded:
It’s unfortunate that that’s actually on the front page of the newspaper today.
She said it was “really unfortunate that this is a focus” and, when pressed that it had been raised by members of her party, responded:
I’m not sure if it’s just party members – it could be rumours and innuendo. What I will say is this: that the Australian Labor party has a vetting process that is very clear about our eligibility, and Senator Payman obviously passed that in order to be elected.
‘I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks hold,’ Fatima Payman says
Wrapping up the interview, Fatima Payman flagged what she was looking towards in the future:
I made the decision yesterday morning [to quit the party] so it’s a lot to take in. It’s a lot to plan what my party policy – or if I’m going to establish a party policy – what that’s gonna look like.
This is an evolving space, it’s very exciting. Definitely at 29 making such a huge decision and now really excited to go back home and reunite with my West Australians and ask them how I can best represent them …
In saying that there’s going to be a period of grief, if you’d like to say – leaving my Labor political family isn’t going to be an easy time, but I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks hold.
Payman told colleagues ‘in confidence’ she was praying for guidance on Gaza motion
Patricia Karvelas asked Fatima Payman to clarify what she meant, when she told Labor colleagues she was praying for guidance on how to vote on the Gaza motion.
At yesterday’s press conference, when asked about this, Payman said she was “offended or insulted [at the idea] that just because I am a visibly Muslim woman I only care about Muslim issues.”
Speaking this morning, Payman said:
When I told them that I would be praying and seeking guidance from God, that was in confidence and I did not expect that they would go around telling people, almost in a condescending, ridiculing why like, “Oh, look at this one. She’s praying to this almighty being.”
It was something serious that I had to spend time reflecting, and everyone has their own ways of coming to a decision. I didn’t fully have an idea of how I decided to – I was on the Senate floor, making that decision. So for my colleagues to, I don’t know, make it seem like it’s very ridiculous that this person has to depend on a high being, like that’s personal to me …
And plus we pray every single morning in the chamber, so to just single me out in a situation like this is poor form.
‘I’ve received such an overwhelming amount of support’
Host Patricia Karvelas: “If it just said on the last election Senate paper, ‘Fatima Payman: independent’, do you think you would have got elected?”
Fatima Payman: “I can’t speculate what would have happened.”
Karvelas: “It’s pretty unlikely, right?”
Payman: “Yes, but a genocide wasn’t taking place, Patricia.”
She continued:
I’ve received such an overwhelming amount of support over the last few weeks from people in Western Australia who want to see the values of fairness, justice and equality upheld. And that’s made me realise that I need to be that independent voice for Western Australians and young people without boundaries and limitations.
‘I had not made the decision to leave the party until yesterday morning’
Fatima Payman was asked why she met political strategist Glenn Druery days before officially announcing she would quit the Labor party.
Shesaid she had decided to leave the Labor party only yesterday, because on Wednesday during question time the prime minister flagged that he expected her to make an announcement.
She told ABC Radio:
I’ve met Glenn Druery through the members of the community in Sydney, among many other people that I had met over the last week and a half. When the possibility of crossing the floor was brought to me, I understood what that would mean as the consequence of potentially being expelled and when one has to make a career-changing decision … making sure that I’ve got all my Is dotted and Ts crossed is very important to get all the information to see what all the options are.
But in saying that, I had not made the decision to leave the party until yesterday morning and I hold firm to that.
Payman says Labor should embrace dissenting voices
Senator Fatima Payman said diversity “comes with unique experiences”, and that diversity of thought and views “needs to be accepted”:
Dissenting voices within the ranks need to be heard. If the Labor party wants to continue representing modern-day Australia, they really need to embrace the differences that are going to be voiced within their ranks and perhaps even allow those conscience votes from time to time. Because what Australia is looking like today is very different than what it was 20, 30 years ago.
(Katy Gallagher later responded to this, and you can read that here.)
Fatima Payman pushed on ‘tone deaf’ comment
Circling back to Fatima Payman’s interview on ABC Radio, when she said she “wholeheartedly” stood by her decision to quit the Labor party yesterday.
Payman was asked about a comment she made during yesterdays’s announcement that she was quitting the party, when she said:
Unlike my colleagues, I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of injustice.
Payman was asked: “Some Labor MPs have said they feel like that was tone deaf, do you accept that?”
She said “everyone’s got their own story, and I appreciate that”, and continued:
In my situation, being a daughter of a refugee, coming from a war-torn country, having seen devastation and experienced it – even if it was second hand through the trauma that my family has gone through, and obviously my dad’s experience, travelling the ocean, in a boat coming to Australia – these are experiences that shape an individual’s perspective growing up and experiences as a young woman trying to adjust into a new society …
Those were experiences that were unique to me and injustices … perhaps one of them being expected to just accept things as they are when I’m experiencing a difference in treatment in a workplace, for example – whereas, you know, an Anglo-Saxon colleague can just get away with something I have to prove myself, I have to work extra hard.
Asked if this happened in the Labor caucus, Payman said:
I would say that it’s happened across my many roles prior to even being in the Labor caucus.
‘We argue, we agree, and ultimately we land on a position’
Host Patricia Karvelas asks: Fatima Payman told me that if Labor wants to continue as a party to represent modern Australia, you’re going to need to allow MPs to cross the floor in the future. Is that worth considering?
Katy Gallagher:
I disagree with that, and I think the caucus disagrees with that.
I mean, we have our process. So we have caucus committees, we have caucus itself, we have factional meetings where members of the Labor party argue and contest the ideas that are before us …
People bring their diversity and their own experience into those forums. We argue, we agree, and ultimately we land on a position and that is how it works. That is how us as individuals, you know, stick together with a caucus position – it is agitated and argued over and debated in all the way that you would expect politicians to, because not everyone has the same view. But once we’ve landed on that position, that is the position that we stand for in the parliament and vote for.
‘If it was me, I would not sit in the Senate’
Katy Gallagher says if she herself couldn’t sit in parliament as anything other than a Labor senator, she would leave the parliament:
I think [Fatima Payman] was elected as a Labor senator. The matter of whether or not she sits in the Senate is a matter for her and I’m telling you, if it was me, I would not sit in the Senate.
Q: Would you urge her to quit?
No … She’s made it clear she’s going to stay as an independent. I don’t think there’s anything that comes from her former colleagues telling her to remove yourself from the parliament.
‘She’s made her decision’
Q: Is the door really still open for Fatima Payman to rejoin Labor? Is that now over?
Katy Gallagher:
Well, I think she’s made her decision, she’s made it clear. She is no longer a Labor senator. She doesn’t want to participate in the Labor party and she is going to remain in the Senate as an independent, so I think that ends the story there, really.
Government will ‘have to work a little bit harder’ to get legislation through Senate, Gallagher says
Asked if it will be harder for the government to pass legislation now that Fatima Payman is no longer a Labor senator, Katy Gallagher says:
Yes, I think it will. You know, instead of needing 13 votes to get legislation or any matter dealt within the Senate, we will now require 14. So yes, it will make that harder.
Speaking with ABC RN, Gallagher said she was “really sad” Payman had made the decision to leave the party”
I think the caucus was hoping Senator Payman would stay but that hasn’t happened. So we deal with reality in the parliament. The reality is the Senate’s always a difficult chamber. We have to work hard to get anything through and now we’ll just have to work a little bit harder.
Questions raised over Payman’s citizenship
Katy Gallagher is asked about a story in the Australian newspaper, stating senior Labor figures are raising Fatima Payman’s Afghan citizenship as a risk to her remaining in the Senate because of a potential breach of section 44 of the constitution.
Gallagher says she has “no idea about that”:
I’ve seen the headlines in [the Australian] and I have no understanding about any of those issues … You know, the ALP vetting processes are pretty tight these days, but I have no idea where that stories come from.