A Muslim senator who sensationally left Labor over its handling of the war in Gaza has accused the party of treating her as a 'diversity hire'.
Senator Fatima Payman,29,claims she decided to leave the party last month as she felt she was continuously controlled and censored at 'every' public event.
The Afghanistan-born senator for Western Australia accused Labor of editing her speeches and silencing her view on the Middle East.
'Every move,every interaction,every event I went to,every speech I delivered was controlled,was reviewed,' she told Sky News on Monday.
'There comes a point where you lose your agency as an individual and you wonder,what am I doing here?'
Senator Payman accused Labor of only keeping her in the party to tick a 'diversity box' but said they weren't prepared to deal with 'diversity in thoughts and values and representation'.
'If parties do not recognise and appreciate and allow for voices of dissent and difference of views,then I don't think they're fit for purpose and fit to lead,' she said.
'In particular because modern day Australia looks very different to what it did 50 years ago,' she said.
Senator Payman is part of a wider group of Muslim Labor members in formerly safe seats who are beginning to turn against the party.
Senator Payman (pictured) claimed Labor only kept her in the party to tick a 'diversity box' but wasn't prepared to deal with 'diversity in thoughts and values and representation'
Senator Payman's family were refugees who fled to Pakistan from Taliban-held Afghanistan,before they joined other family members in Perth when she was about eight-years-old in 2003.
Senator Payman was elected to a six-year term in 2022 during sweeping Labor victories in Western Australia. She will serve the remaining four years as an independent.
Mr Albanese had reportedly privately told senator Payman that she was elected using Labor's platform,and urged her to quit the Senate entirely so the government could reappoint someone from within to the Senate position.
Western AustraliaAfghanistan
