Fatima Payman could ‘flame out’, minister Bill Shorten warns, as Greens ‘proud’ of ex-Labor senator

Ex-Labor senator Fatima Payman could “flame out”, Government minister Bill Shorten has warned, claiming there was nothing else the Prime Minister could have done to prevent the West Australian’s defection from the party. The comments came as the Opposition and the Greens both criticised Labor for its management of Senator Payman, with Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie describing it as a “problem of the Prime Minister’s own making”. Senator Payman, who announced on Thursday she would quit the Labor Party to sit as an independent over the Government’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war, revealed she had taken advice from “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery in the lead-up to her departure. NDIS Minister Bill Shorten took a veiled swipe at Senator Payman, saying those who took guidance from Mr Druery “ultimately flame out”. “There was nothing else the Prime Minister could have done,” Mr Shorten told Sky News. “I know that for me and most of my colleagues we understand we were elected under the Labor flag, as charming and as charismatic as individual candidates are people vote for parties quite often and if I decided I’d leave the Labor Party, which I never will, I would resign my seat. “The senate is littered with people who’ve taken advanced advice from Glen Dreury, sometimes they get up, ultimately they flame out.” Senator Payman’s future position remains uncertain, with questions remaining over whether she will form her own party — given the advice sought from Mr Druery. Amid questions over approaches from the Greens, party deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi said she had not asked Senator Payman to join the minor party, but said she was “proud” of her first-term colleague. “It comes down to how Muslim women are stereotyped in this country. How they are boxed into this person who can’t make up their own minds… that they are led by someone else,” she said.“Senator Payman, as far as I can see it, made this decision on her moral compass, following her moral compass, listening to the community, and actually looking at what the situation in Israel is at the moment.“I’m very proud of her as another Muslim woman for standing strong on her convictions.”Over the past few weeks, Senator Faruqi said she had “been in touch” with Senator Payman. “I think being the other brown Muslim woman in that Senate, I can understand far better than most what Senator Payman has been going through. Not just over the last few weeks, but just in general,” she said. “People are even more angry now. The only voice in the Labor Party who has kind of spoken out against this issue, has been treated the way that Senator Payman has been treated.” Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said Mr Albanese’s failure of foreign policy which has lead to the defection. “(It was) his weakness when anti-Semitic behaviour has been evidenced at the Opera House, on suburban streets or university campus and most embarrassingly at the parliament house itself last week,” she said. “This guy has been left floundering and focused more on internal factional politics and, you know, constructing his foreign policy through the lens of how it will impact western Sydney.“I think it’s not just the Islamic issue in western Sydney and indeed northwest Melbourne… Labor has taken these communities for granted for a long time, failed to invest in critical infrastructure and whilst you know, seeing the population pressures, most evidenced in those suburbs.”