By Berk Kutay Gokmen
ISTANBUL (AA) – Fatima Payman, an Australian lawmaker and former member of the ruling Labor Party, blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday for what she called "coerce and control" tactics, accusing the two-time premier of "bullying."
Payman, who joined the Labor Party in 2014, was ousted by Albanese after supporting an opposition motion to recognize the Palestinian state last year.
However, earlier on August 11, Albanese announced that Canberra had decided to recognize Palestine at the upcoming UN General Assembly meeting in September.
“For the past year, the prime minister has used the levers of power to punish dissent. Some might call it coercive control. I call it political retribution. I didn't cross the floor on a whim. I crossed it on a matter of principle,” 30-year-old Payman told the parliament, referring to her decision last year to support the Greens party motion on recognizing Palestine.
“The very same principle the government has now come to support 14 months later,” said the Western Australia lawmaker, referring to Canberra’s move to recognize Palestine as an independent state to the chagrin of Israel.
However, she accused the government of “excluding” her from “key processes and stripping off the resources every senator needs to do their job.”
“I've been treated more harshly than those sitting on the opposite side of the chamber,” said Payman, whose family fled war-torn Afghanistan more than two decades ago.
“When I was a schoolgirl, I had my hijab ripped off from my head by bullies that didn't shake me then, and bullying won't shake me now,” the lawmaker said, addressing the treasury benches.
Payman said she has not been assigned advisors since July of last year, calling it "a deliberate and targeted decision by our prime minister."
“This is the action of a vindictive Prime Minister (Albanese) who has disadvantaged Western Australians by weakening my ability to represent them. I'm the only West Australian to be able to put the people over any party,” said the lawmaker.
“I'm the only independent senator able to actually stand up for the interests of the great state I represent, but the prime minister is stopping me from doing my job effectively,” said Payman, according to a video recording of her speech.
While Albanese was absent from the parliament when Payman spoke, she said: “If the prime minister were here in this chamber, I would ask him, is this leadership, or is this a page torn from the Trump playbook?”
“Does he understand how this looks petty and authoritarian, a political bully trying to coerce and control?”
“I am a young Australian Muslim woman of color. I've been bullied out of Afghanistan. I will not be bullied by this man,” the emotionally furious Payman told the lawmakers.