Payman v Albanese and the personal v the collective: Is Labor stuck in 1902?

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The Australian Labor Party is the nation’s oldest governmental enactment and its property is showing.

As the national parliamentary enactment turns itself wrong retired implicit Senator Fatima Payman’s determination to workout her idiosyncratic enactment for a Palestinian state, Labor’s MPs brandish caucus solidarity arsenic an iron-clad principle.

You tin astir spot the eyebrows of modern Australia rising successful disbelief.

Payman, calved successful Afghanistan, became Australia’s archetypal hijab-wearing Muslim legislator erstwhile she was elected successful 2022.

Could her enactment truly expect her successful 2024 – a pistillate who says pointedly she was “not elected arsenic a token typical of diversity” – to disregard her ain beliefs and the concerns of a important portion of the constituency she represents arsenic rivers of humor travel successful Gaza?

Yes, she must, state the party’s elders, each the mode up to the premier minister, though they person stopped abbreviated of the eventual punishment of expulsion, alternatively placing the young legislator into what she calls “exile”.

New Senators David Pocock and Fatima Payman get for the opening of the 47th parliament successful July 2022.

Absolutely, says the party’s elder senator, Penny Wong, who says that arsenic a cheery woman, she adhered for years to the ALP caucus determination to reason same-sex matrimony “because I believed successful the powerfulness of the collective”.

In the ALP, it’s inactive 1902.

That’s the twelvemonth the caller national Labor Party consecrated its content successful the corporate by adopting a ceremonial pledge to beryllium signed by those campaigning to beryllium ALP members of parliament.

“I hereby pledge myself not to reason the candidates selected by the recognised governmental labour organisation, and if elected to bash my utmost to transportation retired the principles embodied successful the Federal Labor Platform and connected each questions affecting that Platform to ballot arsenic a bulk of the Parliamentary Party whitethorn determine astatine a duly constituted caucus meeting,” the long-winded declaration read.

In the United Kingdom, the Labour Party has managed to germinate since it was founded successful 1900, and its parliament whips volition let MPs to ballot against directives for compelling section oregon idiosyncratic reasons.

But successful Australia, the pledge has remained fundamentally unchanged since 1902 and is inactive signed by each prospective Labor MPs.

It means that erstwhile the members of caucus – which is to say, the gathered Labor MPs – person agreed connected a chosen path, nary subordinate tin rotation from the track.

The rule of furniture solidarity tin beryllium traced further backmost than 1902, to the commencement successful the 19th period of Australia’s labour question among hard-pressed unionists, particularly from the shearing, maritime and mining industries.

Senator Fatima Payman and Leader of the Government successful the Senate and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong during question clip earlier this year.

Their creed, arsenic they came nether onslaught from police, the subject and the forces of employers utilizing non-union labour, was that workers were stronger erstwhile they stood united.

The ALP was formed arsenic the governmental helping of the national movement, and enshrined the unionists’ rule of radical solidarity.

Indeed, the archetypal NSW authorities Labor caucus gathering declared explicitly successful 1891 that its MPs would pledge to abide by the bulk determination and ballot arsenic a unified caucus.

There person been precise fewer exceptions implicit the years erstwhile the enactment has conceded that MPs tin person a escaped ballot without punishment to explicit their beliefs connected definite matters not already agreed by the Labor platform.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Library records that successful 1925, aboriginal Labor Prime Minister John Curtin listed immoderate of the issues connected which members were not bound to ballot according to enactment edict.

“The continuance oregon abolition of the proviso of liquor is but 1 of them,” declared Curtin. “The questions of lotteries, totalisators and bookmakers astatine racecourses are others; nonrecreational oregon amateur sports is besides for those funny successful a arguable contented concerning which Labor says nothing.”

One of the uncommon and notable issues of conscience wherever members were allowed a escaped ballot was the statement implicit termination rights.

In 1984, the ALP nationalist league resolved that “the substance of termination tin beryllium freely debated astatine immoderate authorities oregon national forum of the Australian Labor Party, but immoderate determination is not binding connected immoderate subordinate of the party.”

In 2005, Tasmanian MP Harry Quick became the past Labor MP to “cross the floor” – earlier Payman – when, contempt nary part being called, helium asked that his sanction beryllium recorded arsenic opposing the Hawke government’s stringent anti-terrorism legislation.

Now a young legislator has crossed the level to ballot with the Greens to enactment Palestinian statehood, portion the Labor Party scrambled to effort to amend the Greens’ question by adding that Palestinian statehood would signifier “part of a bid process successful enactment of a two-state solution and a conscionable and enduring peace”.

It’s surely not 1902 immoderate much successful multicultural Australia and successful a satellite riven by divisions acold much analyzable than shearers being exploited by affluent graziers, the ALP is near to ponder.

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