From pledge to purge

The continuing story of Senator Payman and the way in which solidarity can turn into intolerance

Labor’s own federal platform, assembled at a Sydney conference in 1900, was a modest affair that left parliamentarians a free hand on the fiscal issue, although the Melbourne Trades Hall Council demanded that Victorian Labor candidates ‘be pledged to a Protectionist Policy’.

The federal platform committed Labor to fight for one adult, one vote, the total exclusion of coloured and other undesirable races, and old-age pensions.

—Frank Bongiorno, Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia

In his semi-regular email newsletter, electoral commentator Andrew Catsaras offered a summary of the Senator Payman story that I think many would relate to:

Labor Senator Fatima Payman is uncomfortable with the policy position of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

The ALP has strict rules about members voting.

The Senator, on this occasion, cannot abide by those rules.

The ALP cannot accept her position.

The Senator cannot accept the Party's position.

An irreconcilable difference. 

The Senator resign…