The treatment of Senator Fatima Payman by the Labor Party shines a light on the brutal nature of party politics

Is this really how we want to run the country?

I guess most people can understand the basic concept, that if you join a club or a party or an organisation, you are obliged to play by the rules of that club or party or organisation; that in agreeing to join, you give up a certain level of autonomy and you don’t get to complain about being disciplined if you break the rules.

It’s their party and they’ll decry if they want to.

Even with that commonsense idea front of brain, there is still something brutal about the way the Labor Party is treating Senator Fatima Payman for crossing the floor in the Senate on a vote about recognising Palestine. Their decision to ban her permanently from caucusing with the party is tantamount to kicking her out of the party, with the cowardly twist that it puts the onus on Payman herself to decide whether she formally quits. As Karen Middleton writes in The Guardian:

Choosing this course, rather than formally expelling her, serves two purposes for the prime minister and the Labor party. It avoids the risk …