Senator Fatima Payman, who announced on Thursday she was quitting her party, has now officially joined that well-known club of “Labor rats” – those who have been thrown overboard or jumped ship.
Notable past members include then prime minister Billy Hughes, expelled during the first world war conscription crisis, and Joe Lyons, a minister during the great depression, when Labor fractured.
But the “club” has never had someone like Payman, a religious, hijab-wearing young Muslim woman who reflects one slice of the modern, increasingly diverse Australian community.
