Senator Fatima Payman took to Reddit on Wednesday night to answer questions from the general public.
Asked about her thoughts on the coalition opposing the Voice to Parliament, Senator Payman replied: “The Voice is about recognition and consultation, and it’s a shame the Liberals haven’t seized this opportunity to go on this path of reconciliation.
“Peter Dutton has met with Albo seven times since Garma and never made suggestions to the constitutional amendments. He says he supports constitutional recognition, but if that was true, he would have supported Ken Wyatt’s proposal when they were in government.”
She added: “The wording we’ve arrived at is after months of extensive consultation with First Nations people and constitutional experts – I don’t buy that Peter Dutton knows better than all those people. He doesn’t know better than Indigenous communities.
“Sadly I think this puts them on the wrong side of history, it’s clear they haven’t learnt from the Federal, NSW, or Aston elections.”
Another person asked how the Voice ‘yes’ campaign counters the Coalition’s scattergun opposition to the Voice, to which the Senator replied: “The No campaign is the Coalition’s attempt to divide the nation. I won’t be distracted and neither will the grassroots movement.”
A question about what Labor offers young voters as compared to the Greens prompted the response: “We take young people seriously, having a Minister for Youth in Anne Aly and she has established the Youth Advisory Council!
As a party of government, Labor offers young people a real opportunity to get involved and influence decision making at all levels of government.
“At the end of the day, the Greens cannot form government and so can never implement their policies and often stand in the way of progress.”
MacchuWA asked whether the RBA in its current incarnation and with its current powers is still fit for purpose. Senator Payman replied: “I understand that a lot of Australians are being impacted by the rising interest rates.
“I know the Treasurer has received the RBA review report, which will be released later this month so stay tuned!”
Jeffo12345 asked what motivated her to be a co-convenor for the Parliamentary Friendship Group for An Australian Head of State, to which she Senator Payman said: “It’s important we acknowledge the full history of this nation, and our identity moving forward should be our own story.
“It’s about representing modern day Australia, it’s important we acknowledge how much the demographics have changed from 100 years ago.
“It makes sense to celebrate our diversity, multiculturalism, and unique identity and our head of state should reflect this.”
Ausmomo asked what changes the federal government had made to mutual obligations and to the rate of Jobseeker payments. Fatima replied: “The focus of our government has been to address the cost of living for all Australians, whether that be through cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, wage growth for minimum wage workers, and Fee Free TAFE.
“I acknowledge that there is still a lot for work to do in this space, and we will keep working hard to try and take pressure of Australians.”
On a question about changes to childcare, she replied: “Our cheaper childcare comes into effect from July 1, 96% of families will benefit!
“We are also addressing workforce issues through our Fee Free TAFE courses, early childhood education courses are included.
“This will ensure more parents can return to the workforce, which will predominately be mums!”
Asked about movement around awards and wages, Senator Payman said: “We are funding a pay rise for aged care workers, and our IR reforms are fixing the broken bargaining system.
“It was exciting to be a part of the Secure Jobs, Better Pay inquiry where we spoke to industry groups, unions, advocates for workers about this overdue reform. This will give power back to workers to help improve their wages and conditions.”
Asked how she felt about the numerous Western Australia Secession movements and the Western Australia A LNP supporting such movements, Senator Payman replied: “there aren’t many Western Australia LNP members left so I don’t think it would have an impact.
“We are definitely stronger being a part of the federation, and I love representing this beautiful state in the federal parliament.”
The full text of the Reddit AMA, can be found at https://old.reddit.com/r/AustralianPolitics/comments/12cbith/ama_fatima_payman_labor_senator_for_western/
Craig Hill is a Brisbane-based Social Justice Campaigner, Writer, Teacher and Business Consultant. He has campaigned for social justice in Australia, promoted human rights in China and worked with the homeless in Honolulu. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Education and a degree in Management.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
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