Senator Fatima Payman’s next steps are ultimately her decision, her Labor colleagues say, as rumours swirl over her potential departure from the political party.
The West Australian was suspended from the Labor caucus after she crossed the floor to support a Greens motion on Palestinian statehood and vowed to do so again in the same circumstance.
She has described feeling isolated from her fellow party members after she was chastised by the prime minister, raising questions over her future political career.
Rumours have suggested she will could leave the Labor Party on Thursday.
But whether she makes the final leap is up to her, Labor MPs have said.
“That’s a choice for her to make,” Dan Repacholi told the Today Show.
“Fatima has been a great member of the Labor Party and a great senator, and she’s also been a great friend.
“I hope that she does not go, I hope that she’d come and talk to us and want to work together as a team and stays part of Labor.”
Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor echoed the sentiment but urged that any action taken should not fuel tension among Australian communities.
“I’ve been in Parliament now for more than 20 years, and I’m obliged – like every caucus colleague – to comply with those rules,” he told ABC.
“If a person feels they cannot, then they have to make a decision, there has to be consequences for not working as a team, but it’s a sad situation.”
As the next federal election looms, there has also been speculation that a Muslim party could run its own candidates and challenge Labor voter bases in places like Western Sydney.
However, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson warned the introduction of religiously-based parties would be a “retrograde step”.
“When we look at other countries around the world, have parties based on ethnicity or race or religion, and we worry about them,” he told Sky News.
“We worry about what that means for their social cohesion and their sense of unity, so I don’t think it would be a positive development.”
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham urged the government to take further action on Israel.
“The Albanese Government needs to come clean on the status of its support for Israel, which has repeatedly shifted and weakened despite terrorist groups still holding Israeli hostages, and seeking the destruction of Israel,” he said.
