Fatima Payman

Fatima Payman (Persian: فاطمه پیمان; born c. 1995) is an Afghan-born Australian politician[1] who is serving in the Australian Senate as a Labor Party senator for Western Australia.[2] She became the Australian Parliament's first hijab-wearing Muslim woman after being elected in the 2022 federal election.[3]

Senator
Fatima Payman
Payman c. 2022
Senator for Western Australia
Assumed office
1 July 2022
Preceded byBen Small
Personal details
Bornc. 1995
Kabul, Afghanistan
Political partyLabor

Early life and family

Payman's grandfather was a member of parliament in Afghanistan.[4]

Fatima Payman was born in Kabul, Afghanistan around 1995,[5][6] the eldest of four children,[3] and fled the Taliban for Pakistan with her family when she was five years old.[1] Her father arrived in Australia via boat in 1999 and spent time in immigration detention, after which he worked as a security guard, kitchen hand and taxi driver, so he could afford to sponsor the migration of his wife and four children. The rest of the family arrived in Australia in 2003, when she was eight, and settled in Perth.[7] Once in Australia, her mother started a business giving driving lessons.[7] In 2018, her father died of leukemia.[7]

Education and career

Payman graduated from the Australian Islamic College Perth, where she was head girl, in 2013.[8] She studied pharmacy, planning to head towards medicine, but instead got involved in politics.[9] She has a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and sociology and a Graduate Diploma of Pharmaceutical Sciences.[10]

Payman joined the United Workers Union in 2018 as an organiser[1] and was also president of Young Labor WA, both organisations she joined due to the exploitation she saw her father experience in various jobs.[9] She has also worked as a program coordinator at the Edmund Rice Centre WA and as electorate officer for Pierre Yang.[10] She is a board member of the Australian Islamic College.[11]

Political career

Payman was third on the Labor party's ticket for the Senate at the 2022 Australian federal election and thus not expected to win a seat. She intended to use the 2022 election campaign as "practice" before seriously running in 2025.[9]

Payman was naturalised as an Australian citizen in 2005, although this did not automatically revoke her Afghan citizenship. As Section 44 of the Constitution of Australia requires all candidates to be a citizen of Australia only, she approached the Afghanistan embassy in Australia in October 2021 to renounce her Afghan citizenship. The embassy advised her that they could not finalise the renunciation because it had no contact with the new Taliban government that seized control of the country in August. The Labor Party received legal advice that Payman was nevertheless still eligible to be elected, as she had taken all reasonable steps to renounce her Afghan citizenship, noting that the Afghan Embassy in Australia did not even know whether the various departments and officers who would be tasked with processing her application in Kabul even exist following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.[12]

Payman won the sixth and final Senate vacancy after a swing of 6.92% to Labor and a 9.24% swing against the Liberal party in Western Australian Senate voting.[2] Her election was the first time the ALP won three Senate seats in WA since the Senate had been expanded in 1984.[13] Elected at age 27, she is third youngest Senator in Australian history and will be the youngest serving Senator.[2][9] She has said her priorities will include "getting more people from diverse backgrounds involved in politics, improving early childhood education, and climate change."[2] She has also said she wants to "normalise hijab wearing".[1]

References
  1. 'I want to normalise hijab wearing': WA's newest Labor senator on making history. The Guardian (Report). 2022.
  2. Fatima Payman claims sixth WA Senate seat for Labor as Michaelia Cash reinstated (Report). ABC News. 2022.
  3. 'Making history today': Fatima Payman becomes parliament's first hijab-wearing Muslim woman (Report). SBS News. 2022.
  4. Refugee Senate hopeful seizes opportunity (Report). 7News. 2022.
  5. "Editorial: An election result for modern Australia". The West Australian. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  6. jomhornews.com (2022-06-20). "جمهور - زن افغانستانی سناتور استرالیا شد". خبرگزاری جمهور (in Persian). Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  7. Fatima Payman - Labor Candidate for Senate (Report). 7News. 2021.
  8. "Australian Islamic College Perth congratulates Sr. Fatima Payman". Australian Islamic College Perth.
  9. Hastie, Hamish (23 June 2022). "The story of Australia's first hijab-wearing Muslim senator – and why she's looking forward to meeting Pauline Hanson". WA Today. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  10. "Fatima Payman for the Senate". Emily's List Australia.
  11. "School Board". Australian Islamic College.
  12. Taliban takeover prevents Labor Senate hopeful from renouncing Afghan citizenship (Report). 7News. 2022.
  13. "Senate Results". abc.net.au. Retrieved 2022-07-06.
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