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Australia has a new political party - "Australia's Voice"

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member

Fatima Payman has launched a new political party "Australia's Voice".

It looks too early in the party's formation for policy, but key themes of interest seemed to be;
- recognising the Palestinian State
- An indigenous voice to parliament
- Better funding for public education
- Helping struggling Australians to own their own home.

I'll personally continue to support the Labor party although I wish Payman success with her goals and will watch her party with interest.

In the unlikely event that any of the traditional custodians of the land wander into RF I would be interested to here their thoughts on her incorporating the name of the "Voice" into her party name considering the significance I understand it to have for them as well in my view.
 

Tomef

Well-Known Member

Fatima Payman has launched a new political party "Australia's Voice".

It looks too early in the party's formation for policy, but key themes of interest seemed to be;
- recognising the Palestinian State
- An indigenous voice to parliament
- Better funding for public education
- Helping struggling Australians to own their own home.

I'll personally continue to support the Labor party although I wish Payman success with her goals and will watch her party with interest.

In the unlikely event that any of the traditional custodians of the land wander into RF I would be interested to here their thoughts on her incorporating the name of the "Voice" into her party name considering the significance I understand it to have for them as well in my view.
Bit ambitious to be claiming to be Australia's 'voice'.
 

Audie

Veteran Member

Fatima Payman has launched a new political party "Australia's Voice".

It looks too early in the party's formation for policy, but key themes of interest seemed to be;
- recognising the Palestinian State
- An indigenous voice to parliament
- Better funding for public education
- Helping struggling Australians to own their own home.

I'll personally continue to support the Labor party although I wish Payman success with her goals and will watch her party with interest.

In the unlikely event that any of the traditional custodians of the land wander into RF I would be interested to here their thoughts on her incorporating the name of the "Voice" into her party name considering the significance I understand it to have for them as well in my view.
I will be impressed when they call for an
Aborigine state.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
At the risk of derailing the thread, what precisely does "recognising the Palestinian State" mean?

It's probably too early to tell since detailed policy hasn't been provided in my view.

That's reasonable. What does it mean to you?

From Wikipedia :: Fatima Payman

In a May 2024 speech to the Senate, Payman broke ranks with many members of the governing Labor Party and accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, criticised the Australian Government for failing to sufficiently respond to Israel's alleged war crimes in the Israel–Hamas war, and called for sanctions and divestment against Israel. She concluded her speech by remarking "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".​

I'm not a big fan of the above, but it might be mainly an issue of semantics. I look forward to learning more about her, including her comments on October 7th, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
 

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member

Fatima Payman has launched a new political party "Australia's Voice".

It looks too early in the party's formation for policy, but key themes of interest seemed to be;
- recognising the Palestinian State
- An indigenous voice to parliament
- Better funding for public education
- Helping struggling Australians to own their own home.

I'll personally continue to support the Labor party although I wish Payman success with her goals and will watch her party with interest.

In the unlikely event that any of the traditional custodians of the land wander into RF I would be interested to here their thoughts on her incorporating the name of the "Voice" into her party name considering the significance I understand it to have for them as well in my view.

I saw this on the news yesterday. Seems to be a party of 1 at the moment. It will be interesting to see how many candidates she can attract.
 

danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
That's reasonable. What does it mean to you?

From Wikipedia :: Fatima Payman

In a May 2024 speech to the Senate, Payman broke ranks with many members of the governing Labor Party and accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, criticised the Australian Government for failing to sufficiently respond to Israel's alleged war crimes in the Israel–Hamas war, and called for sanctions and divestment against Israel. She concluded her speech by remarking "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".​

I'm not a big fan of the above, but it might be mainly an issue of semantics. I look forward to learning more about her, including her comments on October 7th, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
To be honest I don't have a clear cut idea of what a Palestinian State should exactly look like as part of a 2 state solution. I would probably leave that up to U.N negotiators to work out.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
To be honest I don't have a clear cut idea of what a Palestinian State should exactly look like as part of a 2 state solution. I would probably leave that up to U.N negotiators to work out.
I suspect that the world could forge two homelands in which two peoples have every chance of living a good life with dignity. I question whether those two peoples have the will or, at this point, the strength.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Bit ambitious to be claiming to be Australia's 'voice'.
Yes, I was wondering how they would determine what Australia would say if it were speaking with one voice.

Not that I disapprove of the sentiment.
 

Tomef

Well-Known Member
Yes, I was wondering how they would determine what Australia would say if it were speaking with one voice.

Not that I disapprove of the sentiment.
Do countries ever speak with one voice? I think that's just the fantasy of autocrats.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Do countries ever speak with one voice? I think that's just the fantasy of autocrats.
I think so, too.

However, I think the sentiment of this particular catch-phrase is focused on representing the needs of the people as a whole, and not those of the politicians or individual groups within the whole. Which to my mind is the fundamental purpose of the establishment of government. Even if many of the people being governed disagree.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Political parties often - arguably usually even - have ambitious or downright pretentious names. Many end up being ironical without necessarily meaning to.

I take it that there are well-known precedents for people or groups claiming to speak with the "voice of Australia", @danieldemol ?

Is it an expression associated with the recognition of the existence, rights and contributions of Aboriginal Australian people?

I do acknowledge that there is a danger of abusing the expression to attempt to disregard any dissent or to present rivals as less than honorable. But that is just way too dependent on context for me to have any firm opinions on appropriateness without some research.

I do mistrust Muslim voices in politics, as one would expect. It is almost instinctive to me now. That may be unfair from me in this specific case; of course a Muslim would be somewhat inclined to voice support for the recognition of Palestine, particularly if she is distanced enough to be optimistic about the so-called "Two State Solution".

In any case, it is probably good that a young Muslim now leads her own Party, with a distinct voice and identity from Labor, so that people can more easily compare, contrast and more freely choose whether to support individual policy proposals from both groups.

I personally do not see Islam as salvageable, but the most constructive way of ending it for good is almost certainly by allowing it to be expressed and challenged as often as possible.

Apparently there was once an Australian Voice Party that was very anti-Islamic, and Indigenous Australians have used the term "voice" at least somewhat often and criticized the choice of name for this party.

Is those problems? Quite possibly not. Fatima herself seems to disregard the previous Party's short existence as a problem - and indeed, it seems to have been more of a blip than a memory, and I don't think there will be much opportunity for undue confusion of the Indigenous cause with the Middle East situation.
 
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danieldemol

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I take it that there are well-known precedents for people or groups claiming to speak with the "voice of Australia", @danieldemol ?
I had to google it and all I got was one link;

The article is behind a pay wall, but I could glean from the headline that there was an anti-Islamic party with the same name, however I did not know about it till I googled it.
Is it an expression associated with the recognition of the existence, rights and contributions of Aboriginal Australian people?
The "Voice" was a part of our indigenous voice to parliament referendum. When questioned as to whether the party name was a reference or coincidental Fatima came across to me as ambiguous in her answer.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
I had to google it and all I got was one link;

The article is behind a pay wall, but I could glean from the headline that there was an anti-Islamic party with the same name, however I did not know about it till I googled it.

Apparently Fatima does not feel that this is much of a bother. Given the available evidence, I have to agree.


The "Voice" was a part of our indigenous voice to parliament referendum. When questioned as to whether the party name was a reference or coincidental Fatima came across to me as ambiguous in her answer.

I can't help but wonder if she is pursuing a parallel with the presumed status of "native people" of the current day Palestinians.

But that is probably not a big deal either.
 

oldbadger

Skanky Old Mongrel!
At the risk of derailing the thread, what precisely does "recognising the Palestinian State" mean?
Keeping it simple some countries DO recognise 'Palestinian State' and others don't, thus:-
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › International_recogniti...

As of June 2024, the State of Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations, or just over 75% of all UN ...

............................
But the others include:-

The change in status was described by The Independent as "de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine". Voting "no" were Israel, Canada, the Czech Republic, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Panama and the United States.
 

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