‘Let's see you dance on the table': Fatima Payman reports senior male parliamentary colleague over comments
Senator Fatima Payman has reported a male parliamentary colleague to the parliament's workplace complaints service, after claiming she was subjected to inappropriate comments at a function.
The ABC's Triple J Hack program reported on Wednesday that Payman, the former Labor senator who now sits as an independent, had made a complaint about a senior colleague who 'had had too many drinks' and made comments such as 'let's get some wine into you and see you dance on the table'.
Hack reported that the complaint stems from a social function Payman attended as part of official parliamentary business, and characterised the alleged subject of the complaint as an 'older male parliamentary colleague'. Payman said she had made a formal complaint about the incident through the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service.
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The full interview is set to be broadcast on Wednesday evening.
Guardian Australia has contacted Payman's office for comment, as well as the PWSS.
Hack reported that Payman viewed the comments as sexually suggestive, as well as being insensitive due to her being a Muslim woman who did not consume alcohol.
'I don't drink and I don't need to be made … to feel left out because you do,' she said, according to Hack.
'I told this colleague, 'Hey, I'm drawing a line, mate', and moved on to making a formal complaint.'
Payman, according to Hack, praised how the PWSS had dealt with her complaint in a 'swift' way.
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'Being looked after and taken care of by the Parliamentary Workplace [Support] Service was really, really good,' she said.
Payman, elected as a Labor senator for Western Australia in 2022, quit the party in 2024 after crossing the floor in the Senate to support a Greens motion – not backed by the Labor caucus – calling for recognition of Palestinian statehood.
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