Fatima Payman’s chief of staff has encouraged speculation the Western Australian senator will create a political party to run Senate candidates including in other states.
Responding to a report suggesting Payman’s party could be launched in weeks, Glenn Druery quibbled with the timing but did not deny the plan to run for the Senate, and possibly lower house candidates in select seats.
“Where there’s smoke sometimes there’s fire,” Druery told Guardian Australia. “Or, as Senator Payman has said herself, watch this space.”
In July Payman quit Labor to sit on the crossbench after crossing the floor to vote for a Greens motion in the Senate to recognise Palestine. Payman has discouraged Muslim Australians from creating a religious political party, arguing a new movement would need a “broader base” to succeed.
In September Payman hired Druery – renowned in Australian politics as the “preference whisperer” who used deals under the old Senate voting system to help elect micro-parties – as her chief of staff.
In an ABC Australian Story episode that month, Druery said Payman launching her own political party was a conversation that needed to be had.
“I maintain that if anyone is to be elected or re-elected to the Senate they need a political party,” Druery said on Thursday.
“It’s very difficult for an independent to be elected – Nick Xenophon and Brian Harradine are the exception.”
Given disenchantment with the major parties, Druery argued it was “very likely that the sixth Senate spot will be available in every state” so a “smart minor party stands to do well”.
There could even be two Senate seats up for grabs in Queensland, he added, citing nervous Labor operatives who fear a repeat of the 2019 election (in which just one Labor senator was elected from the state).
Payman’s term is not due to expire until 2028, although she could be up for re-election sooner if the government called a double dissolution.
Any Payman political party would face stiff competition, with the Greens holding Senate seats in every state, and One Nation well-established in Queensland and a frequent contender in other states.
The Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie has lost her fellow senator Tammy Tyrrell to the crossbench, but intends to run other candidates including the former senator Rex Patrick in South Australia.
Druery said the Greens and Coalition had done an “exceptionally good job wedging the government” on legislation such as the nature positive bill, but “many Greens voters don’t like these games”.
Since moving to the crossbench, Payman has taken a series of populist positions outflanking Labor on both the right, by opposing its ban on live sheep exports, and left, by calling for more action to fix housing affordability.
Payman is locked in a struggle with Anthony Albanese for two extra staff, to bring her allocation in line with other independent senators.
In September, Payman said the prime minister had “still not given me my full staffing allocation” making it “really difficult” to get on top of critical legislation.
