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Fatima Payman

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Revision as of 00:54, 22 June 2022 by Playlet (talk | contribs) (→Early life and family)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Australian politician
Fatima Payman
Senator for Western Australia
Assuming office
1 July 2022
Personal details
Born1995
Afghanistan
Political partyLabor

Fatima Payman (Template:Lang-fa; born 1995) is an Australian Muslim politician and Senator-elect of the Australian Senate at the 2022 Australian federal election with cultural roots from Afghanistan. A member of the Labor Party, she was declared elected to the Senate for Western Australia on 20 June 2022, and will begin her term on 1 July. By this she becomes the Australian Parliament's first hijab-wearing Muslim woman. Fatima Payman is a Senator for Western Australia.

Early life and family

Payman was born in Afghanistan around 1995, arriving in Australia as a refugee aged 8 years old and settling in Perth.

Her father had already arrived in Australia via boat in 1999, fleeing the Taliban. He 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. Once in Australia, her mother started a business giving driving lessons. In 2018 her father died of leukemia.

Payman's grandfather was also a member of parliament in Afghanistan.

Citizenship and potential Section 44 issues

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. She was told she had followed the correct steps, but the embassy could not finalise it because it had no contact with the new Taliban government that seized control of the country in August.

The ALP 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 anymore, following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

References

  1. ‘I want to normalise hijab wearing’: WA’s newest Labor senator on making history (Report). The Guardian. 2022.
  2. Fatima Payman claims sixth WA Senate seat for Labor as Michaelia Cash reinstated (Report). ABC News. 2022.
  3. ^ Fatima Payman - Labor Candidate for Senate (Report). 7News. 2021.
  4. 'Making history today': Fatima Payman becomes parliament's first hijab-wearing Muslim woman (Report). SBS News. 2022.
  5. Senator for Western Australia (Report). ALP Organization. 2022.
  6. Refugee Senate hopeful seizes opportunity (Report). 7News. 2022.
  7. Taliban takeover prevents Labor Senate hopeful from renouncing Afghan citizenship (Report). 7News. 2022.
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