Australian senator Fatima Payman has filed a formal complaint accusing a male colleague of making sexually suggestive and racially insensitive remarks to her at a work-related social function.
“Let’s get some wine into you and see you dance on the table,” she says the colleague, who was allegedly intoxicated, told her. The remark, she said, felt inappropriate and targeted for her as a Muslim woman who did not drink.
“I don’t drink and I don’t need to be made … to feel left out because you do,” the senator told an ABC radio programme in an interview scheduled for release on Wednesday evening.
“I told this colleague, ‘Hey, I’m drawing a line, mate’, and moved on to making a formal complaint.”
Ms Payman, 30, said members of Gen Z like her were unafraid to call out inappropriate behaviour. “Being clear is being kind. You actually are helping somebody understand what your boundaries are by speaking up,” she said.
Ms Payman, elected at 28, made history as the first female Australian parliamentarian to wear a hijab. She expressed hope that the new generation of MPs could help “shift the dial” on the entrenched culture within Australia’s political parties.
She said she had noted a cultural shift already underway in Parliament House, driven by “young people who aren’t afraid of calling things out and who aren’t afraid of being visible”.
Ms Payman said she made the complaint through the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service, an independent body was established following Brittany Higgins’ allegation that she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House.
The senator said she was satisfied with the “swift” handling of her case. “Being looked after and taken care of by the Parliamentary Workplace Service was really, really good.”
Senator Fatima Payman alleges older male colleague made sexually suggestive and racial comments
— Rick (@colonelhogans) May 28, 2025
Independent senator Fatima Payman alleged an older male colleague made sexually suggestive and racial comments towards her.
Payman – who is Muslim and does not drink alcohol – told…
Ms Payman was elected on a Labor ticket from Western Australia in 2022 but left the party in 2024 after crossing the floor to support a Greens motion advocating for the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
After leaving Labor, she spent a brief period as an independent senator before founding her own political party, Australia’s Voice, in October 2024.
Born in Kabul in 1995, Ms Payman worked as a pharmacy assistant and union organiser before entering the parliament.
She was named the Australian Muslim Role Model of the Year in 2022.
