In short:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says faith-based political parties would undermine social cohesion in Australia.
His comments came after revelations that The Muslim Vote movement was planning to target federal Labor seats at the next election.
The Muslim Vote denied it was a political party or religious campaign, but rather a political campaign that aimed to "educate and mobilise" its community on a grassroots level.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says faith-based political parties would undermine social cohesion in Australia, after revelations this week that The Muslim Vote movement was planning to target federal seats at the next election, including in western Sydney.
Political parties including the Australian Christians have long-existed, but Mr Albanese's comments came after the Muslim movement told the ABC it wanted to empower Muslim Australians to win seats from Labor following community anger the government had not been tougher on Israel throughout the war in Gaza.
"I don't think and don't want Australia to go down the road of faith-based political parties because what that will do is undermine social cohesion," Mr Albanese said at a press conference on Friday.
He used Labor as an example of a party that included members from a range of religions.
"That's the way you bring cohesion," he said.
"It seems to me, as well, beyond obvious that it is not in the interest of smaller minority groups to isolate themselves – which is what a faith-based party system would do."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Australia did not need sectarianism.
"I don't have any problem with a party that has a religious view," he told Nine News.
"But when you say that your task is to, as a first order of priority, to support a Palestinian cause or a cause outside of Australia, that is a very different scenario.
"So, I think when that is the main cause, we have all sorts of problems."
In a statement on Thursday, The Muslim Vote denied it was a political party or religious campaign, but rather a political campaign that aimed to "educate and mobilise our community at the grassroots level".
"We support campaigns and candidates across Australia and support anyone who shares our principles of justice and fairness," the statement read.
Earlier this week the group did not rule out potentially supporting now-independent Western Australia senator Fatima Payman, who officially quit the Labor party on Thursday to sit on the crossbench.
Albanese: 'Very clear' West Australians voted for Labor
Answering questions about her defection, Mr Albanese said it was "very clear" West Australians wanted to elect Labor to the Senate seat, rather than her specifically.
"Fatima Payman received around about 1,600 votes in the WA [federal] election, the ALP box above the line received 511,000 votes," he said.
His remarks followed comments from senior ministers Katy Gallagher and Bill Shorten who said if they were in her shoes, they would quit parliament because they were elected with ALP next to their names on the ballot paper.
Senator Payman agreed in an interview on Friday morning it would have been unlikely she would have been elected to the Senate spot in 2022 if she was running as an independent, but said back then, "a genocide wasn't taking place".
PM: 'I heard a month ago'
The West Australian said she only decided to quit Labor the morning she made the announcement, but the prime minister called that into question.
"I heard a month ago – a month ago – where this was going to go," he said.
He pointed to the senator's "meticulous timing" of her statements to suggest she had made the decision earlier.
He specifically called out her decision to resign during Question Time and her move to break party ranks and accuse Israel of "genocide" in Gaza the day after the federal budget as examples.
"People can draw their own conclusions … I have mine," he said.
But Senator Payman said comments by Mr Albanese during Question Time on Wednesday, where he said he expected "further announcements in coming days" which would "explain what the strategy has been for well over a month" made her realise she was expected to quickly make a decision on her future.
"That's when I had to really think through and made the decision and resigned yesterday," she said.
Her decision to leave Labor followed the prime minister summoning her to the Lodge on Sunday to indefinitely suspend her from the party's federal caucus, after she crossed the floor to support a Greens motion calling on the Senate to recognise Palestinian statehood, and vowed to do it again if another similar motion was put forward.
The government put forward an amendment which added it should happen "as a part of a peace process in support of a two-state solution and a just and enduring peace".
Senator Payman has repeatedly said she felt she was representing the party's rank and file, who at the National Conference last year, agreed recognising Israel and Palestine as two states within secure and recognised borders is expected to be an "important priority" for the government.
Cricket star calls out Dutton
In a post on social media, Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja labelled comments by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Thursday, about The Muslim Vote movement, as "bigotry at its finest" and "fuelling Islamophobia from the very top".
Mr Dutton said if Labor formed a minority government at the next election, it would "include the Greens, it'll include the green teals, it'll include Muslim candidates from Western Sydney – it will be a disaster".
Education Minister Jason Clare told Channel Seven's Sunrise he agreed with Khawaja that Mr Dutton's words were "despicable" and divided Australians.
But deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley defended her colleague's comments and said the batsman was "wrong on this one".
"It's not Islamophobia to say that we don't want religious independents. Peter Dutton was making a most appropriate point," she said.