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Posted: 2024-07-05 03:35:12

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."

A closeup shot of the prime minister looking sombre, wearing glasses and frowning

Anthony Albanese says it's not in the interest of smaller minority groups to "isolate themselves".(ABC News: Adam Kennedy)

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.

Senator Fatima Payman stands in front of a media pack in Parliament House to announce she's quitting the Labor Party

Fatima Payman has repeatedly said she felt she was representing the Labor Party's rank and file.(ABC News: Matt Roberts)

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.

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