‘A relic from communist times’: Nationals Senator criticises Labor Party pledge

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says he supports a parliament where there can be “robust debate and people can put their own views”.

Mr Canavan’s comments come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s decision to suspend Senator Fatima Payman from the Labor caucus indefinitely has been criticised by those on both sides of the political divide.

“I do support her right as an elected representative to vote in the way that she sees fit, to put a voice to those arguments in the Australian parliament,” Mr Canavan told Sky News Australia.

“This pledge that the Labor Party has where they’re all bound and they’re not allowed to step out of line ever, it’s a relic.

“It’s a relic of an era where they were following a Leninist democratic centralism model.

“(It’s) a relic from those communist times and I think the Australian people would prefer their elected representatives to be able to have debates in public … not behind the closed doors of the Labor Party caucus room.”