Independent Australian Senator Fatima Payman has launched a new political party - a party billed “to be the voice of all Australians”.
The former Labor senator said in a social media post: "Australia's Voice will make sure the two major parties finally stop focusing on politics and get back to focusing on people.
"If I have to drag the major parties kicking and screaming to do what needs to be done, I will," Payman said.
The move comes just months after she left the federal Labor Party over her pro-Palestine stance.
Payman launched the party from Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, saying: “It is with great humility and deep responsibility that I announce the formation of Australia's Voice, a new political party for the disenfranchised.
“We can no longer sit by while our voices are drowned out by the same old politics. It's time to stand up, to rise together and to take control of our future.
“(Australians) are fed up with the major parties playing politics and being afraid of making any form of progressive reform.”
Payman did not reveal the party's policy positions, nor the policy reforms she would focus on at this time, but did say she has received expressions of interest from Labor candidates and members of the National Party keen to join Australia’s Voice.
The party intends to contest every state in the Senate and multiple House of Representatives seats at the next federal election, which will be held on or before 27 September 2025.
