Senator Fatima Payman has become the first member of the Australian Labor Party to call Israel’s onslaught on Gaza a “genocide”, and called for her colleagues to “stand for what is right”, Al Jazeera reports.

In a thinly veiled swipe at her party leader, Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese, Payman criticised “performative gestures” on the issue and “gaslighting” about Israel’s right to self-defence.

“My conscience has been uneasy for far too long and I must call this out for what it is,” she said. “This is a genocide and we need to stop pretending otherwise. The lack of clarity, the moral confusion, the indecisiveness is eating at the heart of this nation.”