Rebel Labor senator Fatima Payman will not attend the party’s caucus meetings for the rest of the parliamentary sitting, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

Payman breached Labor Party protocol by crossing the floor in a Senate vote on Palestine late on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the Western Australian senator was “not about to be expelled” following her vote against her party in the upper house when she supported a Greens motion to have the Senate declare the recognition of a Palestinian state an urgent matter.

Later, in Question Time, Albanese said he had met the Afghanistan-born first-term senator on Wednesday morning.

“She will not be attending the Labor caucus for this session,” he said.

The current session of Parliament ends on July 4.

Albanese said he had consistently supported a two-state solution in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“That is the Australian Labor Party ‘s position. I am proud of it,” he said.

He said he also opposed the actions of Hamas on October 7, which prompted the current conflict. But the phrase “from the river to the sea” remains controversial.

” ‘From the river to the sea’ refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. The problem being one state, whether just Israel or just Palestine … and denies the need for a two-state solution. That is why I have consistently opposed it,” Albanese said.

Payman was criticised in May after using the phrase. She said she did not believe it was anti-semitic, and rather meant Palestinians should be allowed to live in their homeland as free and equal citizens.

Labor members are expected to follow the party’s position but there is no mandated sanction for crossing the floor. Earlier, Marles said Labor had no intention of expelling Payman.

“This is not a time to be going around expelling people because they have a particular view on this issue,” he said in Canberra.

“Senator Payman has made completely clear that she wants to continue to represent the people of Western Australia in the Senate as a Labor senator, and that she continues to espouse Labor values.”

Marles said social cohesion in Australia had been under “enormous stress” since Hamas’s October 7 attack.

It was the first time a Labor Party member had crossed the floor since 2005. Asked about her decision on Tuesday, Payman told media – including SBS News – that she had “said I will follow my conscience”.

“What our rank-and-file members have been asking us is for us to do more as a party … that takes pride in our fight towards human rights and being champions of justice,” she said.

Opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham said Payman’s actions directly challenged Albanese’s leadership.

His Liberal colleague, Senator Jane Hume, said the episode showed Albanese was weak on the issue, adding that it was not the first time Payman had defied her leader.

“Only a month ago, she stood up and gave a press conference where she used … and I won’t repeat the phrase, but a phrase that the Prime Minister himself says incites violence and anti-semitism,” Hume told Seven.

“How he deals with it is going to be a test of his leadership.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry also condemned Tuesday’s vote to support Palestinian statehood.

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils welcomed Payman’s support.

The recognition of Palestinian statehood would set a significant step forward with it being a matter of human rights, dignity and justice that should traverse political lines, council president Rateb Jneid said.

The Greens supported Payman, with Mehreen Farqui – who moved the motion – saying the Labor member had stood by her convictions and showed “real moral courage”.

Labor supports the right of Israel and Palestine to exist as two states and would recognise a Palestinian state. However, its policy has caveats and no timeline.

“I was not elected as a token representative of diversity, I was elected to serve the people of Western Australia and uphold the values instilled in me by my late father,” Payman said.

“We cannot believe in a two-state solution and only recognise one.”

Payman has also joined with the Greens and crossbenchers to call on the government to take a stronger stance against Israel’s actions in Gaza, with the death toll surpassing 37,000, according to the Hamas-run local health ministry.

A United Nations inquiry found both Israel and Hamas have committed war crimes after the designated terrorist organisation killed 1200 Israelis and took some 250 hostages during an attack on October 7.

-with AAP