This week, Anne Aly became the first Muslim woman elected to Australian parliament. At an early age, Ms. Aly Anne migrated with her family from Egypt to Australia. She says of the achievement, “I don’t see myself through other people’s eyes as brown, Muslim, female, whatever … I didn’t do this or approach this with that at the front of my mind. What was at the front of my mind was doing the best that I could for the community.”
Ms. Aly says she is “extremely humbled” to represent the electorate and will focus on core issues such as education and training, youth unemployment and pension reform. Remarking on the challenges she faced as a Muslim politician, she says there were times in the campaign when electorates would tell her they wouldn’t vote for a Muslim and she would remark: “Fair enough: it’s a democracy.” She continued, “I can’t change who I am, and I can’t control how people are going to see me. The only thing that I can control is how I respond to that.”
