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Day after ‘poisonous jelly beans’ remark, Australian Senate appoints first Muslim MP

Mehreen Faruqi

While Australia is currently embroiled in controversies over race, the Senate has has appointed the first Muslim female member, Pakistani-born Mehreen Faruqi. The Greens Party MP for South Wales carried out the appointment to fill a vacant seat.

Faruqi told BBC that Australia’s future would be “stronger for our diversity”. She criticized Australian Senator Fraser Anning for his racist speech in the Parliament.

Faruq said Anning had “spat in the face of millions of Australians, spewing hate and racism” in his first speech to parliament on Tuesday.

In a piece on website ‘Junkee’, she said, “I’m a Muslim migrant, I’m about to be a Senator and there’s not a damn thing Fraser Anning can do about it.”

The Muslim MP migrated Pakistan to Australia in 1992 with her family. Before entering politics, she led a commendable career as an academic. She holds a doctorate in environmental engineering.

She told the BBC she would use her new role as senator to fight for a “positive future for Australia where we are stronger for our diversity”.

She has said that overt displays of racism are not isolated incidents.

“I could stand on Bondi Beach, serving sausage sangers in an Akubra, draped in an Australian flag with a southern cross tattoo and, for some, I still wouldn’t be Australian enough,” she wrote in the Junkee article.

Ms Faruqi said she was excited to bring “much needed diversity” to Canberra, and hoped her presence would encourage non-white Australians.

“The reality is our federal parliament doesn’t look anything like the streets and suburbs of Australia. Slowly but surely things are changing.”

Earlier today, Australian Senator Fraser Anning on Wednesday compared Muslims with “poisonous jelly beans”, in his maiden speech in the Senate urging for immigration restrictions based on race. He also called for migration bans on Muslims.

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