Pakistan-born Mehreen Faruqi becomes first Muslim woman senator in Australia

Faruqi was also the first Muslim woman to make it to state parliament

At a time when Australia is embroiled in a bitter row over racism, Pakistan-born Mehreen Faruqi became the first Muslim woman to be appointed to the Australian Senate.

The Green Party member parliament for New South Wales was selected to fill a vacant seat. Following the win, a confident Faruqi told BBC that she would use her role to push for a "positive future for Australia where we are stronger for our diversity".

Faruqi built a life in Australia after migrating from Pakistan in 1992. An academic by profession, she also boasts a doctorate in environmental engineering.



This is the second milestone for the Pakistan-born politician – for she was also the first Muslim woman to hold a political office after being elected to the state parliament in 2013.

In her speech in the NSW parliament, Faruqi recalled enduring racist and sexist trolling during her tenure as MP "not because of what I'm doing but because of who I am, where I come from, and the colour of my skin".

Faruqi has also been critical of Fraser Anning’s use of Holocaust-associated term in the parliament.



"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," she wrote in a piece for website Junkee.  She highlighted increasing regularity with which politicians were using "race-baiting as an avenue to votes".

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

This article originally appeared in BBC.