Mehreen Faruqi, who will on Wednesday become Australia’s first female Muslim senator, has slammed Fraser Anning as a “merchant of hate” who has “spat in the face of our successful multicultural society”. Faruqi is due to become a Greens senator for New South Wales this afternoon during a joint sitting of the state parliament, where she will be chosen to fill the casual vacancy left by the outgoing Lee Rhiannon. The timing of Anning’s hateful speech means Faruqi will become Australia’s first female Muslim senator less than 24 hours after a fellow senator called for Muslim immigration to be halted entirely. Faruqi told Guardian Australia Anning’s speech had thrown millions of decent Australians under the bus in a “desperate attempt to remain relevant and reignite a long gone racist policy”. “Senator Anning has spat in the face of our successful multicultural society, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from an ex-One Nation senator,” she said. “These merchants of hate in the Senate will stop at nothing to keep attacking non-white people simply for the sake of sowing division in our country for their narrow political interests.” I am beyond mad. This kind of vile crap encourages and enables abuse of Muslims around Australiahttps://t.co/7HSRx6Ko5X — Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) August 14, 2018 Faruqi became Australia’s first Muslim woman to enter any Australian parliament when she joined the NSW Legislative Council in June 2013. Her life gives lie to Anning’s hateful rhetoric about Muslims. She arrived in Australia from Pakistan in 1992, and forged a successful career as an academic and engineer, working on improving vital infrastructure across the country. Faruqi held leadership roles on major engineering projects, developing stormwater, recycling, cycleways, and hydropower infrastructure. She has a PhD in environmental engineering, led University of NSW’s Institute of Environmental Studies, and managed environment and water-related services for both the Mosman and Port Macquarie-Hastings councils. Ed Husic, the federal Labor member for Chifley, became the first Muslim MP when he was voted into the house of representatives in 2010. Faruqi said Anning’s comments were part of a deliberate strategy to create fear and wrongly attribute society’s ills to immigrants. She said she would use her career in the Senate to call out such vile comments. “The use of the term ‘final solution’ is a disgusting and deliberate telegraph to appease people who hold deeply sickening and violent white supremacist views,” she said. “It’s pretty sad that such dangerous fringe and racist politics continue to make its way into debate but as a Senator I will call it out every time.”<doc-sep>Pakistani-origin Mehreen Faruqi, of the Australian Green Party, today became the first Muslim woman to occupy a seat in the country's Senate. Ms Faruqi took office a week after senator Fraser Anning, of Australia's Katter Party, made controversial comments on Muslim and non-English speaking immigrants from the "third world", reports EFE news. "After last week particularly, it is really good to have you here," Labor Party leader Penny Wong said in the Senate, referring to remarks by Mr Anning, who also called for a plebiscite on immigration. Ms Faruqi was among the prominent critics of Mr Anning's use of the Holocaust-associated term. Last week she said that Mr Anning had "spat in the face of millions of Australians, spewing hate and racism". "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 last week. Ms Farqui migrated to Australia from Pakistan in 1992 and represented the Green Party in the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2013. She replaces Lee Rhiannon from the Green Party, WHO announced her retirement in May.<doc-sep>In her leaving speech to the NSW parliament on Tuesday, she spoke about enduring "toxic, racist and sexist trolling" in her time as an MP "not because of what I'm doing but because of who I am, where I come from, and the colour of my skin".<doc-sep>
Australia's first female Muslim senator has called out political racism, insisting "we can build a future for each and every one of us". Mehreen Faruqi delivered her first speech as Greens Senator for New South Wales (NSW) on Tuesday, in which she compared her experience as a migrant to Australia from Pakistan in 1992 to those arriving today. "While I did feel welcomed when we arrived here, migrants coming to our shores today would not be able to say the same. The last 26 years have seen governments erode support for newcomers as bigotry and xenophobia has been allowed to flourish," she said, according to SBS News. Senator Faruqi criticised politicians for "creating and fanning racial divisions", singling out comments on “African gang” violence as an example. "You can’t condemn racism and then in a warm glow of self-congratulation allow deep-rooted structures of discrimination to remain in access to healthcare and public services, in our prisons and justice system and in our immigration system," she said. She revealed she had personally been subjected to "thousands" of racist and sexist messages. "The existence of racism, sexism and other discrimination is not new but what has changed is it legitimisation, normalisation and encouragement in the media and in politics," she said. Senator Faruqi said she would bring "determination" and a "trouble-making streak" to the Senate, adding: "We can build a future for each and every one of us, no matter where we come from, no matter the colour of our skin, our religion, our gender or sexuality, our bank balance or our postcode. I hope I can make you proud." Her inaugural speech came a day after she was sworn in to Parliament, filling the casual vacancy left by Lee Rhiannon.