Sabah Mannan: Pakis-tani-born Mehreen Faruqi has joined Australia’s senate as its first female Muslim member whilst the country battles with a bitter row over racism.
To fill a vacant seat, the Greens Party MP for New South Wales was appointed by the senate yesterday and will be sworn in next week.
This came after conservative Katter’s Australian Party’s Fraser Anning’s speech invoked the term “final solution” in a call for immigration restrictions based on race especially on Muslims. However, Anning was widely condemned for the use of the Holocaust-associated term.
Dr Faruqi’s election to the state parliament in 2013 made her the first Muslim woman to attain any political office in Australia. 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”. Source: BBC