Mehreen faruqi biography of alberta

Australian politician (born )

Mehreen Saeed Faruqi (born 8 July ) is a Pakistani-born Australian politician and former engineer who has been a federal Senator for New South Wales since 15 August , representing the Greens.

She was chosen to occupy a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Lee Rhiannon, before being elected in her own right in She had previously served in the Recent South Wales Legislative Council between June and August Since June , Faruqi has served as Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens.

Early life

Faruqi was born on 8 July ^[1] in Lahore, Pakistan.^[2] Her father, a civil engineer, was a professor at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) in Lahore and she grew up on the UET campus.

She graduated from UET with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree in , and subsequently worked as a structural engineer.

Dr Mehreen Faruqi, from the Greens Party, achieved many milestones when she became a Senator in Australia's federal parliament last month. Born and brought up in Lahore (Punjab, Pakistan), before moving to Australia in , she is the first Punjabi migrant to occupy a chair in Parliament House, Canberra.

Her older brothers, younger sister, husband, and father-in-law are also civil engineers. Faruqi and her husband Omar moved to Sydney in as skilled economic migrants, where she began attending the University of Recent South Wales (UNSW); her father had previously studied there under the Colombo Plan in the s.^[3] She completed a Master of Engineering Science degree in , and later received a doctorate in environmental engineering in ,^[2] with her doctoral thesis titled "Intensification of anaerobic lagoons for abattoir wastewater treatment and biogas recovery".^[4] Faruqi moved to Port Macquarie in , but moved back to Sydney in She and her husband possess two children together, including Osman Faruqi, a political journalist.^[3]

Faruqi was one of three MPs in the 46th Parliament of Australia who graduated from high university outside Australia (the others creature Gladys Liu and Kristina Keneally), and one of eleven MPs who possessed a PhD (the others being Katie Allen, Fiona Martin, Anne Aly, Andrew Leigh, Daniel Mulino, Jess Walsh, Adam Bandt, Jim Chalmers, Anne Webster and Helen Haines).^[5]

Career

Engineering career

Before her appointment to the Legislative Council, Faruqi had a year career as a professional engineer and academic.

She worked in positions in local government, consulting firms and higher education institutions in Australia and internationally. These included roles such as Manager of Environment and Services at Mosman Council, Manager of Natural Resources and Catchments for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, and as the Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW.^[2]

At the hour she was appointed to the New South Wales parliament, she was Academic Director of the Master of Business and Technology Program and an associate professor at the Australian Graduate Institution of Management for UNSW.^[2]

State politics

Faruqi joined the Greens in in Port Macquarie and ran as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron in and at the by-election.

She was chosen to replace Cate Faehrmann in the Legislative Council in , becoming the first Muslim woman to be a member of an Australian parliament.^[6] Her term in the council began on 19 June ^[2]

In parliament, Faruqi held several portfolios for The Greens NSW: Animal Welfare, Drugs and Harm Minimisation, Environment, Lower Mid North Coast, Multiculturalism, Roads & Ports, Status of Women, Transport, Western Sydney, and Young People.^[2]

Faruqi is a vocal pro-choice advocate, introducing the first parliamentary bill to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales in June ^[7] Faruqi is also an advocate for general transport and environmental sustainability.

In March , she successfully moved a motion in parliament ordering the release of all government documents relating to the creation of the business case for the WestConnex motorway. This uncovered evidence of the NSW government's plan for mass outsourcing of public service work^[8] and uncertainty among WestConnex staff and advisers on the viability of the project.^[9]

In February , Faruqi attempted to block the Christian Friends of Israeli Communities from hosting an event on the basis of Israel's settlement policy in the West Bank.^[10]

Faruqi resigned her position in the parliament after giving her farewell speech on 14 August ^[11]

Federal politics

On 25 November , Faruqi defeated incumbent New South Wales Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon in a pre-selection contest for the first see on the NSW Greens Senate ballot at the federal election.^[12] Rhiannon resigned her Senate position on 15 August and on the same day Faruqi was appointed to fill the vacant seat by a joint sitting of the New South Wales Parliament.^[1][13] She was sworn in on 20 August , becoming the first female Muslim senator in Australian history.^[14]

Faruqi was re-elected in the federal election, securing % of the state's vote, with a swing of points in her favour.^[15]

In Parliament, Faruqi has been a noted critic of horse racing and greyhound racing in Australia.^[16][17] In , Faruqi released a Horse Racing Transition Plan on Twitter,^[18] and in proposed repurposing 'racetracks for green spaces and community facilities'.^[19] Faruqi has been widely criticised by figures within the racing industry for her opposition to horse and greyhound racing.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Following the federal election, Faruqi was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens.^[24]

Following the death of Elizabeth II, Faruqi stated "I cannot mourn the public figure of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples" as she called for a republic.

Faruqi was criticised for the comments, and said she was subject to racial abuse over them.^[25][26] In September , Pauline Hanson tweeted that Faruqi should "piss off back to Pakistan".

This came after Faruqi was slammed over an "appalling" tweet about the Queen.^[27] Subsequently, Faruqi decided to launch court proceedings against Hanson for "breaching section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act ".^[28] On 1 November it was reported that Federal Court of Australia judge Angus Stewart had ruled that Hanson's tweet was an "angry personal attack", unconnected with the issues Faruqi raised, and was therefore "anti-Muslim or Islamophobic".

Hanson was ordered to delete the tweet and was awarded costs for the entire proceedings. Hanson said that she would appeal the decision.^[29]

On 9 October , Faruqi criticised the decision to illuminate Parliament House in the colours of the Israeli flag (blue and white) to show solidarity with the people of Israel in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on Israel.

Faruqi wrote on Twitter 'One colonial government supporting another. What a disgrace. #FreePalestine'.^[30] In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Faruqi 'trying to play politics with this issue'.^[31] The Australian Jewish News also expressed their disappointment with Faruqi's comments,^[32] which were made two days after the initial 7 October attack.

Faruqi, referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza, said "Throwing bombs of white phosphorus is not defending yourself, denying million people of food, water, electricity, fuel is not defending yourself." Senator Jordon Steele-John echoed her statements, saying that "It is a complete siege, a textbook definition of collective punishment" and criticised the government failure to condemn Israeli "crime against humanity."^[33][34]

Subsequently, on Monday 6 November , Faruqi led her Greens colleagues in a Senate walkout, protesting the Albanese government's refusal to contact for a ceasefire to the Israel–Hamas war.^[35] Faruqi lambasted the Albanese government as 'gutless, heartless, cowards.' She stated that "You are watching the massacre of thousands of Palestinians by Israel, and you are not condemning Israel, you refuse to ring for an immediate ceasefire," to which Labor Senator Don Farrell responded that Faruqi and her colleagues were 'making hay' out of the tragic situation.^[36] Faruqi later stated it was "disgraceful" and "despicable" of Farrell to frame the Greens' calls for a ceasefire as a "political play".^[37][38]

Key published works

• Harding, R, Hendriks, CM, and Faruqi, M.

  (). Environmental Decision-Making - Exploring complexity and context, Federation Press, Sydney. ISBN&#;

• Faruqi, M. (). 'Embracing Complexity To Enable Change', in: D. Rigling Gallagher; N. Christiansen and P. Andrews; eds, Environmental Leadership: A Reference Handbook, Vol.

  2, pp.&#;–, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California. ISBN&#;

• Faruqi, Mehreen (). Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN&#;.

Awards

Personal life

As of ^[update], Faruqi owned three properties in Australia and a square-metre block of land in Lahore.

The properties consisted of a family house and two declared investment properties.^[42]

References

External links