Australia’s first Muslim senator has claimed in her maiden speech to parliament that ‘everyone’ who was not a straight, white male had been abused online.
Mehreen Faruqi, who only renounced her dual Pakistani citizenship in August last year, claimed Australia had become a more racist country since she immigrated with her family in 1992.
‘While I did feel welcomed when I arrived here, migrants coming to our shores today would not be able to say the same,’ she told the chamber on Tuesday night.
Australia’s first Muslim senator has claimed in her maiden speech to parliament that ‘everyone’ who was not a straight, white male had been abused online
‘The last 26 years have seen governments erode support for newcomers as bigotry and xenophobia have been allowed to flourish.
‘A culture of online harassment, bullying and toxicity now targets everyone who is not a straight, white man.’
Senator Faruqi, a 55-year-old former New South Wales upper house member of parliament, said would she would use her platform ‘unapologetically’ as a ‘brown, Muslim, migrant, feminist woman’.
‘My presence in the Senate is an affront to some,’ she said.
Mehreen Faruqi, who only renounced her dual Pakistani citizenship last year, claimed Australia had become a more racist country since she immigrated with her family in 1992
‘They are offended that people of colour and Muslims have the audacity to not only exist but to open our mouths and join the public debate.’
Without mentioning by name One Nation leader Pauline Hanson or fellow Queensland senator Fraser Anning, from the Katter’s Australian Party, she had a go at them for advocating a ban on Muslim immigration.
‘Some politicians call us cockroaches, some say we are a disease which Australia needs vaccination for,’ she said.
‘Some, if they had their way, would ban us from making Australia their home.’
Senator Faruqi said would she would use her platform ‘unapologetically’ as a ‘brown, Muslim, migrant, feminist woman’
Senator Faruqi also spoke out about how her son Osman Faruqi’s mobile number was posted on Twitter by conservative Jewish activist Avi Yemini
Senator Faruqi, who last year told state parliamentary hearing she was happy to be in an arranged marriage, also spoke out about how her son Osman Faruqi’s mobile number was posted on Twitter by conservative Jewish activist Avi Yemini.
‘If we receive death threats and speak out about it, as my son did earlier this month, we are told we have a victim mentality and this is all part and parcel of public life,’ she said.
The NSW senator’s son Osman, who is now a deputy editor with the new ABC lifestyle website, Life, regularly posts anti-white messages on Twitter and was previously a Greens candidate.
In November 2017, he tweeted: ‘No one is asking white people to chime in with their hot takes about what the ‘real issue’ is. For once just sit down.’
He also took legal action against former federal Labor leader Mark Latham in July 2017 for slamming his tweet to controversial Muslim youth activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied: ‘The white people are getting f***ed Yas, it’s happening.’
Mehreen Faruqi, a former engineer and academic, replaced left-wing Lee Rhiannon as a Greens senator after defeating her in a party preselection challenge for the 2019 federal election.