‘I’d resign’: Waleed Aly on persistent suggestions he should enter politics

ON THE Project, Waleed Aly has become the voice for many social and political issues. But he has firm opinions on suggestions he should move into politics.

AS THE host of The Project, Waleed Aly has become the voice for many Australians.

As an academic and commentator, the 38-year-old snagged a Gold Logie this year for his work on the current affairs program — his editorials on social and political issues often going viral worldwide.

For many, a shift into politics seems like a natural move for Aly. But he says it’s the one thing he’d never do.

“My first act as world leader would be to resign,” he told Who when asked what he would change if he was in charge.

“This is a point people don’t understand about me. I constantly get asked if I’m entering politics, but I instinctively baulk at the idea of being put in charge of anything because it’s not what I do and I would be genuinely terrible at it.”

Waleed Aly co-hosts The Project with Carrie Bickmore.

The popular presenter is included in the publication’s annual Most Intriguing list. On The Project this year, he’s tackled everything from Donald Trump to Australia’s willingness to accept black deaths in custody.

He was tapped to give the highly regarded Andrew Olle Media Lecture and, in an op-ed for the New York Times, he slammed the Australian government’s refugee policy, describing it as “poisonous”.

Despite the impact and reach of what he says, Aly describes his voice as “mundane”.

“I actually find most of what I do and say pretty mundane and middle-of-the-road,” he told the magazine. “I’m not even doing this all the time, but when I am, I’m offering an analysis for people to take or leave as they please, and I don’t see it as any higher than that.”

Aly blasts Malcolm Turnbull during a segment about the NBN. Picture: Channel 10

As for what interested him the most over the past 12 months, Aly says it’s the things that provided “big shifts in the way society works or politics works”.

“So I found Brexit intriguing. I found the Trump phenomenon intriguing. I find nothing itchier than when I see something I feel the need to understand,” he said.