Our first Muslim woman MP Anne Aly is a vibe

And she's just been appointed to the ministry

And she's just been appointed to the ministry

The new federal government represents one of the most diverse in Australian history.

Anne Aly is one of the jewels in prime minister Anthony Albanese's crown.

Dr Anne Aly, Australian Minister for Youth, is sworn in with a Qur'an by Australian Governor-General David Hurley.

The WA-based MP is just one of the many new faces around the decision making tables with an inspiring life story and impressive resume.

Refreshingly for a Labor pollie, hers isn't a trajectory of union representative then staffer then MP.

"Being a minister was certainly not in my life plan," Dr Aly  - Australia's new minister for early childhood education and youth - said.

Dr Aly's was Australia's first Muslim woman elected to parliament, she's also now the first Muslim women MP who'll sit in the outer ministry.

She was elected -  rather serendipitously - to the seat of Cowan in Perth's outer suburbs. The electorate of Cowan is named after Edith Cowan. Another trail blazer from the Big State, in being the first women ever elected to an Aussie parliament. 

Dr Aly was born in Egypt and her family moved to Chipping Norton in Sydney's south-west when she was two. 

She's a survivor of domestic violence and shared her story in 2020 while calling for a national campaign into the epidemic. 

"I’ve been patient. I’ve stayed. I’ve nursed my bruises and I’ve hidden my pain. And I’ve stayed silent. For a long time I stayed silent," she said. "Despite all the pain and abuse I suffered, leaving the father of my children was the hardest decision I have ever made."

Before running for public life she was a professor, lecturer and academic specialising in counter terrorism and is still considered a global authority into why kids are lured into extremism. After founding the People Against Violent Extremism organisation she was the only Aussie representative invited to speak at the White House back in 2015 as apart of then president Barack Obama's summit which focused on countering violent extremism.

Oh, and she did all this after spending her 20s working for the minimum wage as a single mum of two boys.

In her down time she enjoys chilling with her dog, Gucci, and has recently discovered crochet. She has a deep love and appreciation of fashion and regularly wears local labels that have a strong sustainable ethos including Aje, KitX and Flannel.

In 2017 she made her catwalk debut for then 23-year-old designer Thomas Puttick. A designer who was showing "sustainable" clothes before it went mainstream and cast "muses" like Aly instead of models for his on schedule show.

"It’s in my nature to disrupt. Not because I deliberately set out to, but because it is more often the case that I just end up being somewhere where I am not expected to be - like parliament or the catwalk of Australian fashion week," Dr Aly said.

Fashion is in her DNA. 

"My dad studied textiles engineering. But when my family migrated to Australia, he couldn't find work in his field so he drove buses. A story typical of so many who choose to make Australia home. Dad [Mahmoud Fawzi Aly] would spend hours at the sewing machine making our school uniforms and soft furnishings. He never lost his passion for design. My mum tells me I've inherited his passion...I can only dream of having a little of his talent," she said.

She said it was only after she was elected back in 2016 that she realised what her career and success represented when a constituent in Perth said she had told her young daughter that Dr Aly’s victory proof Muslim girls in Australia could achieve anything.

"The significance of it to other people, to the people watching really struck me at that point," she said. "I made a very conscious decision that, coming in here, I would do everything that I could to not just open the door but break down the wall. I feel so heartened by the fact that I may have been the first, but I’m certainly not going to be the last."

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