Q&A with Dr Mehreen Faruqi (Translated from Urdu Interview)
Q - On 19 June 2013, you became the first Muslim woman to become a Member of New South Wales Legislative Council. It has been five years now, what do you think you have achieved in this role?
Mehreen Faruqi – I was born and bred in Pakistan and never dreamt that in 2013 I will be the Member of Parliament in New South Wales. I think joining the Greens party is very important in my life. I joined the Greens Party in 2004, when I lived in Port Macquarie. I joined the Greens because of their strong stand on justice for refugees and asylum seekers, on multiculturalism and of course environmental protection.
I am a civil and environmental engineer and have worked on climate change and environmental protection. These are some of the issues and other things that I have pushed through Parliament and in communities.
There is so much you can do in five years in New South Wales and that is what I have tried to do.
I have various portfolios of Greens NSW including Transport, Environment, Animal Welfare, Women’s rights, Drug reform policy, Young people. I did various things in all these portfolios.
The real focus of Greens is to work with the communities, on every issue. We bring the community’s voice to Parliament, and work with the community on what matters to them.
So, I worked in all these areas.
One of my missions was to raise the voice of women like me, raise the voice of migrant women and women of colour so it could be part of the political system.
Q - You are becoming the Senator in a couple of months, the first Muslim woman to become a Senator. How do you plan to serve the community?
Mehreen Faruqi – I am excited but a bit sad too. In the last five years, I met a lot of people which is a privilege as a politician. You get to meet thousands of people and get to know many views and this is what I plan to do which is to take their voices to Senate.
I came to Australia in 1992 and from that time until now, I feel that Australia has changed a lot. I came with my husband and with my one year old son and often say with two suitcases, which is the story of almost every migrant.
When I came to Australia I feel that there was a lot of support for migrants to settle or to look for a job. But in twenty six years, things have drastically changed.
We see a lot of push from Liberal-National government to have less support from migrants. There have been a lot of cuts, citizenship issues, high level English test, so things have changed a lot.
Migrants come to Australia are looking for a better chance in life but they contribute so much to the country. As politicians we must see how they are helping Australia.
Then there is equality; the gap has drastically widened. For example, owning a house, I have two young children who say that they will never be able to afford a place. Compared to house prices, wages have hardly increased in a similar way. We have to plan for their future.
Have a look at higher education; the fees are rising every year. There was a time when higher education was free in Australia and that is what I want to push to make higher education free again.
If we aspire to be an innovative country, it should be the right of every person to have access to education at preschool, school, TAFE or at a university.
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Q – This is your quote from an article – “In peoples’ minds there is this image of what an Australian should be or what a migrant Pakistani Muslim woman should be, and you don’t fit one or the other, then, well, you’re told to ‘go home’.” How do you think people should perceive you?
Mehreen Faruqi – There is a lot of diversity in people who know me. I often say ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ because there is a stereotypical image in people’s minds as how a Muslim woman should be.
Now when people met me, they found out that I am a different person just like many other Muslim women around. Also, not everyone is the same, they are from different backgrounds.
I told you the reason I joined Greens was to fight for equality, to decriminalise abortion or for LGBTIQ community rights, which is why people sometime get confused.
But nowadays, there are politicians and leaders who are trying to create divisions among people like me and the people with Anglo background who are living here since two to three generations, only for their advantage.
These politicians claim that all the problems like infrastructure or traffic congestion is due to migrants. This is neither a reality nor a fact. But because of that migrants become the scapegoat.
People like me or women or migrants from various countries like India or mine face the brunt.
Most of the people on social media, through the phone, through messages ask me how come you are a politician here when you don’t even belong from here.
What people forget is that it is only the First Nation’s people who are from here. Everyone else is from another place.
I think it is very important to face it, acknowledge it and deal with it.
Q - You are Greens spokeswoman on Multiculturalism. With so many migrants coming every year to Australia, do you think it is affecting the Australian culture?
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Mehreen Faruqi: Australian culture has been evolving since the start of migration and I believe this is its strength. There are people from every country.
Plus we talk about so many traditions, events, happenings, different types of food, which is great.
But we must also recognise how much the migrants contribute to the Australian economy as well as the society because when people intermingle, a new society is created which is the extreme beauty of Australia.
But it is not just about economic value; the intrinsic value must also be recognised. When people come from different countries, it helps build relationships among people here and with the countries from they have come from.
Q – What are you doing for the Pakistani community in Australia?
Mehreen Faruqi – I am extremely grateful for the Pakistani community as they support me and are very proud of me.
I am working on a lot of issues like migration and education. There are issues that are difficult to solve at state level but I will be working on them at the Federal level. Also, since I represent the whole state (NSW), for me every community is important.
Q - Recently, the LGBTIQ community won marriage equality rights and you supported it. From day one, you are in the spotlight of being a Muslim and being asked about your views. You are becoming Senator and again with the title First Muslim Senator. Does that concern you?
Mehreen Faruqi – By now, people must have realised what I stand for. I will remain strong, and will not back down from these issues.
So I am hopeful that instead of focusing on my religion or my culture, people focus on my work.
Q - Your origin is from Pakistan and people have very strong views about Kashmir. What are your views about the Kashmir conflict between Pakistan and India?
Mehreen Faruqi – This conflict exists since the time of partition of Pakistan and India, when the British Colony ended. These issues are very complex and cannot be solved easily.
I believe it depends on the Kashmiris as it is about self-determination. Just like we say that self-determination is most important for Palestinians, similarly for Kashmiris need to decide what they want and the rest of the world needs to support it.
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Mehreen Faruqi – I am also crazy about Cricket and even played a match representing NSW parliament team last year. It is sad that Australian team is not going to Pakistan due to terrorism and safety issues; so this is a complex issue not an easy one.
But we have to try to unite both the Cricketing worlds to promote cohesion and friendship.
Q – What are you doing to further improve the Pakistan-Australia relationship?
Mehreen Faruqi – I went to Pakistan two year ago representing Australia and met several women members of Parliament.
A women caucus takes place in Pakistan in which all the women from political parties participate to work on woman rights. It is a very good concept and something we can learn from Pakistan for Australia.
