Mehreen Saeed Faruqi (born 8 July 1963) is an Australian politician and former engineer who has been a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

for

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since 15 August 2018, representing the Greens. She was chosen to fill a

casual vacancy In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...

caused by the resignation of

Lee Rhiannon Lee Rhiannon (formerly O'Gorman, ''née'' Brown; born 30 May 1951) is a former Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales between July 2011 and August 2018. She was elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Aus ...

, before being elected in her own right in 2019. She had previously served in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

between June 2013 and August 2018. Since June 2022, Faruqi has served as Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens.

Early life

Faruqi was born in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, Pakistan. 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 1988, and subsequently worked as a structural engineer. Her older brothers, younger sister, husband, and father-in-law are also civil engineers. Faruqi and her husband Omar moved to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

in 1992, where she began attending the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

(UNSW); her father had previously studied there under the

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

in the 1950s.Greens' Mehreen Faruqi an engineer with a vision of diversity
''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 1 February 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2017. She completed a Master of Engineering Science degree in 1994, and later received a doctorate in environmental engineering in 2000, with her doctoral thesis titled "Intensification of anaerobic lagoons for abattoir wastewater treatment and biogas recovery". Faruqi moved to

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

in 2001, but moved back to Sydney in 2006. She and her husband have two children together, including Osman Faruqi, a political journalist. Faruqi is one of three MPs in the

46th Parliament of Australia The 46th Parliament of Australia was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Australian federal government, composed of the Australian Senate and the Australian House of Representatives. The 2019 federal election gave the Coalition of t ...

who graduated high school outside of Australia (the others being

Gladys Liu Gladys Liu ( yue, 廖嬋娥, ; born 6 April 1964) is a British Hong Kong, Hong Kong-born Australian former politician, who represented the Division of Chisholm in Victoria for the Liberal Party from her election in May 2019 to her defeat at the ...

and

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repres ...

), and is one of eleven MPs in the

who possesses a PhD (the others being Katie Allen, Fiona Martin,

Anne Aly Anne Azza Aly (born Azza Mahmoud Fawzi Hosseini Ali el Serougi, 1967) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor member of the House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the electorate of Cowan in Western Australia. ...

Andrew Leigh Andrew Keith Leigh (born 3 August 1972) is an Australian politician, author, lawyer and former professor of economics at the Australian National University. He currently serves as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. ...

Daniel Mulino Daniel Mulino (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the Eastern Victoria Region from 2014 to 2018. In the 2019 federal election he was elected as the inaugur ...

, Jess Walsh,

Adam Bandt Adam Paul Bandt (born 11 March 1972) is an Australian politician and former industrial lawyer who is the leader of the Australian Greens and federal MP for Melbourne. Previously, he served as co-deputy leader of the Greens from 2012 to 2015 and ...

Jim Chalmers James Edward Chalmers (born 2 March 1978) is an Australian politician, currently serving as Treasurer of Australia since 23 May 2022. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served as a member of parliament for the division o ...

, Anne Webster and

Helen Haines Helen Mary Haines (born 21 September 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as the independent MP for the Victorian seat of Indi since the 2019 federal election. Early life and education Haines grew up on a dairy farm in Colac in ...

Career

Engineering career

Before her appointment to the Legislative Council, Faruqi had a 25-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 Mosman Council is a local government area on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Mayor of Mosman Council is Cr. Carolyn Corrigan, a representative of the Serving Mosman independent political group since 9 Septembe ...

, Manager of Natural Resources and Catchments for

Port Macquarie-Hastings Council Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hastings River, the Pacific Highway, the Oxley Highway and the North Coast railway ...

, and as the Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at

UNSW The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. At the time 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 School of Management The Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM @ UNSW Business School) is a postgraduate management and business school that is part of the UNSW Business School at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), in Sydney, New South Wales, A ...

for UNSW.

State politics

Faruqi joined the Greens in 2004 in Port Macquarie and ran as a candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Heffron in 2011 and at the 2012 by-election. She was chosen to replace

Cate Faehrmann Cate Faehrmann (born 17 March 1970) is an Australian politician and environmental activist. Faehrmann was a Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 2011 to 2013. She resigned from the Legislative Council in June 2013 to st ...

in the Legislative Council in 2013, becoming the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

woman to be a member of an Australian parliament. Her term in the Council began on 19 June 2013. 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. Faruqi is a vocal

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also referred to as pro-choice movements, advocate for the right to have legal access to induced abortion services including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their pre ...

advocate, introducing the first parliamentary bill to decriminalise

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

in New South Wales in June 2014. Faruqi is also an advocate for public transport and environmental sustainability. In March 2014, she successfully moved a motion in parliament ordering the release of all government documents relating to the creation of the

business case A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also come in the form of a short verbal agreement or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, ...

for the

WestConnex WestConnex is a predominantly underground motorway scheme in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. As of 2022, it is partially completed and partially still under construction. A joint project of the New South Wales and Australian governments, t ...

motorway. This uncovered evidence of the NSW government's plan for mass

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

of public service work and uncertainty among WestConnex staff and advisers on the viability of the project. In February 2018, 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 Faruqi resigned her position in the parliament after giving her farewell speech on 14 August 2018.

Federal politics

On 25 November 2017, Faruqi defeated incumbent New South Wales Greens Senator

in a pre-selection contest for the first spot on the NSW Greens

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

ballot at the 2019 federal election. Rhiannon resigned her Senate position on 15 August 2018 and on the same day Faruqi was appointed to fill the vacant seat by a joint sitting of the

New South Wales Parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

. She was sworn in on 20 August 2018, becoming the first female Muslim senator in Australian history. Faruqi was re-elected in the 2019 federal election, securing 8.7% of the state's vote, with a swing of 1.32 points in her favour. Following the 2022 federal election, Faruqi was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens. Following the

death of Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death ...

, Faruqi stated “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples" as she called for a

republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

. Faruqi was criticized for the comments, and later subject to racial abuse over them

Key published works

* Harding, R, Hendriks, CM, and Faruqi, M. (2009). ''Environmental Decision-Making - Exploring complexity and context'', Federation Press, Sydney. *Faruqi, M. (2012). 'Embracing Complexity To Enable Change', in: D. Rigling Gallagher; N. Christiansen and P. Andrews; eds, ''Environmental Leadership: A Reference Handbook,'' Vol. 2, pp. 772–781, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California. *

Awards

* Judy Raper Award for Leadership in Engineering, UNSW School of Chemical Engineering (2013). * Edna Ryan Grand Stirrer Award (2017) for her tireless work on the Abortion Law Reform campaign, for "inciting others to challenge the status quo"

References

External links

Greens MPs Homepage
*
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Mehreen Faruqi on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faruqi, Mehreen Living people Australian Greens members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia Australian feminists Women members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for New South Wales University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore alumni University of New South Wales alumni University of New South Wales faculty Pakistani emigrants to Australia Punjabi people Australian people of Punjabi descent Australian politicians of Pakistani descent Australian civil engineers 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 1963 births Australian republicans