Mohammed El-leissy (born 1985) is an Australian

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politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

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, and

community worker Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

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descent. He is best known for being a contestant on the

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of '' The Amazing Race Australia'' in 2011.

Early life

El-leissy's parents came to Australia in the 1960s. He was born in Brunswick,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

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to parents of

descent, and he grew up in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. In 2010, El-leissy graduated from

RMIT University RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city ...

with a degree in Youth Work.

Radio and television career

El-leissy has spoken extensively around issues of multiculturalism and community issues in Australia. He has appeared on ''

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'', '' Sunrise'', '' The Project'' on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

, SBS's ''Insight'' as well as a regular contributor to

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's '' News Breakfast''. Along with having written for the ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' and ABC's '' The Drum''. From 2005 to 2010, El-leissy hosted a variety of community radio programs on both

Student Youth Network Student Youth Network Inc., operating as SYN Media , is an Australian youth-run not-for-profit organisation providing media training and broadcasting opportunities for young people. Commonly referred to as SYN, the organisation produces new and ...

and 3CR. He was also a board member of the Community Radio Foundation. He also hosts Kalam TV. Mohammed El- leissy In May 2011, El-leissy appeared as a contest and on the

of '' The Amazing Race Australia'', Seven's local adaptation of the long-running US series on Channel Seven with his friend Mostafa Haroun (Mos), who works part-time in the gift shop at Melbourne Zoo. They were eliminated after five weeks. From June to August 2010, El-leissy's television show, ''Kalam TV'', was launched on Channel 31, a 13-episode series challenging Australian perceptions of the Arab world through an entertaining mixture of variety and comedy.

Stand-up career

In 2007, El-leissy became a state-finalist in the

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competition and went on later that year to perform in the '' Fear of a Brown Planet show''. In 2008, he performed in ''Who is Abdul Smith'' at

Melbourne Fringe Festival The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...

. In April 2009, he performed Greens fundraising comedy act ''Mo the Plumber'' with Rucker Ward's Greens Councillor at the time Trent McCarthy. In 2011, he performed his comedy show ''World Mix Tape''. He performed both shows at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

. In late 2012, he performed at Falls Festival in Victoria,

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Political career

In 2008, El-leissy was the

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candidate in the Darebin Council elections. In April 2011, 12 months after his pre-selection and only one month before the election, he withdrew from contesting the 27 November State Election.

Other work

Since 2006, El-leissy has been a multicultural youth worker. He previously worked as a community worker with the Islamic Council Victoria. He sits on the National Leaders Group for the White Ribbon Foundation as well as the Victorian Multicultural Commission's Regional Advisory Council for

North West Metro Sydney Metro was a proposed rapid transit railway network in Sydney, intended to connect the central business district (CBD) with the inner and outer city suburbs Rouse Hill, Westmead, Malabar and lower North Shore. Initially proposed in 200 ...

. From 2007 to 2009, he was a member of the Victorian Premier's Multifaith Multicultural Youth Network and was a participant of the Governor's Roundtable into Multicultural Policy. In 2009 he was a speaker at the International Parliament of World Religions. In 2007 to 2008, he was also a board member of EastWeb, an organisation helping to provide small grants to disadvantaged community organisations. In 2008, he visited Indonesia as a participant of DFAT's Australia-Indonesia Muslim exchange program. In 2011, he was invited at the request of the State Department to visit the United States as part of the International Visitors Leadership Program and toured seven cities meeting political, community and religious leaders. El-leissy is also qualified

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

Personal life

In 2010, El-leissy visited

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, the country of his descent, for the first time.

References

External links

* *
Mohammed El-Leissy
''

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

''. 11 May 2007 *El-leissy, Mohammed
Different teams, much common ground
''

''. 25 June 2011 *El-leissy, Mohammed
Australians are an "amazing" race
''

''. 27 June 2011 *Robson, Suzanne
Greens' pollie ditched state election for TV game show
'' Preston Leader''. 19 April 2011
Young Muslims and Australian journalism
''

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

''. 4 May 2012
Media and Young Muslim Conference hits Melbourne
''Moreland Leader''. 4 May 2012 *El-leissy, Mohammed

''

''. 20 September 2012 *Hall, Ashley
Muslims debate building better relationships
''

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

''. 21 September 2012
NORTH-EAST WARD CANDIDATE: Mohammed El-leissy
''Moreland Leader''. 1 October 2012
Q & A with Mohammed El-Leissy, Special Projects & Community Outreach leader for the Islamic Council of Victoria
''Australian Institute of International Affairs''
Muslim leaders fear election year scare campaign
''

''. 15 May 2010
Mohammed El-leissy
''International Visitors Leadership Program'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Leissy, Mohammed 1985 births Living people Australian Muslims Australian people of Egyptian descent Australian male comedians Australian stand-up comedians Muslim male comedians Australian social workers Australian imams Australian Greens politicians Victoria (state) local government politicians Participants in Australian reality television series Politicians from Melbourne Comedians from Melbourne People from Brunswick, Victoria RMIT University alumni The Amazing Race contestants