Australia’s first Egyptian-born Muslim female member of parliament Down Under:

Egyptian-Australian Anne Aly’s childhood combined the carefree lifestyle of 1970s Australia with overt and institutionalized racism directed towards her as an immigrant. Later, she studied at AUC alongside enormously privileged classmates, provided for two children as a single parent, and navigated the post-September 11 landscape in Australia, where Muslims were widely demonized.

From academia, to policy, to politics: An academic and policy adviser, she has recently made the shift into politics, becoming the first ever Muslim woman, first Arab, first Egyptian-born and first counter-terrorism expert to take a seat in Australia’s Parliament. In this conversation on Radio Brisbane (listen, runtime: 49:55), she discusses her early experiences of assimilation, the commonalities between violent, radical movements — from white supremacy to Islamist militancy — and why she holds out hope that politics still offers a way to make meaningful change in people’s lives.