Wow, hasn’t it been a roller coaster waiting for all the election results roll in. Finally just about the entire 47th Parliament of Australia is about to be confirmed and officiated and some good news coming out of this is that Western Australian Labor Senate candidate Fatima Payman is now Senator-elect and has won Western Australia’s sixth and final Senate seat.
What makes her even more amazing is that she will be the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman in Parliament, and possibly ( I can be corrected on this) the youngest Australian Senator. Proud of her roots, religion and culture, Payman is articulate and has done so much in Perth working in the community. Payman came to Australia with her family as refugees and was raised in Perth and how fitting that the announcement of her win comes during World Refugee Week!
Her emotions of winning definitely showed when she wrote about it on her Facebook page:
“WE WON!!!”
“I’m proud to announce that I’ve officially been elected as a Senator for Western Australia.”
“Thank you everyone for your love and support! We did it!”
Payman recently spoke with Guardian Australia and spoke about her pride in winning, wearing a hijab in Parliament and wanting to be a role model (via Guardian Australia):
“I want to normalise hijab wearing,”
“I hope to be an inspiration to many other young Australians, that just because you believe in God, or just because you look different, it shouldn’t prevent you from being involved in such an important institution.”
“You can’t be what you can’t see, and if that [parliament] is not reflective of the general Australian public then how can you have complete faith that they can hear your voice, and be your voice in power?”
What an amazing young woman, and we look forward to doing an interview with her very soon.
Images via Facebook