Mehreen Faruqi

Biography

Mehreen Saeed Faruqi is a politician and former engineer from Australia. She has been serving as a Senator for New South Wales since August 15, 2018, representing the Greens. Faruqi was selected to fill a casual vacancy that was created by the resignation of Lee Rhiannon, before being elected in her own right in 2019. Prior to her current position, Faruqi served in the New South Wales Legislative Council from June 2013 to August 2018. As of June 2022, she is also serving as the Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens.

Faruqi was born in Lahore, Pakistan, where her father, a civil engineer, was a professor at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET). She grew up on the UET campus and graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree in 1988. She subsequently worked as a structural engineer. Her husband, father-in-law, older brothers, and younger sister are also civil engineers. Faruqi and her husband moved to Sydney in 1992, where she attended the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and completed a Master of Engineering Science degree in 1994. She 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 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 who graduated high school outside of Australia, along with Gladys Liu and Kristina Keneally. She is also one of eleven MPs who possess a PhD, including Katie Allen, Fiona Martin, Anne Aly, Andrew Leigh, Daniel Mulino, Jess Walsh, Adam Bandt, Jim Chalmers, Anne Webster, and Helen Haines.

Before her appointment to the Legislative Council, Faruqi had a 25-year career as a professional engineer and academic. She worked in various positions in local government, consulting firms, and higher education institutions in Australia and internationally. Some of her roles included Manager of Environment and Services at Mosman Council, Manager of Natural Resources and Catchments for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, and Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at UNSW. At the time she was appointed to the New South Wales parliament, she was the Academic Director of the Master of Business and Technology Program and an associate professor at the Australian Graduate School of Management for UNSW.

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. In 2013, she was chosen to replace Cate Faehrmann in the Legislative Council, becoming the first Muslim woman to be a member of an Australian parliament. Her term in the Council began on June 19, 2013. In parliament, Faruqi held several portfolios for The Greens NSW, including 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 known for her vocal support of pro-choice advocacy and was instrumental in introducing the first parliamentary bill to decriminalize abortion in New South Wales in June 2014. She is also an advocate for public transport and environmental sustainability, having championed various initiatives in these areas. In March 2014, she successfully proposed a motion in parliament for the release of all government documents relating to the creation of the business case for the WestConnex motorway, which demonstrated her commitment to transparency and accountability in government decision-making processes.