Anne Aly

Biography

Anne Azza Aly is an Australian politician, academic, and counter-terrorism expert. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party and has been serving as a member of the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 election, representing the constituency of Cowan in Western Australia. Aly is the first female federal parliamentarian of Islamic faith and one of Australia’s first two government ministers to be Muslim. She is currently the Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth in the Albanese ministry.

Aly was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1967 and migrated to Australia with her parents when she was two years old. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honours in English Literature from the American University in Cairo, followed by a Graduate Diploma of Arts (Language Studies) and a Master of Education degree, both from Edith Cowan University. She later earned a PhD in media and culture from Edith Cowan University.

Aly is a counter-terrorism expert and has written academic papers, books, and newspaper articles on terrorist recruitment and counter-messaging. She founded People Against Violent Extremism (PaVE), a youth-led not-for-profit organisation, to address extremism in Australia. PaVE has received a $115,000 grant from the federal Attorney-General’s Department to develop videos to counter extremism, and in 2015, Aly announced that PaVE had raised $40,800 for a mentoring program for young activists.

Aly has lectured in counter-terrorism and security at Edith Cowan University and Curtin University. She was appointed associate professor at Curtin in 2014 and Professor at Edith Cowan in 2015. She is an active member of Curtin University’s The Centre for Culture and Technology, leading its Countering Online Violent Extremism research program. Aly has received several awards for her academic and community work, including the Dean’s Award for Best New Researcher from Edith Cowan University, the Publication Award from the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers, and induction into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame.

In 2016, Aly was preselected as the Labor candidate for Cowan for the 2016 federal election and was successful in winning the seat from the incumbent, Luke Simpkins. During the election campaign, she accused the Liberal Party Justice Minister Michael Keenan of starting a scare campaign in relation to terrorism. Aly’s election made her the first female federal parliamentarian of Islamic faith.