Biography

Parliamentary service

• Elected to the House of Representatives for Cowan, Western Australia, 2016. Re-elected 2019, 2022 and 2025.

Ministerial appointments

• Minister for Youth from 1.6.2022 to 13.5.2025.
• Minister for Early Childhood Education from 1.6.2022 to 13.5.2025.
• Minister Assisting the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme from 20.1.2025 to 13.5.2025.
• Cabinet Minister from 13.5.2025.
• Minister for International Development from 13.5.2025.
• Minister for Multicultural Affairs from 13.5.2025.
• Minister for Small Business from 13.5.2025.

Committee service

• House of Representatives Standing: Economics served from 22.7.2019 to 8.10.2020
• Joint Select: Australia's Family Law System served from 22.10.2019 to 22.11.2021
• Joint Standing: Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade served from 15.9.2016 to 1.7.2019
• Joint Statutory: Law Enforcement served from 15.9.2016 to 11.4.2019; Law Enforcement served from 22.7.2019 to 24.7.2019; Law Enforcement served as Deputy Chair from 24.7.2019 to 11.4.2022; Intelligence and Security served from 3.9.2020 to 11.4.2022

Parliamentary party positions

• Australian Labor Party. Served: 02.07.2016 to present

Personal

• Born: 29.3.1967, Alexandria, Egypt
• Gender: Female
• Marital Status: Married

Qualifications and occupation before entering Federal Parliament

• PhD (Edith Cowan University).
• MEd (Edith Cowan University).
• PGDA (Edith Cowan University).
• BA (American University of Cairo).
• Senior Policy Officer at the Department of Education and Training (WA), from 2001 to 2002.
• Senior Policy Officer at the Office of Multicultural Interests (WA) from 2002 to 2007.
• Manager of Training and Education at the Equal Opportunity Commission (WA) from 2007 to 2008.
• Senior Lecturer at Curtin University and Edith Cowan University from 2011 to 2014.
• Associate Professor at Curtin University from 2014 to 2015.
• Professorial Fellow, 2015.

Electorate

• Name: Cowan
• Location: Cowan covers an area from Tapping and Wanneroo in the north to Kiara and Lockridge in the south. The division covers the City of Joondalup, the City of Wanneroo and the City of Swan. It includes the suburbs of Alexander Heights, Ashby, Ballajura, Beechboro, Bennett Springs, Cullacabardee, Darch, Girrawheen, Gnangara, Greenwood, Hocking, Jandabup, Kiara, Kingsley (part), Koondoola, Landsdale, Lockridge, Madeley, Malaga, Marangaroo, Pearsall, Sinagra, Tapping, Wangara, Wanneroo, Warwick and Whiteman.
• Area: 180 Sq km
• Electors enrolled: 98,665 (at 7.6.2019)
• Industries: Mainly retail and service industries, with some light industry, manufacturing and market gardens.

Honours

• Appointed a Member of the Women's Hall of Fame (WA), 2011.
• Awarded the Australian Security Medal, 2016.

Publications

• Chapter with A Balnaves and C Chalon in 'Recent Advances in Security Technology', P Mendis , J Lai, E Dawson and H Hussein Abbass (eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 RNSA Security Technology Conference, Australian Homeland Security Research Centre, Melbourne, 2007.
• Chapter in 'Doomed to Repeat: Terrorism and the Lessons of History', S Brawley (ed.), New Academia Press, Canberra, 2009.
• Chapter in 'Beyond the Hijab Debates: New Conversations on Gender, Race and Religion', T Dreher and C Ho (eds.), Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009.
• Social Implications of Fearing Terrorism: A report on Australian responses to the images and discourses of terrorism and the other: Establishing a metric of fear (ed. with L Green), Edith Cowan University, Perth, 2009.
• Proceedings of the 1st Australian Counter Terrorism Conference (ed.), SECAU, Perth, 2010.
• A study of audience responses to the media discourse about the 'Other': the fear of terrorism between Australian Muslims and the broader community, Edwin Mellen Press, Lampeter, 2010.
• Chapter with L Green in 'Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners', Inter-Disciplinary.Net [eBook], 2010.
• Chapter in 'Muslims in Australia', S Yasmeen (ed.), Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2010.
• Chapter in 'Afghanistan: The Old-New Geopolitical Blackhole', Future Directions International, Perth, 2011.
• Chapter with L Green in 'Negotiating Identities: Constructed Selves and Others', H Vella Bonavita (ed.), Rodopi, New York, 2011.
• Terrorism and global security: historical and contemporary perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, South Yarra, Vic.: 2011.
• Chapter in 'Subjective Well Being and Security', D Webb and E Wills Herrera (eds.), Springer, New York, 2012.
• Chapter in 'The Political Psychology of Terrorism Fears', D Antonius and SJ Sinclair (eds.), Oxford University Press, New York, 2013.
• Chapter in 'Spooked: The truth about Intelligence in Australia', D Baldino (ed.), New South Books, Melbourne, Vic., 2013.
• Countering Violent Extremism 2013: Official Report, Curtin University, Perth, 2013.
• Chapter in 'Counter-radicalisation: Critical Perspectives', L Jarvis and C Health-Kelly (eds.), Routledge, London, 2014.
• Countering Violent Extremism: Developing an evidence base for policy and practice (ed. with S Zeiger), Curtin University, Perth, 2015.
• Violent Extremism Online, (Ed. with T Chen, S McDonald and L Jarvis), Routledge, London, 2016.
• Finding my place, ABC Books, Sydney: 2018.