Ahlul Bayt News Agency, CANBERRA, Australia -- Among the newly elected legislators congregating for the first time Thursday at Parliament House were Australia's first Muslim lawmaker, its youngest-ever at 20 years old and the first Aboriginal in the House of Representatives.
The new lawmakers came to the capital Thursday for their first meetings with party leaders and colleagues since Aug. 21 elections. The polls failed to deliver a clear majority for any party for the first time in 70 years, but the center-left Labor Party formed a minority government with the support of four outside lawmakers.
Labor's Ed Husic, a former union leader from a Bosnian family, is the first Muslim lawmaker election in the country's 109-year history.
While he did not campaign on his religion, his conservative Liberal Party opponent David Barker had targeted him as a "strong Muslim" and had urged Christian church leaders to back the Liberal campaign. The Liberals dumped Barker as their candidate a month before the election after national media reported his anti-Muslim views.
End item/ 129