The Hon Dr Anne Aly MP has been the Federal Member for Cowan since 2016.

 

In her late twenties, Dr Aly was a single mother of two young boys, relying on minimum-wage work and social services benefits to put food on the table. She went on to study her Masters and PhD and worked as a professor, academic and practitioner in counter terrorism and countering violent extremism, and was the only Australian representative to speak at President Obama’s 2015 White House summit on countering violent extremism.

 

In 2021, Dr Aly was awarded the McKinnon Prize for Emerging Political Leader of the Year, in recognition of her Parliamentary work against both right-wing extremism and family & domestic violence. Following the election of the Albanese Government earlier this year, she was appointed Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth.