Politics

Watch Mehreen Faruqi Roast A Government Senator Every Time He Gets Her Name Wrong

"My name is actually pretty easy to pronounce."

by Sam Langford  24 October 2018
Mehreen Faruqi had to correct Ian Macdonald several times on the pronunciation of her name.

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Well, it turns out you can make it all the way to the federal Senate and white dudes still won’t bother to learn your name. Yesterday during a Senate estimates meeting, noted dickhead Senator Ian Macdonald got Senator Mehreen Faruqi’s name wrong quite a few times, despite Faruqi patiently correcting him each time.

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Naturally, Faruqi has now exacted her revenge by uploading a video compilation of Macdonald’s extraordinary inability to exercise common courtesy and learn her name. Watch it and listen to him somehow manage to pronounce “Faruqi” as “far-kew-ee”, as someone in the background points out that Faruqi has already corrected him twice on this.

Then again, we shouldn’t expect much of Macdonald, who also spent yesterday advocating for Torres Strait Islanders to be sent to Nauru because he believes there’s a surplus of healthcare available there. Seriously.

“Senator Macdonald’s mispronunciation is quite mindboggling as my name is actually pretty easy to pronounce,” Senator Faruqi told Junkee this morning. “The incident has really struck a chord with people who have non-Anglo Saxon names and who constantly have their name mispronounced. Some have just given up and offer other names or even change their name just to get by, which can be alienating for them.”

“It isn’t actually that difficult to pronounce someone’s name correctly, or at least ask them the correct pronunciation. Surely we owe each other that simple courtesy and respect.”

You can watch her video owning Macdonald below. It also includes a handy guide to pronouncing her name, just in case Macdonald’s finally worked out how to use the internet.