“Get Off Your Phone”: Politician Tells Muslims To Log Off From Online Hate

*throws phone into the sea*

Australia's first ever female Muslim MP has been getting text messages from friends in the last 24 hours since the election of Donald Trump, including stories of young women who've been told by their parents to be careful wearing their hijab in public.

Lukas Coch / AAPIMAGE

In the wake of Donald Trump's shock election, BuzzFeed News visited the parliamentary office of Labor's Anne Aly to talk about how the Australian Muslim community had been taking the news.

"A lot of people are scared, mothers are saying ‘don’t wear your hijab’ and there is a fear that Trump’s election will galvanise Islamophobia in Australia," Aly said.

But the counter-terrorism expert said that sometimes, in the face of shocking global events, the Muslim community can get stuck in an unhelpful mindset helped along by sensationalised media coverage.

"The Muslim community often have higher negative perceptions of how the broader community view them, than how the broader community actually express those perceptions in the real world."

"Sometimes the fear can be amplified, particularly if you’re on social media all the time."

Trump's winning message of Islamophobia has been taken up in Australia by nationalist politician Pauline Hanson, whose party recently won four seats in the Senate.

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Earlier this year, Hanson was widely condemned for her first speech to the Senate, when she warned that Australia was being "swamped by Muslims".

Aly reached out to Hanson following the speech and the two had a meal together to discuss the One Nation leader's views on Islam.

Following Trump's victory, Aly suggested more people turn their backs on the online Islamophobia that is common on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

"From behind a screen people can call Muslims cockroaches, vermin, but when you’re faced with them, you cannot deny that the person in front of you is flesh and blood, just like you," Aly said.

"My advice is, get off your phone, switch it off, walk away, regroup, re-centre yourself as to who you are, where you are and how you relate to your world."