But the Muslim mother of two says she has reached the peak of what she can do within her role and it is time to enter the political fray as one of those making policy.
She admits, though, that she does not have all the answers, including what to do about offshore asylum-seeker processing.
Outside Labor campaign headquarters in North Perth, Anne Aly and fellow Labor candidate Matt Keogh are waiting for Labor leader Bill Shorten.
The pair escort the Labor leader inside, before he addresses the rest of the party forces ahead of the 2016 federal election.
"The Labor Party, we know who we are. And we know what we stand for. Now I'm proud of the fact that we approach the next election with arguably the most Labor platform the Labor Party's had in many, many years."
It is Labor values that the Egyptian-born Anne Aly says have drawn her to the party to fight for Western Australia's Liberal-held seat of Cowan.
The counter-violence researcher has built a career on being bipartisan and trying to get both sides together to fight what has been deemed the radicalisation of young Australians.
Now, she has declared her political leanings.
"I get the idea of politicians being tainted, but I think that also comes down to individuals. And I know (what) people look for in political leaders: They look for honesty, and they look for integrity, and they look for passion, and I believe I bring all of those things. Whether you're in opposition or whether you're in government, there're still changes that you can make. Having a voice in such a small and quite privileged group like the House of Representatives is still a way of being within government and influencing government."
Of course, it helps to actually be in government.
Australian voters rarely throw out a first-time government, so Labor could be facing another four years in the wilderness.
The seat of Cowan has also been held by Liberal MP Luke Simpkins since 2007.
Anne Aly says she knows she has a fight on her hands, but Labor is hoping the redistribution of the seat to create the new seat of Burt further south will help her chances.
The new southern suburbs include voters who, it could be argued, are more aligned to a Muslim mother of two who has worked with the area's youth for many years.
But in the populous north of the seat, the voter mix is far more mainstream, and an ex-army man like Luke Simpkins can be popular.
Anne Aly, who was raised in Australia but spent time studying in Egypt, where she met her first husband, insists she will offer something for the whole electorate.
"I am Muslim, but I have a huge commitment to secular democracy, and I don't believe that religion has a place in politics. So the platform, the image, that I'm projecting here, and who I am, is somebody who believes in secular democracy -- and secular, liberal democracy at that. So the fact that I'm Muslim is something that I prefer to keep a private thing, because I practise my religion in private."
Political analyst Martin Drum, from Perth's Notre Dame University, says Labor has not done well in the north of Cowan in several past elections.
"On the one hand, Anne Aly's a very accomplished and experienced potential candidate and (it's) probably a bit of a boon for the WA Labor Party to have her nominate. On the other hand, it could be quite a challenge to win that particular seat. On paper, it's only a 4 per cent margin, but West Australian Labor hasn't performed that well in the past, and this will be a tough election for them."
Dr Drum says the candidates both have new voters to win over and will need to campaign on wider issues like infrastructure and transport in the area.
But there will still be national issues to address, like Australia's offshore processing.
Anne Aly says it is a complex issue and she wants people-smuggling, or human trafficking, to stop and Australia to speed up its processing of asylum seekers.
"You know, it's not an easy solution. My heart bleeds for the people who are on Nauru and Manus Islands. But as I said, I don't have the answers. I hope we can find a much more humanitarian and compassionate response to this."
Upstairs from the Labor headquarters launch, volunteers are working the phones already to get an understanding of how the electorate would vote if an election were held tomorrow.
"Hi there, is this Carona? Hi, Carona, nice to speak to you. My name's Millie, and I'm calling on behalf of Anne Aly, your Labor candidate for Cowan in the upcoming federal election."
Anne Aly says she is in it for the long term, even if she wins but Labor loses and she has to spend four years in opposition.
She says she just hopes the conversations will be rational and she can continue the work she has long done, but in the halls and on the floor of Parliament House.
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