Anthony D'Adam

Anthony Gerard Damien D'Adam is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 2019, representing the Australian Labor Party.

D'Adam was a Labor Party branch secretary in the Auburn electorate and was a former campaign manager for Luke Foley during his campaign for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Auburn. He is a member of the NSW Left faction and a prominent advocate for Palestine within the Australian Labor Party.

Political career

Trade union career Prior to entering Parliament, D'Adam worked for three trade unions: The Forestry and Furnishing Products Division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining, and Energy Union, the Public Service Association of NSW, and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. D'Adam supported a Picket line at New South Wales Parliament House as part of the Public Service Association of NSW's campaign against the Labor Government's changes to the worker compensation scheme. D'Adam cited his experience in the picket-line and other non-violent civil disobedience campaigns in a speech criticising the Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2022.

Labor Party involvement D'Adam is a member of the NSW Labor Left Faction.

In 2020, D'Adam expressed concern that the structure of the Labor Party is leading to the collapse of rank-and-file participation and ultimately the Pasokification of the party. Following the resignation of NSW Labor Leader Jodi McKay in May 2021, D'Adam published an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald calling on NSW Labor to conduct a rank-and-file ballot between the presumptive leadership candidates, Michael Daley and Chris Minns.

D'Adam is a founding editor of Unprecedented Times Magazine, a Labor Party publication associated with Democratic socialism.

At the 2023 Australian Labor Party National Conference, D'Adam moved a motion opposing Australia's participation in the AUKUS security partnership.

Parliamentary career As a Member of the NSW Legislative Council, D'Adam has supported progressing social reforms including the legalisation of abortion in 2019 and the proposed legalisation of Voluntary euthanasia in March 2022. D'Adam opposed Mark Latham's Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020. D'Adam echoed the position of LGBTIQ+ rights groups, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, and the New South Wales Teachers Federation who condemned the proposed legislation as an attack on trans and gender diverse students in NSW Public Schools. In a dissenting statement attached to the final report of a Legislative Council inquiry into the Bill, D'Adam argued that the legislation would "do real and lasting damage to our education system".

D'Adam has been critical of international human rights abuses and the rise of Far-right politics including the normalisation of "anti‑Semitism, Islamophobia, and increasing hostility to the LGBTQI community". In his inaugural speech, D'Adam linked his opposition to the far-right with the fact that his family came to Australia as political refugees following the rise of Benito Mussolini's regime in Italy. In a speech to Parliament, D'Adam argued that "Fascism has always preyed on the fears and discontents of alienated people to undermine and destabilise democratic institutions and erode social cohesion". and has celebrated the Anti-fascist activities of Arthur Rae.

Civil liberties Despite being bound by the rules of NSW Labor to support the caucus position on the Roads and Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2022, D'Adam spoke against the legislation along with his Labor colleagues Peter Primrose and Shaoquett Moselmane. Further, D'Adam argued against the bill on the basis that it could be used to imprison people who participate in socially progressive forms of protest. D'Adam observed that the legislation criminalises tactics adopted by participants in the Selma to Montgomery marches and by "suffragettes [who] chained themselves to Parliament House in a form of direct action not dissimilar to the kinds of direct action the bill is trying to criminalise". During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, D'Adam criticised the Israeli military and spoke in support of the Arab Australian Federation's Statement on Anti-Palestinianism.

Throughout the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip (2023–present), D'Adam has publicly called on the Israeli government and the international community to implement an "immediate ceasefire".

During his career in the Labor Party, D'Adam has supported structural reforms which prioritise rank-and-file democracy over "the centralisation of authority".

Prior to his election in 2019, D'Adam was a long-term member of the NSW Labor Administrative Committee. On 19 October 2023, D'Adam signed an open letter which condemned attacks against Israeli and Palestinian civilians. On 22 November 2023, D'Adam called on the Australian Government "to use its influence to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory".

In December 2023, D'Adam organised an open letter with Greens MP Jenny Leong that called on the Albanese government to 're-examine its relationship with Israel' in light of Palestinian civilian casualties. In October 2024, D'Adam described a proposal by Minns that would empower police to ban protests as 'incredibly dangerous'. In early August 2025, D'Adam attended the March for Humanity in Sydney, a large protest highlighting the plight of Palestinians in the Gaza conflict. In a caucus meeting D'Adam criticised Minns' position on the Gaza war and the premier's opposition to the weekend protest on the issue.

During debate on the Terrorism and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 introduced in the wake of the Bondi shooting, D'Adam spoke out against the bill's aims, stating that an attempt to constrain chants in protests was "a fool's errand".

Other international issues In a 2021 speech commemorating The Tamil Genocide by Sri Lanka, D'Adam called on the Australian government to consider implementing Magnitsky legislation to target perpetrators of human rights abuses.