Basem Jamal Abdo is an Australian politician who serves as a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

representing the

Division of Calwell The Division of Calwell () is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. Calwell contains the outer north-western fringe of Melbourne. It is located entirely within the City of Hume, and includes the suburbs of Broadmeadows, ...

. He was elected in the 2025 election as a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

. The son of

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country, village or house over the course of the 1948 Palestine war and during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refug ...

, Abdo is the first person of Palestinian descent to serve in the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

Early life

Basem Abdo was born in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

. His father fled his village in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. Their family sought refuge in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

during the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and moved to Australia in 1991. His father was trained as a electrical engineer, but was unable to find employment in Australia as an electrical engineer. Abdo graduated from Gladstone Park Secondary College and is a qualified teacher. He married to Natascha and is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Career

Abdo worked as an advisor for

Maria Vamvakinou Maria Vamvakinou () (born 4 January 1959) is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and served in the House of Representatives from 2001 to 2025, representing the Division of Calwell in Victoria. Early l ...

, a member of the

. He is a member of the

(ALP) and is aligned with the

Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...

faction of the party. For the 2025 federal election Abdo was selected to succeed Vamvakinou as the ALP's candidate in the

and defeated twelve other candidates for the seat. Vamvakinou endorsed Abdo and Calwell has been held by Labor since its creation in 1984. 23.8% of the population of the Division of Calwell is Muslim, one of the highest for any Australian electorate. Abdo is the first member of the

to be of Palestinian descent.

Political positions

Abdo supports increasing the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. List of countries by minimum wage, Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation b ...

. Abdo is an advocate for

Palestinian statehood The history of the State of Palestine describes the creation and evolution of the State of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the British mandate period, numerous plans of partition of Palestine were proposed but without the agr ...

References

Works cited

News

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Web

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdo, Basem Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Calwell Australian people of Palestinian descent Australian Muslims Australian MPs 2025–2028