Daryl Melham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daryl Melham (born 27 November 1954), Australian politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since March 1990, representing the Division of Banks, New South Wales. He was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and studied Law and Economics at Sydney University. He was a barrister and solicitor and a public defender before entering politics. He has been Vice-President of the New South Wales Labor Party since 1999.
Melham worked as a solicitor with the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales, specialising in criminal law from 1979 to 1987. He was subsequently admitted to the bar as a barrister, and was a public defender until his entry into federal politics in 1990. He is also a foundation member of the NSW Society of Labor Lawyers, a collective of lawyers committed to leftist political policies.
Melham entered the Opposition Shadow Ministry following Labor's electoral defeat in 1996. He served as Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs but resigned in 1998 after a policy disagreement with the then Labor leader Kim Beazley. He returned to the Opposition Shadow Ministry in 2001 and he was Shadow Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Local Government from December 2003, resigning from the front bench soon after the Labor Party's election defeat in October 2004.
Daryl Melham is a Life Member and Vice-President of the Revesby Workers' Club. He has a good sense of humour, and in 2004 on ABC program The Chaser Decides quipped that Alan Jones was a "closet socialist".
Melham and colleague Lindsay Tanner are the only Labor MPs to openly speak out against the Howard government's proposed anti-terrorism legislation which provides for harsher punishments for sedition and grants police new shoot-to-kill powers.
