New councillor, Adam Worling, pledges to be strong on environment and active transport

By ROBBIE MASON

Recently sworn in as councillor, following Jess Scully’s resignation, Adam Worling has become the first queer elected representative on the current City of Sydney Council.

“I’m really excited to be a councillor at the City of Sydney and I happen to be gay but I think what is important is that there are nine other councillors. They are our allies as well,” Councillor Worling told City Hub.

“You have someone who champions the LGBTQ+ community, and there’s no one better than Clover Moore.”

Adam is a long-time resident in the City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA). Bar his first four weeks in Sydney, Adam has spent well over three decades living in Sydney’s inner-west and inner-city.

The mental map he paints, tracking his domestic movements across the LGA, is akin to a Jackson Pollock piece. From Potts Point to Newtown to Potts Point to Kings Cross to Redfern to Surry Hills. It’s an encyclopaedic list of postcodes.

From 2012, Adam began working as a volunteer for the election campaigns of Moore, now Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, and Alex Greenwich, now a New South Wales MP. While it was his first foray into the cutthroat world of local politics, it was hardly his first time engaging and supporting vulnerable communities.

Activist background

Adam, who describes himself as an “out and proud” member of Sydney’s queer community, has a long history of personal activism.

At the start of the HIV/AIDS crisis, while working in the fashion industry, Adam organised collectively with industry colleagues to found a fundraising charity called Fashion For AIDS. Adam has also worked with Thread Together, a not-for-profit organisation that redistributes excess new clothing to vulnerable Australians. In the late 90s and early 00s, he volunteered and marshalled at Mardi Gras.

In 2017, alongside a colleague, Marie-Claude Mallat, Adam “wrangled over 500 people from the fashion and related industries” to create a flash mob in Hyde Park supporting the YES vote for marriage equality.

By this point Adam had became engaged in local politics on an even deeper level. In 2016, he co-managed Clover Moore’s door-knocking campaign, organising 140 volunteers alongside a colleague. The team reached 50,000 households in eight weeks.

This style of campaigning was new to Adam. As he explained to City Hub, “at the time I hadn’t door-knocked before… After about the third door I knocked on I realised that this was the perfect fit for me. I never looked back after that.”

“I really enjoy going out every day and knocking on doors and speaking to people.”

Adam quickly earned a reputation as a well-spoken grafter with 30 years of experience in the communications industry. Running for council was the logical next step.

“Having worked closely on elections for Clover Moore and Alex Greenwich, it certainly had spurred my interest in what it would be like to run for public office.”

Adam was “chuffed” when, over a cup of tea, Lord Mayor Clover Moore asked him to join her ticket and run for council in the 2020 election, which was ultimately pushed back to December 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On active transport, waste and queerness

Adam cited two particular issues he wants to focus on as a councillor: active transport and waste.

He expressed appreciation for bike lanes and the pedestrianisation of roads. Referencing a recent trip to London, he described that city’s adaption to bike paths and walkways as “transformative”.

Adam has a grand vision for how council can aid waste disposal and recycling and green the inner city.

Stating that waste has become “a systemic behavioural issues,” Adam expressed optimism that the council can encourage residents to change their habits. He wants to prevent the kerbside dumping of rubbish and household goods.

“I’m not just talking about household garbage.”

“We need to look at food waste and better ways of ensuring that the plants we cultivate we do well the first time. In high traffic areas, do we start to put fencing around plants so they can develop? What we don’t want is green waste and wasting taxpayer’s money and replanting things.”

Adam also stated that he is “looking forward to working with the Oxford Street revitalisation.”

“We all need to come together. Pride was a fantastic example of that… Do I think that Pride is the answer to all of Oxford Street’s issues? No. But it’s a start. I like to think that, come the start of Mardi Gras next year, we will continue the street closures and street parties.”