[5] During his time at the University of Wollongong, Atalla gained employment as a junior engineer with Holroyd Municipal Council before he moved to the Mount Druitt Electorate in 1987.

In August 2014, he left private and public engineering to pursue a career in politics when he was preselected to be the NSW Labor candidate for the Electoral district of Mount Druitt.

This defining moment occurred in 1987 when he assisted an elderly man who could not afford to replace his set of dentures after they fell down a Council storm-water drain.

[2] Atalla joined the Labor Party two years later, in 1989, and states he was "attracted to the principals of Social Justice including access to health and education, employment opportunities, and greater equality in wealth and power".

Within his time at the Blacktown City Council, he held the following positions; In 2015, Atalla won the Mount Druitt seat in the New South Wales parliament by a landslide, with a total of 65.4% of the vote against NSW Liberal Party candidate Olivia Lloyd.