Courtney Houssos is an Australian politician. She has been a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

since the 2015 state election. She is currently

Minister for Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

and

Natural Resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

in the Minns government. Houssos was born Courtney Roche in

Forster, New South Wales Forster is a coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Mid-Coast Council LGA, about 308 km north-north-east of Sydney. It is immediately adjacent to its twin, Tuncurry, which is the smaller of the two ...

. She was educated at Forster High School. She later studied for a Bachelor of Arts in international relations at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, where she met her future husband, George Houssos. At university, she entered student politics as a member of the student representative council protesting against university fee reform, and continued in politics as the first female Labor Party organiser for country New South Wales. In 2014, the New South Wales Labor Party removed

Amanda Fazio Amanda Ruth Fazio (born 23 August 1954) is an Australian politician; she was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council representing the Labor Party from 2000 to 2015. Fazio was President of the Legislative Council from 24 November 2 ...

from the party's upper house ticket at the 2015 state election, and Houssos was preselected to replace her. She was elected as the youngest Labor member of the Legislative Council. She was the Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation in the NSW Minns Shadow Cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Houssos, Courtney Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales University of New South Wales alumni People from Forster, New South Wales Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 21st-century Australian women politicians