Julie Ann Owens (born 17 October 1958) is an Australian former politician who served as a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

for

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

from 2004 to 2022 , when she retired from politics.

Early life

Owens was born on 17 October 1958 in Rockhampton,

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. Her family moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

as a result of her father's career in the army. Owens attended Everton Park State High School. She went on to attend the

Queensland Conservatorium of Music Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (formerly the Queensland Conservatorium of Music) is a selective, audition based music school located in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and is part of Griffith University. History The Conservatori ...

, studying piano under Nancy Weir and graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in Music. Owens was a production manager at the Lyric Opera of Queensland from 1985 to 1989, where she was involved in productions of ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'', ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'' and '' Madama Butterfly''. She later worked as a senior program officer at the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austr ...

from 1989 to 1993 and CEO of the Association of Independent Record Labels from 2000 to 2004. She was also a small-business owner and completed an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

Politics

Owens' first foray into politics came in 1996, when she stood as the Labor candidate in

Division of North Sydney The Division of North Sydney is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. History It was proclaimed in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It originally stretched ...

. She was given very little chance of winning, given that North Sydney has long been a conservative stronghold, and was soundly defeated by

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Joe Hockey. In the 2004 election campaign, Owens ran against the incumbent Liberal

Ross Cameron Ross Alexander Cameron (born 14 May 1965) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1996 to October 2004, representing the Division of Parramatta, New South Wales. Between 2013 ...

. The campaign was notable for the admission by Cameron, a prominent family values campaigner, that he had had an extramarital affair, and Owens won the seat on preferences, despite a swing against the Labor Party in New South Wales. Owens is a backbencher and has been a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts from December 2004. Although her seat was made notionally Liberal in a redistribution ahead of the 2007 election, she did not only retained her seat, but recorded a healthy swing of seven points. She won a third term in 2010 with only a small swing against her, and narrowly won a fourth term in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

even as Labor lost government. Her 2013 victory marked only the second time (her initial win being the first) that the Liberals or their predecessors have been in government without holding Parramatta. Following the resignation of Labor MP Craig Thomson as chair of the Economics Committee, Owens was appointed head of the Committee. On 28 October 2021, Owens announced in Parliament that she would not contest the next election. The ALP made Eastern Suburbs businessman Andrew Charlton the candidate for the 2022 elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Owens, Julie 1958 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Parramatta Australian chief executives Women members of the Australian House of Representatives Griffith University alumni University of Sydney alumni People from Rockhampton Labor Left politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Australian music industry executives 20th-century Australian women