Courtney Houssos

Courtney Houssos is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since the 2015 state election.[3] She is currently Minister for Finance, Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement and Natural Resources in the Minns government.

Houssos was born Courtney Roche in Forster, New South Wales. 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, 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.[4][1]

In 2014, the New South Wales Labor Party removed Amanda Fazio from the party's upper house ticket at the 2015 state election, and Houssos was preselected to replace her.[5] She was elected as the youngest Labor member of the Legislative Council.[4] She was the Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation in the NSW Minns Shadow Cabinet.[6]

In June 2023 Ms Houssos was embroiled in public scandal as state government Minister for Finance and publicly requested to immediately step aside after claims of a major conflict of interest involving her husband, George Houssos, who is employed as a lobbyist for the insurance industry. [7] She currently remains as the Minister for Finance, despite this and was additionally appointed Minister for Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement in September 2023.