| The Honourable Catherine Cusack MLC |
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| Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 22 Mar 2003 |
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| Personal details | |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Australia |
Catherine Eileen Cusack (born 1963) is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, representing the Liberal Party. She was first elected as an opposition member on 22 March 2003 and was re-elected in 2011 when her party won government.[1] Her term is due to expire on 1 March 2019.[2] She is married to Chris Crawford, and they have two sons. The family home is at Lennox Head in the Northern Rivers region.[3] She is a member of Lennox Head-Alstonville Surf Life Saving Club, the 1st Lennox Head Scout group and Ballina RSL Club. Her pastimes include playing the guitar, swimming, bushwalking, reading and skating.[3]
In her inaugural parliamentary speech, Catherine identified herself as the great-granddaughter of a former Labor politician, John Cusack.[3][4] She grew up near Yass in southern New South Wales,[5] daughter of Greg Cusack[3] (born 1930), a former Australian motor racing and motor rally champion. She joined the Young Liberals while studying Economics at Sydney University and was elected their first female president in 1985.[3] Cusack worked for Greiner government minister Virginia Chadwick in the Community Services and Education portfolios. She left in 1992 to work in the private sector, moving to the NSW Far North Coast in 2000 following the appointment of her husband to the Northern Rivers Area Health Service.
In 2003, the then Liberal leader John Brogden appointed her to Shadow Cabinet in the Juvenile Justice and Women's portfolios. She later served as Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability.[6] When her party won government at the 2011 election, she was controversially dumped from the front bench by premier Barry O'Farrell, allegedly for having alienated the Shooters and Fishers Party by saying she would not allow hunting in national parks.[7]
In May 2011, Catherine Cusack received wide political support for a strong critique of her government's controversial decision to retrospectively alter a Solar Bonus Scheme, by cutting tariffs from 60 to 40 cents for customers who had signed up before November 2010 under the defeated Labor government.[8] In a letter to the premier she wrote that "It is a central tenant (sic) of Liberal and Conservative philosophy that any retrospective legislation to alter contracts is unprecedented and repugnant" and that "The politics of the decision are unacceptably high risk for the Government." [9]
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