The Hon Alister Henskens SC MP
NSW Minister for Science, Innovation & Technology
Alister has been the Member for Ku-ring-gai in the NSW Parliament since 2015.
Alister is the Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Minister for Sport, Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, Minister for Skills and Training, and is the Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly.
Previously Alister has served as the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services in the NSW Government, as the Cabinet Secretary in the NSW Government and as the Parliamentary Secretary for Finance. He has been the Chair of several Parliamentary Committees, including the Transport and Infrastructure Committee.
He is deeply committed to keeping Ku-ring-gai a great place to live, whether it is to grow up, be educated, have a family or retire.
Alister’s family have lived in the Ku-ring-gai area since 1996 and it is where his children attended school.
He was born, raised and schooled in Newcastle NSW. Alister’s father immigrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1951 while his mother was born and raised in Australia and completed her secondary education in Ku-ring-gai.
Alister has degrees in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Toronto, Canada, where he studied under a Rotary Foundation Scholarship.
After completing his studies, Alister was a lawyer for 27 years, first as a solicitor and then as a barrister, being appointed as a Senior Counsel or SC in 2011.
As a barrister, he worked principally in the areas of general commercial, insolvency, banking, defamation, and building and construction law.
He was also Counsel Assisting the Equine Influenza Inquiry in 2007.
Prior to entering Parliamentary service, Alister was involved in a number of community activities including as a director of Basketball NSW, a coach and manager of club and representative sporting teams and President of his local Public School’s P & C. Alister also held various positions in the local branches of the Liberal Party.
In his spare time, Alister enjoys playing the guitar, listening to music and reading.
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