Alister Henskens

Alister Andrew Henskens is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since 2015, representing the electorate of electoral district of Ku-ring-gai in Sydney's upper North Shore.

He was born and raised in Newcastle. His father immigrated to Australia from the Netherlands in 1951 while his mother was schooled in Ku-ring-gai.^[1] Henskens studied economics and law at the University of Sydney, before receiving a masters in law from the University of Toronto on a Rotary Scholarship. He practised as a solicitor from 1987 to 1996 and as a barrister thereafter, becoming Senior Counsel in 2011. He specialised in general commercial, insolvency, banking, defamation, building and constitutional law. He was a director of Basketball NSW from 1997 to 1998, and had a long involvement with local basketball organisations in Newcastle and Sydney. He was Counsel Assisting the Equine Influenza Inquiry, and represented former state Minister for Resources and Energy Chris Hartcher before the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in the 2014 Operation Spicer Inquiry.^[2][3][4]

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly at the 2015 state election, succeeding former Premier Barry O'Farrell in the safe Liberal seat of Ku-ring-gai. He had won a closely fought Liberal preselection, with other contenders including radio presenter Jason Morrison.^[5]

Henskens is Chair of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Transport and Infrastructure and a member of the Committee on Investment, Industry and Regional Development. He was formerly Chair of the Select Committee on the Regulation of Brothels and a member of the Joint Select Committee on Companion Animal Breeding Practices.^[2]

Alister and his wife have two children.^[2]

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