Sophie Cotsis

Sophie Cotsis (born 1973)[1] is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 7 September 2010 to 16 September 2016, when she resigned in order to contest a by-election for the Legislative Assembly seat of Canterbury.

The daughter of Greek migrants, Cotsis grew up in the St George district together with her brother. She was educated at Canterbury South Public School and at Kingsgrove High School before matriculating to Macquarie University where Cotsis became a member of the University's Hellenic Studies Foundation and established a program that preserved the Greek language and Hellenic heritage at the University.[2] Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University, Cotsis later completed a Master of Legal Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney.[3]

Prior to entering Parliament, Cotsis was a hospitality worker at Sydney Airport, later becoming an official with the Labor Council of New South Wales and subsequently the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union. Cotsis joined the Labor Party in 1993, partly inspired by Paul Keating.[2] She later became an adviser to former New South Wales Treasurer Michael Costa until March 2008, when she became an adviser to the infrastructure company Parsons Brinckerhoff.[4]

Cotsis was appointed to the Legislative Council to fill a casual vacancy following the resignation of John Della Bosca.<[3] In September 2016, Cotsis resigned from the Legislative Council after she was preselected to contest the Legislative Assembly seat of Canterbury for Labor at the by-election to fill the vacancy left by Linda Burney, who had resigned to contest the federal seat of Barton at the 2016 federal election.