How grief inspired Couzens

IT was in a moment of deeply personal grief when Christine Couzens’ journey to Spring Street really began.

In 1980, following the sudden death of her husband, Ms Couzens was left to raise three children on her own.

As she dealt with the tragedy, former Geelong footballer-turned-politician Neil Trezise reached out to her in his capacity as the Member for Geelong North.

“That a member of parliament bothered to contact me and find out if I needed any- thing — that was a pretty profound moment,” she said.

“And, over time, it made me think more and more of the importance of that, and the difference a member of parliament can make on peoples’ lives.”

Two decades later — after a long stint with the Barwon Region Housing Council — Ms Couzens started working as a staffer for Neil’s son, Ian, who served as Labor’s Geelong MP until retiring in 2014.

Following his retirement, Ms Couzens took over the Labor ticket in Geelong and was elected into parliament.

She said being thrust into the public spotlight after years working in the background was not an easy transition.

But Ms Couzens said she was proud to be part of a government that she said shared her passion for addressing issues for indigenous people, as well as in areas including disability and family violence.

“It’s been fantastic to be able to work with a government that you’re not continually fighting with behind the scenes to get the things you think the community needs,” she said.

Her role rubbing shoulders with the state’s political elite seems a far cry from Ms Couzens’ upbringing in working-class Corio.

“We were a pretty poor family. We didn’t have a lot really,” she said.

“I didn’t realise there was such a stigma about coming from the northern suburbs until I got older and started to see the prejudice (and) the discrimination against people like myself.

“But I’m really proud of my background and where I come from.”

Ms Couzens said it’s also fair to say she grew up fast.

She left school at 14 to work at a cake factory. At 15, she became pregnant to her boy-