Background
She was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, and was educated at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (now a part of Griffith University) and at the University of Sydney.
She was born in Rockhampton, Queensland, and was educated at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music (now a part of Griffith University) and at the University of Sydney.
University of Sydney.
She was production manager at the Lyric Opera of Queensland from 1985-1989 and senior program officer at the Australia Council from 1989-1993. She then became a small-business owner and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Australian Independent Record Labels (Associated Independent Recording) before entering Parliament. Owens" first foray into politics came in 1996, when she stood as the Labor candidate in Division of North Sydney.
She was given very little chance of winning, given that North Sydney has long been a conservative stronghold, and was soundly defeated by Liberal Joe Hockey.
In the 2004 election campaign, Owens ran against the incumbent Liberal Ross Cameron. Although her seat was made notionally Liberal in a redistribution ahead of the 2007 election, she not only retained her seat, but recorded a healthy swing of seven percent.
Following the resignation of Labor Member of Parliament Craig Thomson from the chair of the Economics Committee, Owens was appointed head of the Committee.
Owens is a backbencher and has been a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts from December 2004.