Mark Vaile
The Honourable Mark Vaile AO |
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File:Mark Vaile (TM).jpg | |
12th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia | |
In office 6 July 2005 – 3 December 2007 |
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Prime Minister | John Howard |
Preceded by | John Anderson |
Succeeded by | Julia Gillard |
Minister for Transport and Regional Development | |
In office 25 September 1997 – 21 October 1998 |
|
Prime Minister | John Howard |
Preceded by | John Sharp |
Succeeded by | John Anderson |
In office 29 September 2006 – 3 December 2007 |
|
Prime Minister | John Howard |
Preceded by | Warren Truss |
Succeeded by | Anthony Albanese |
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry | |
In office 21 October 1998 – 19 July 1999 |
|
Prime Minister | John Howard |
Preceded by | John Anderson |
Succeeded by | Warren Truss |
Minister for Trade and Investment | |
In office 20 July 1999 – 19 September 2006 |
|
Prime Minister | John Howard |
Preceded by | Tim Fischer |
Succeeded by | Warren Truss |
Member of the Australian Parliament for Lyne |
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In office 13 March 1993 – 30 July 2008 |
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Preceded by | Bruce Cowan |
Succeeded by | Rob Oakeshott |
Personal details | |
Born | Sydney, New South Wales |
18 April 1956
Nationality | Australian |
Political party | National Party of Australia |
Children | 3 |
Residence | Taree, New South Wales |
Religion | Roman Catholicism[1][2] |
Mark Anthony James Vaile AO (born 18 April 1956) is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia. Vaile is currently a non-executive director of a number of public listed corporations.
Contents
Early life
Vaile was born in Sydney and worked as a farm machinery retailer and stock and station and real estate agent before entering politics. He was a member of the Greater Taree City Council 1985–93, including three years as Deputy Mayor.[1]
Parliamentary career
Vaile was a member of the Australian House of Representatives between March 1993 and July 2008, representing the Division of Lyne, New South Wales. In his first bid for the seat, in the 1993 election, Vaile led over the Liberals by only 233 votes on the third count, despite the seat's long history as a National stronghold. Labor had taken a large first-count lead which it held for most of the night, but Vaile won after Liberal preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him. However, had 120 votes gone the other way, the Liberals would have taken the seat.[3] Vaile was able to revert the seat to its traditional status as a safe National seat in 1996, and he would go on to hold the seat without serious difficulty from then onward.
He was Assistant National Party Whip 1994–96 and National Party Whip 1996–97. In 1997 he was appointed Minister for Transport and Regional Development, and in 1998 he became Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. In July 1999, following the resignation of Tim Fischer and the election of John Anderson as National Party leader, he was elected the party's Deputy Leader and became Minister for Trade. When John Anderson resigned in 2005, Vaile was elected Leader unopposed. On 6 July 2005 he was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister.[1]
As Trade Minister, Vaile was involved in the negotiation of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which was opposed by some traditional National Party constituencies such as the sugar industry.
There was much controversy over the intellectual property chapter of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement. The chapter contains elements modelled on the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act 1998 (US) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US) In December 2003, Trade Minister Mark Vaile pledged to defend the copyright term in Australia: “It is a very important issue, particularly in terms of cost to libraries, educational institutions and the like here in Australia.” Two months later, Australia agreed to a copyright term extension, as part of the deal with the United States. There was also much criticism of the adoption of a US-style technological protection measures - particularly as the High Court of Australia was considering the matter of Stevens v Sony. There was also controversy over the evergreening of pharmaceutical drug patents and access to essential medicines under the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
During 2005 he also conducted negotiations for the proposed Australia-China Free Trade Agreement. In late 2005 he had an operation to remove a malignant melanoma from his back.[4]
Since Vaile took on the leadership of the Nationals in 2005, there were increasing suggestions for Vaile to take on a domestic portfolio as the trade portfolio requires frequent overseas travel. Throughout 2006, Vaile's position in the trade portfolio came under increasing scrutiny due to his handling of the AWB kickbacks scandal and Australia's worsening trade performance. He also faced the difficult task of placating his back bench, with Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce having crossed the floor on more than one occasion. On 24 September 2006 he switched portfolios with deputy Nationals leader Warren Truss and became Minister for Transport and Regional Services. His new position had a greater focus on regional Australia, the Nationals party's main constituency.
Following the coalition's defeat at the 2007 federal election, Vaile resigned his position as Nationals leader and moved to the backbench.[5][6] Vaile announced his resignation from Parliament on 19 July 2008, with effect from 30 July;[7] which triggered a Lyne by-election, won by an independent politician, Rob Oakeshott.[8][9]
Post-parliament career
In September 2008, Vaile was appointed to the board of Virgin Australia Holdings (ASX: VAH).[10] Vaile is also the independent chairman and a non-executive director of Whitehaven Coal Limited ASX: WHC;[11] chairman of the Regional Infrastructure Fund of Palisade Investment Partners, a specialist independent infrastructure manager;[12] a non-executive director, appointed by the Australian Hotels Association of HOSTPLUS, an industry superannuation fund;[13] a non-executive director of Servcorp (ASX: SRV);[14] a director of the Singapore-listed Stamford Land Corporation (SGX: H07);[15] and Chairman of 123 Childcare, an education provider in the People's Republic of China.[16]
Honours
On 1 January 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service as Minister for Trade".[17] On 11 June 2012, he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, through support for rural and regional communities, to the pursuit of global trade and investment opportunities, and to the citizens of the Taree region."[18]
Personal
A Roman Catholic, Vaile is married with three children.[1][2] He lives on a 40 ha (100-acre) rural property outside Taree, New South Wales.[1]
References
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- ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2008/lyne/
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External links
- Mark Vaile's Maiden Speech in the House of Representatives
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
Political offices | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Minister for Transport and Regional Development 1997–99 |
Succeeded by John Anderson |
Preceded by | Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 1998–99 |
Succeeded by Warren Truss |
Preceded by | Minister for Trade 1999–2006 |
|
Preceded by | Minister for Transport and Regional Services 2006–07 |
Succeeded by Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of Australia 2005–07 |
Succeeded by Julia Gillard |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by | Leader of the National Party of Australia 2005–07 |
Succeeded by Warren Truss |
Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the National Party of Australia 1999–2005 |
Succeeded by Warren Truss |
Parliament of Australia | ||
Preceded by | Member for Lyne 1993–2008 |
Succeeded by Rob Oakeshott |
- Use dmy dates from August 2010
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with dead external links from October 2013
- 1956 births
- Living people
- Australian monarchists
- People from Sydney
- National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
- Deputy Prime Ministers of Australia
- Members of the Cabinet of Australia
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lyne
- Members of the Australian House of Representatives
- Recipients of the Centenary Medal
- Officers of the Order of Australia
- Australian Roman Catholics