Danna Sue Vale (née Ward; born 14 November 1944) is a former Australian politician. A member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, she served as

Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widower ...

in the Howard Government from 2001 to 2004, the first woman to hold the position. She was a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 1996 to 2010, holding the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

seat of

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

Early life

Vale was born in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

on 14 November 1944. She was the oldest of six children born to Albert and Delma Ward; her father was a World War II veteran and her maternal grandfather Donald Dempsey was killed in World War I, along with two of his brothers. She grew up in the suburb of Sylvania, leaving school at the age of 14 and working as an office girl. By working multiple jobs she saved money to take flying lessons, achieving a pilot's licence at the age of 20. Following her marriage Vale was a stay-at-home mother for a number of years, eventually enrolling to study law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

in 1984. She graduated in 1988 with the degrees of

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

, subsequently working as a solicitor until her election to parliament.

Political career

Vale joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and soon became president of the Gymea branch. She was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 federal election, defeating the incumbent

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) member and Keating Government minister

Robert Tickner Robert Edward Tickner (born 24 December 1951) is a former Australian Labor Party cabinet minister. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Red Cross from February 2005 to July 2015. Born in Sydney, Tickner was adopted. He later searc ...

. She was subsequently re-elected on four occasions. After serving on various House

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

s, Vale was elevated to the ministry in November 2001 as

and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, as part of a reshuffle after the 2001 federal election. In 2003 her department released a review of veterans' entitlements, although she quickly rejected its recommendation to

means-test A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for government assistance or welfare, based upon whether the individual or family possesses the means to do without that help. Canada In Canada, means tests are use ...

the Repatriation Health Card. In October 2003 the South Australian branch of the

Returned and Services League of Australia The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force. Mission The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...

(RSL) passed a

motion of no-confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in Vale, citing "a long standing problem of getting responses" and her late arrival and early departure from its annual general meeting. She was removed as assistant defence minister in the same month, and was not retained in the ministry after the 2004 election. In 2004, Vale unwittingly became involved in the "

cash for comment affair The cash for comment affair was an Australian scandal that broke in 1999 concerning paid advertising in radio that was presented to the audience in such a way as to sound like editorial commentary. John Laws, a shock jock radio presenter for Sydne ...

" when she mistakenly faxed a letter of support, meant for radio talkback host Alan Jones of

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

, to Jones' former station

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

. At the time, questions were being raised about the impartiality of

David Flint David Edward Flint (born 1938) is an Australian legal academic, known for his leadership of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and for his tenure as head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority. Early life and education David Flint was bo ...

, the head of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, when a letter of praise from Flint to Jones was revealed after the ABA had cleared Jones of wrongdoing. Vale's letter, urging Jones to "stay brave and true", was lampooned by the ABC TV program '' Media Watch'', which adopted "Stay Brave and True" as its unofficial motto. After losing her ministry, Vale joined the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Science and Innovation established to look at the technology of

geosequestration A carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide () from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon si ...

of carbon dioxide. The committee reported in August 2007. However, Vale was one of four MPs issuing a dissenting report in which they stated, "We do not believe the evidence unequivocally supports the hypothesis of anthropogenic

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

". Among the evidence cited in the dissenting report were claims of global warming on other planets including Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune and Triton (a moon of Neptune). Vale was ridiculed in ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''Crabb, Annabel
Aliens in the house from the Planet Propaganda
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 14 August 2007. and the local media for her views. In August 2009 Vale announced she would not re-contest her seat at the 2010 federal election.

Political views

Vale notably opposed several of the Howard Government's policies and proposals, often on local issues, in particular the proposed construction of a

second Sydney airport The need for and location of a second airport serving Sydney, Australia was the subject of much debate. The new airport would supplement or replace the city's existing Kingsford Smith Airport. Governments had debated the issue since the 1940s, ...

Holsworthy Holsworthy is a market town and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, some west of Exeter. The River Deer, a tributary of the River Tamar, forms the western boundary of the parish, which includes the village of Brandis Cor ...

and a

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

processing plant at

Lucas Heights Lucas Heights is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is near to the Royal National Park. Geography It is located 31 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government ...

, both of which would have been located in her electorate. In the government's second term, she spoke against

mandatory sentencing Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...

of juveniles in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. In June 2009, Vale was one of four Liberal MPs to support a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

move to abolish the practice of charging asylum seekers the cost of their detention. In 2006, Vale suggested that Australia is going to become a Muslim nation, as a result of Australians "aborting themselves out of existence" She made these comments in supporting a Coalition-backed amendment to a bill on the

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

drug

RU486 Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of p ...

, and expressing concern at the rate of abortion by Australian women.MP raises Islamisation fear in RU486 debate
''ABC News'', 13 February 2006.

Personal life

Vale raised four sons with her husband Bob.

References

External links

Personal website

Official Parliamentary biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vale, Danna 1944 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Hughes Members of the Australian House of Representatives Women members of the Australian House of Representatives Recipients of the Centenary Medal Australian solicitors People from the Sutherland Shire Women government ministers of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians 20th-century Australian politicians University of Sydney alumni 20th-century Australian women politicians