Mark Anthony James Vaile (born 18 April 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as the 12th
deputy prime minister of Australia
The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...
and the leader of the
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia, commonly known as the Nationals or simply the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right and Agrarianism, agrarian List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia. Traditionally represe ...
from 2005 to 2007, during the final years of the
Howard government. Vaile is currently a non-executive director of a number of
public listed corporations.
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.
Parliamentary career
Vaile was a member of the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
...
between March 1993 and July 2008, representing the
Division of Lyne
The Division of Lyne is an Electorates of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales. It is on the Tasman Sea coast, stretching from Hawks Nest, Ne ...
in 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. 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
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
.
[
As Trade Minister, Vaile was involved in the negotiation of the US–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 US–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 US–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
Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...
from his back.
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
In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...
on more than one occasion. On 24 September 2006 he switched portfolios with deputy Nationals leader Warren Truss
In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...
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. His resignation surprised his colleagues as he had been expected to be re-elected unopposed following the election. On 19 July 2008 Vaile announced his forthcoming resignation from Parliament; he submitted it on 30 July. The ensuing by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
was won by independent Rob Oakeshott, the former state member for Port Macquarie and a former Vaile staffer.
Post-parliament career
In September 2008, Vaile was appointed to the board of Virgin Australia Holdings. He was replaced by Angus Houston in December 2018.
Vaile is also the independent chairman and a non-executive director of Whitehaven Coal, non-executive director of Palisade Investment Partners, a specialist independent infrastructure manager; a non-executive director of Hostplus, a non-executive director of Servcorp; a director of the Singapore-listed Stamford Land Corporation; and Chairman of 123 Childcare, an education provider in the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
In June 2021 it was announced that Vaile would succeed Paul Jeans as Chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
of the University of Newcastle. However following a backlash over his links to the coal industry, Vaile did not take up the post.
Honours
On 1 January 2001, Vaile was awarded the Centenary Medal
The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...
for "service as Minister for Trade". In 2012 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...
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.
Personal
A Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, Vaile is married with three children. He lives on a rural property outside Taree, New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
.[
]
References
External links
Mark Vaile's Maiden Speech in the House of Representatives
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaile, Mark
1956 births
Australian monarchists
Australian Roman Catholics
Deputy prime ministers of Australia
Leaders of the National Party of Australia
Living people
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lyne
Members of the Cabinet of Australia
National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Officers of the Order of Australia
Politicians from Sydney
Australian MPs 1993–1996
Australian MPs 1996–1998
Australian MPs 1998–2001
Australian MPs 2001–2004
Australian MPs 2004–2007
Australian MPs 2007–2010