16 Facts About Danna Vale

Danna Sue Vale is a former Australian politician.

Danna Vale was a member of the House of Representatives from 1996 to 2010, holding the New South Wales seat of Hughes.

Danna Vale 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.

Danna Vale grew up in the suburb of Sylvania, leaving school at the age of 14 and working as an office girl.

Danna Vale graduated in 1988 with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws, subsequently working as a solicitor until her election to parliament.

Danna Vale joined the Liberal Party in 1993 and soon became president of the Gymea branch.

Danna Vale was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1996 federal election, defeating the incumbent Australian Labor Party member and Keating government minister Robert Tickner.

In October 2003 the South Australian branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia passed a motion of no-confidence in Danna Vale, citing "a long standing problem of getting responses" and her late arrival and early departure from its annual general meeting.

Danna Vale was removed as assistant defence minister in the same month, and was not retained in the ministry after the 2004 election.

In 2004, Danna Vale unwittingly became involved in the "cash for comment affair" when she mistakenly faxed a letter of support, meant for radio talkback host Alan Jones of 2GB, to Jones' former station 2UE.

Danna 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.

However, Danna 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".

Danna Vale was ridiculed in The Sydney Morning Herald and the local media for her views.

Danna 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 at Holsworthy and a nuclear waste processing plant at Lucas Heights, both of which would have been located in her electorate.

In June 2009, Danna Vale was one of four Liberal MPs to support a Labor move to abolish the practice of charging asylum seekers the cost of their detention.

In 2006, Danna 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 drug RU486, and expressing concern at the rate of abortion by Australian women.