1. Mark Anthony James Vaile was born on 18 April 1956 and is an Australian former politician who served as the 12th deputy prime minister of Australia and the leader of the National Party of Australia from 2005 to 2007, during the final years of the Howard government.
Mark Vaile was born in Sydney and worked as a farm machinery retailer and stock and station and real-estate agent before entering politics.
Mark Vaile was a member of the Australian House of Representatives between March 1993 and July 2008, representing the Division of Lyne in New South Wales.
Labor had taken a large first-count lead which it held for most of the night, but Mark Vaile won after Liberal preferences flowed overwhelmingly to him.
Mark 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.
When John Anderson resigned in 2005, Mark Vaile was elected Leader unopposed.
Since Mark Vaile took on the leadership of the Nationals in 2005, there were increasing suggestions for Mark Vaile to take on a domestic portfolio as the trade portfolio requires frequent overseas travel.
Mark Vaile faced the difficult task of placating his back bench, with Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce having crossed the floor on more than one occasion.
On 19 July 2008 Mark Vaile announced his forthcoming resignation from Parliament; he submitted it on 30 July.
In September 2008, Mark Vaile was appointed to the board of Virgin Australia Holdings.
Mark Vaile was replaced by Angus Houston in December 2018.
Mark Vaile is 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.
In June 2021 it was announced that Mark Vaile would succeed Paul Jeans as Chancellor of the University of Newcastle.
However following a backlash over his links to the coal industry, Mark Vaile did not take up the post.
On 1 January 2001, Mark Vaile was awarded the Centenary Medal for "service as Minister for Trade".