Damian Francis Hale (born 28 December 1969,
Ipswich, QueenslandIpswich is a city situated on the Bremer River in South East Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately 40 kilometres south-west of the state capital, Brisbane.-History:...
) is an
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
member of the
Australian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house, the upper house being the Senate.-Origins and role:The House is presided over by the Speaker....
, representing the
Division of SolomonThe Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It covers the cities of Darwin and Palmerston...
since the 2007 federal election. He moved to the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
in 1974 and grew up in
ManingridaManingrida is a self-governing indigenous community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is located 500 km east of Darwin and 300 km north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central Arnhem Land coast of the Arafura Sea, on the estuary of the Liverpool...
,
KatherineKatherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is the fourth largest settlement in the territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...
and
DarwinDarwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 120,652, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, with his teacher parents, Bob and Bev Hale.
While growing up he was actively involved in sports, representing the Northern Territory in
rugby leagueRugby league football is a full-contact form of football, played with a prolate spheroid ball by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. Rugby league is one of the two codes of rugby football, the other being rugby union...
and
Australian rules footballAustralian football, also commonly referred to as Australian rules football, football, or Aussie rules, colloquially as footy, and historically as Australasian football or Victorian football, is a variant of football played between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, outdoors on...
. He later coached
St Marys Football ClubThe St Marys Football Club, formed in 1952 is a member club of the Northern Territory Football League. It is famous for its record of success, with 26 NTFL premierships.Nicknamed the Saints, St Marys played their home games at Football Park in Marrara....
to three premierships (2003-5) in the
Northern Territory Football LeagueThe Northern Territory Football League is a 8 team Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.The premier grade is the largest Australian rules football league in the Northern Territory...
.
Damian Francis Hale (born 28 December 1969,
Ipswich, QueenslandIpswich is a city situated on the Bremer River in South East Queensland, Australia. It is located approximately 40 kilometres south-west of the state capital, Brisbane.-History:...
) is an
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
member of the
Australian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house, the upper house being the Senate.-Origins and role:The House is presided over by the Speaker....
, representing the
Division of SolomonThe Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It covers the cities of Darwin and Palmerston...
since the 2007 federal election. He moved to the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
in 1974 and grew up in
ManingridaManingrida is a self-governing indigenous community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is located 500 km east of Darwin and 300 km north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central Arnhem Land coast of the Arafura Sea, on the estuary of the Liverpool...
,
KatherineKatherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of the Northern Territory, Australia. It is the fourth largest settlement in the territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...
and
DarwinDarwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 120,652, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
, with his teacher parents, Bob and Bev Hale.
While growing up he was actively involved in sports, representing the Northern Territory in
rugby leagueRugby league football is a full-contact form of football, played with a prolate spheroid ball by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. Rugby league is one of the two codes of rugby football, the other being rugby union...
and
Australian rules footballAustralian football, also commonly referred to as Australian rules football, football, or Aussie rules, colloquially as footy, and historically as Australasian football or Victorian football, is a variant of football played between two teams of 18 players, plus four interchange players, outdoors on...
. He later coached
St Marys Football ClubThe St Marys Football Club, formed in 1952 is a member club of the Northern Territory Football League. It is famous for its record of success, with 26 NTFL premierships.Nicknamed the Saints, St Marys played their home games at Football Park in Marrara....
to three premierships (2003-5) in the
Northern Territory Football LeagueThe Northern Territory Football League is a 8 team Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.The premier grade is the largest Australian rules football league in the Northern Territory...
. He is married to Jennifer McLennan, a
LarrakiaLarrakia are the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Larrakia Country which includes the area in and around Darwin, Northern Territory in Australia...
woman and traditional owner of the land around Darwin, they have five children together.
He currently works as head coach of the Australian rules program at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport, and is keenly involved the development of the junior and youth footballers of the Territory.
Hale won the marginal seat of
SolomonThe Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It covers the cities of Darwin and Palmerston...
for the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party.Known as the ALP for short, the party is the current governing party of Australia, since the 2007 federal election...
at the 2007 Australia federal election, defeating sitting
Country Liberal PartyThe Northern Territory Country Liberal Party is a Northern Territory political party affiliated with both the Liberal and National parties. It is a member of the Coalition....
member
Dave TollnerDavid William Tollner is an Australian politician, currently representing the Fong Lim in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the Country Liberal Party since the 2008 election...
. Hale won an extremely close preselection process which included a letter of support from Labor leader
Kevin RuddKevin Michael Rudd is the 26th and current Prime Minister of Australia and federal leader of the centre-left Australian Labor Party . Under Rudd's leadership, the Labor Party won the 2007 federal election on 24 November against the incumbent centre-right Liberal/National coalition government led...
despite Rudd having never met Hale.
In June 2007 Hale was involved in an altercation with
Fremantle Football ClubFremantle Football Club, unofficially nicknamed The Dockers and known informally as "Freo", is one of 16 teams in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...
player
Chris TarrantChris Tarrant is an Australian rules football player for the Fremantle Football Club. He often plays in the the forward line position but in 2009, Tarrant has found a new position in the backline...
in a popular Darwin nightspot. Hale received a black eye when he was struck by Tarrant after intervening when the inebriated Tarrant exposed his buttocks to a female colleague of Hale.
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