Damian Francis Hale is a former Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member of the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, representing the Division of Solomon

Division of Solomon

The Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It covers the cities of Darwin and Palmerston...

 from 2007 to 2010. He moved to the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The 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 Maningrida

Maningrida, Northern Territory

Maningrida 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...

, Katherine

Katherine, Northern Territory

Katherine is a town situated southeast of Darwin in the "Top End" of Australia in the Northern Territory. It is the fourth largest settlement in the Territory after the capital Darwin, Palmerston and Alice Springs...

 and Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, 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 league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 and Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

. He later coached St Marys Football Club

St Marys Football Club

The St Marys Football Club, nicknamed, Saints, formed in 1952 is a member club of the Northern Territory Football League. It is famous for its record of success, with 28 NTFL premierships and 55 out of 57 possible final appearances....

 to three premierships (2003-5) in the Northern Territory Football League

Northern Territory Football League

The Northern Territory Football League is an 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 has five children.

Hale won the marginal seat of Solomon

Division of Solomon

The Division of Solomon is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It covers the cities of Darwin and Palmerston...

 for the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 at the 2007 Australia federal election, defeating sitting Country Liberal Party

Country Liberal Party

The Northern Territory Country Liberal Party is a Northern Territory political party affiliated with both the National and Liberal parties...

 member Dave Tollner

Dave Tollner

David 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 Rudd

Kevin Rudd

Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...

 despite Rudd having never met Hale.

In June 2007 Hale was involved in an altercation with Fremantle Football Club

Fremantle Football Club

The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays 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 Tarrant

Chris Tarrant (footballer)

Chris Tarrant is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club, and has also played for the Fremantle Football Club. He announced at the end of the 2010 AFL season that he would return to Melbourne for personal reasons and would not extend his contract with Fremantle...

 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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