Jane Lesley Aagaard is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician. She has been an 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 Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...

 since 2001, representing the 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...

-based electorate of Nightcliff

Electoral division of Nightcliff

Nightcliff is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1974, and takes its name from the suburb of the same name. Nightcliff is one of the smallest electorates in the Territory, covering only 3.37 km² and taking in the suburb...

. She has been the Speaker of the Assembly

Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

The Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Though the office had existed since the creation of the Assembly in 1974, it was given greater legislative force when the roles and functions of the office were...

 since June 2005. Aagaard previously served as Health Minister from 2001 to 2003.

Early life

Jane Lesley Aagaard was born in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 in 1956, to John Stuart McIntosh and Jean Brown. She moved to Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 at the age of seven, where she was educated at Somerville House

Somerville House

Somerville House is an independent, boarding and day school for girls, located in South Brisbane, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia....

, a school for girls in South Brisbane.

In 1986, she accepted a position with the Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy, and settled with her husband in Darwin.

Aagaard also became heavily involved in many aspects of the Darwin community. She helped found the Brolga Awards and Northern Territory Sports Awards, and continued organising both presentations for several years. Not long before entering parliament, she had also organised the city's commemoration of its bombing by Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese forces during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.