Vince O’Grady emigrated to Australia in 1978 from the United Kingdom, where he was a Police Constable in Brierley Hill, on the outskirts of Birmingham in the West Midlands.

He saw a great deal of dysfunctional society during his four-and-a-half years’ service and realised the necessity of always being truthful, factual and slow to judge others.

Deciding to pursue a different career in Australia, he chose telecommunications and has worked in sales, product and marketing management in the public and private sectors.

In 1981, he became ill with arthritis and ceased full-time work in 1992, when he became a Sessional teacher at TAFE in a number of subjects — mainly related to manufacturing.

During the Howard years, he became interested in politics and after “hiding in plain sight” for many years, joined the Labor party in 2010.

Vince has many interests, including social justice, inclusion and the good old Australian “fair go” for all. He has policy interests in economics and education. His interest in history shows that we make the same mistakes over and over again and hopes to make a difference to the political debate by clear thinking and analysis rather than by trite sloganeering.

In his private life, Vince enjoys woodwork and also is a keen family historian, with a very Irish paternal side and a very French Huguenot maternal side — and is a mixture of a working class and an upper middle class upbringing.

He has a Bachelors degree in Business and qualifications in Workplace Training and Assessing.

He is also a keen home brewer of fine ales — at least according to his son!

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