Daniel Cornelius van Holst Pellekaan is a former Australian politician, representing the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

seat of Stuart for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2010 state election until he lost the seat in the 2022 state election. Van Holst Pellekaan was the

Deputy Premier of South Australia Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

between November 2021 and March 2022, and served as the Minister for Energy and Mining in the Marshall Ministry between 2018 and 2022.

Early life and education

Van Holst Pellekaan was born in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, to a Dutch father who had emigrated to Australia at the age of two. The family moved to

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

when his father was offered a position at the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, and Dan attended the

Maret School Maret School is a coeducational, K–12 independent school in Washington, D.C. It was founded by Marthe Maret in 1911 as a French primary school for girls and boys. History In the late 1800s and early 1900s, three French sisters, Mlles Marth ...

. He was active in sport, playing

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

for Maret, and later moved to Canada to study and play basketball at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. He moved back to Australia when he was recruited by the

Hobart Devils The Hobart Devils are a defunct professional basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). Based in Hobart, Tasmania, the team was the only representative from the state of Tasmania for the majority of its tenu ...

basketball team in Tasmania, where he played for four years while studying for a

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

degree. After graduating, van Holst Pellekaan moved to Melbourne to work for BP. He later moved to the outback where he and some friends bought Spud's Roadhouse in

Pimba, South Australia Pimba is a small settlement lying on the Trans-Australian Railway, transcontinental railway line in the Australian state of South Australia. It lies at the junction of the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs and the road to Woomera, South Australia, ...

. After seven years, he worked in other tourism ventures, then moved to Wilmington after meeting his wife, Rebecca.

Political career

In Wilmington, following the announcement of the retirement of

Graham Gunn Graham McDonald Gunn, AM (born 5 September 1942), was an Australian politician who was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly. A member of the Liberal Party, he represented the electorate of Eyre from 1970 to 1997, and the elector ...

, van Holst Pellekaan gained Liberal Party endorsement for the seat of Stuart; and was elected at the 2010 state election. Following the 2018 state election, van Holst Pellekaan was appointed as the Minister for Energy and Mining. On 25 November 2021, following the resignation of

Vickie Chapman Vickie Ann Chapman is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia between the 2002 election and May 2022. Chapman served ...

as deputy party leader and

Deputy Premier A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

, van Holst Pellekaan was elected as the new deputy leader, defeating

David Speirs David James Speirs (born December 15, 1984) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal member of the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2014 state election and leader of the Liberal Party since 19 April 2022. He represented ...

in a party room ballot. He was sworn in as

that day. He lost his seat at the 2022 state election to independent

Geoff Brock Geoffrey Graeme Brock (born 1950) is an Australian politician. He is an Independent member in the South Australian House of Assembly, representing the seat of Stuart since the 2022 South Australian state election. Prior to this, he represente ...

, who had transferred from the

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

following a redistribution.

Interests

Van Holst Pellekaan was listed as a “bronze sponsor” of the 2018 Kapunda Rodeo in the event programme.

References

Members of the South Australian House of Assembly Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of South Australia Living people Australian people of Dutch descent 21st-century Australian politicians Australian men's basketball players University of Tasmania alumni Hobart Devils players Year of birth missing (living people) {{Australia-Liberal-politician-stub