David Joseph Kelly (born 1 July 1962) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

since 2013, representing the seat of Bassendean. In the McGowan Ministry, he is Minister for Water, Minister for Fisheries, Minister for Forestry, Minister for Innovation and ICT, and Minister for Science.

Early life

Kelly was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, and graduated from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. Prior to entering politics, he worked for a trade union,

United Voice United Voice was a large Australian trade union, with over 130,000 members. United Voice members worked in a wide range of occupations including hospitality, childcare, teachers' aides, aged care, property services (cleaning, security, maintenan ...

, for 20 years, including as state secretary for 10 years.

Political career

Kelly entered parliament at the 2013 state election, replacing the retiring member,

Martin Whitely Martin Paul Whitely (born 19 October 1959 in Perth, Western Australia, is a mental health researcher, author and was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, ...

, in the safe Labor seat of Bassendean. At the time of his election, he was living in the suburb of

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

. A month after entering parliament, Kelly was included in the reconstituted shadow ministry led by

Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian politician, the 30th premier of Western Australia, and the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Labor Party. McGowan was born and raised in Newcastle, New South Wales. He attended t ...

. He has been described as a "factional boss" and " left-faction powerbroker". On 27 February 2022 Kelly became the first Western Australian politician to acknowledge he had tested positive to COVID-19, making the announcement via Twitter.

References

Links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Dave 1962 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Australian trade unionists Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Politicians from Perth, Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians People from Fremantle