1. David Willmer Pocock was born on 23 April 1988 and is an Australian politician and former professional rugby union player.
37 Facts About David Pocock
1. 2.
David Pocock played primarily at openside flanker, and was vice captain of the Brumbies in Super Rugby.
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David Pocock defeated Liberal incumbent senator Zed Seselja, ending the two major parties' duopoly on the ACT's Senate delegation which had been in place since the ACT was granted Senate representation in 1975.
4.
David Pocock was born on 23 April 1988 in Messina, South Africa.
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David Pocock is the oldest of three sons born to Jane and Andy Pocock.
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David Pocock spent his first year on a citrus estate, "Denlynian", in Beitbridge, Zimbabwe, which was bought by his grandfather Ian Ferguson in the 1960s and ultimately employed up to 300 people.
7.
David Pocock was born in South Africa at the hospital nearest to his parents' home which was in Zimbabwe.
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When David Pocock was a child, his parents moved north to Gweru and joined his paternal grandfather and uncle on a 2,800-hectare mixed farm, growing vegetables and flowers for export and running cattle.
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David Pocock attended Midlands Christian College where he began playing rugby.
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In 2000, following Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, David Pocock's parents applied to immigrate to Australia.
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David Pocock played for the Force, where he made his debut in 2006 against the Sharks in Durban.
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David Pocock made appearances for Australian Schoolboys and Australia A in the 2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, earning man of the match multiple times in the tournament.
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David Pocock then made his Australia debut as a substitute against the Barbarians on 3 December 2008.
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David Pocock made his test debut in Hong Kong against New Zealand in late 2008, and then played against Italy and the Barbarians on the Wallabies spring tour.
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In 2009 David Pocock played 13 Super Rugby games and was again called up to the Wallabies Squad.
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David Pocock was substituted at half-time and replaced by George Smith.
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In 2010, David Pocock became the first choice openside flanker for the Wallabies.
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David Pocock was recognised at an international level after being nominated alongside five other players for 2010 IRB Player of the Year, an award given to the best player in world rugby.
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In both 2010 and 2011, David Pocock was a finalist for the IRB International Player of the Year.
20.
David Pocock took over the Wallabies captaincy during the 2012 midseason test series when regular captain James Horwill was injured.
21.
David Pocock played in all three games during the 2015 Rugby Championship, Australia won all those games and won the trophy for the first time since the 2011 Tri Nations Series.
22.
David Pocock signed a three-year deal with the Panasonic Wild Knights of Japan's Top League in May 2016.
23.
On 23 October 2020 David Pocock announced his retirement from all forms of rugby to focus on conservation efforts.
24.
In 2021, David Pocock graduated with a Master of Sustainable Agriculture from Charles Sturt University which he began in 2013 while playing rugby.
25.
David Pocock has been a public advocate in the campaign for same-sex marriage in Australia.
26.
David Pocock sought to bring an Auslan interpreter to the Senate floor for his first speech as a member of that body on 1 August 2022.
27.
Under Senate rules, David Pocock was required to ask permission to bring a "stranger" to the floor, which is almost exclusively used for visiting dignitaries.
28.
David Pocock stated that he would pursue rules changes to allow Auslan interpreters on the Senate floor.
29.
In December 2021, David Pocock announced he would be running as a candidate for the Senate, representing the Australian Capital Territory in the forthcoming federal election.
30.
David Pocock prosecuted an agenda to tackle corruption in government and political advertising laws, as well as campaigns to increase Australia's expenditure on renewable energy and restore the rights of territories to legislate on euthanasia.
31.
David Pocock was declared elected by the Australian Electoral Commission on 14 June 2022, thereby winning the second of the two ACT seats and unseating incumbent Liberal Senator Zed Seselja to become the first non-Labor or Liberal candidate to be elected as a Senator for the ACT, and the second non-Labor or Liberal person elected to represent the ACT at the federal level.
32.
In July 2022, David Pocock opposed the Labor government's defunding of the Australian Building and Construction Commission but reversed his position to vote in favour of abolishing the ABCC in November 2022.
33.
In November 2022, David Pocock successfully negotiated an amendment to create the "Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee", which would publish yearly recommendations on the adequacy of welfare payments two weeks before each federal budget, in exchange for passing Labor's changes to industrial relations reforms.
34.
David Pocock is the Independent ACT Whip for the Australian Senate.
35.
David Pocock, sometimes referred to as the David Pocock Party, is an Australian political party founded by Pocock in 2021.
36.
The David Pocock campaign said without appearing above the line, David Pocock "would have had no chance of winning".
37.
David Pocock was successfully registered with the Australian Electoral Commission as a party on 18 March 2022.