16 Facts About David Van

David Allan Van was born on 14 November 1964 and is an Australian politician.

David Van was elected as a member of the Liberal Party and was sworn in as a federal senator representing the state of Victoria on 1 July 2019.

David Van has an undergraduate degree in horticulture, and as part of his degree studied the regeneration of Australian bush post the Ash Wednesday fires in the Blackwood forest that was burned as part of the Trentham East fire complex.

David Van was a board director of the Australian Association of Franchisees.

David Van holds a master's degree in international relations from Monash University.

David Van was elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election from the marginal third position on the Liberal ticket.

David Van was assigned a party role as "patron" for the Labor-held House seat of Dunkley.

David Van has worked to ensure projects of national significance such as the 310 St Kilda Rd project are properly maintained, after using Senate Estimates to question the Department of Defence on the state of disrepair the site was in which helped prompt a government review.

In 2020 and 2021, David Van advocated for the LAND 8116 self-propelled artillery project contract to be awarded to Hanwha, who would build 30 self-propelled howitzers and 15 armoured ammunition resupply vehicles for the army in Geelong, Victoria.

In February 2021, David Van called for an independent review into ABC complaints.

David Van was a member of the centre-right faction of the Liberal Party during the Morrison government years, but became factionally unaligned after the 2022 Australian federal election.

David Van later "apologised unreservedly" for interjecting but denied making "growling noises".

Stoker accused David Van of squeezing her buttocks twice at a social gathering in November 2020.

David Van said she raised the issue with Van the next day and he apologised.

David Van was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal party room by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton after additional allegations of misconduct were raised with him, requiring him to sit on the Senate cross bench.

In December 2023, David Van was reported as using "taxpayer funded resources for pleasure and private business endeavours".