[3] Van Holst Pellekaan was the Deputy Premier of South Australia between November 2021 and March 2022, and served as the Minister for Energy and Mining in the Marshall Ministry between 2018 and 2022.

[4][5] Van Holst Pellekaan was born in Canberra, to a Dutch father who had emigrated to Australia at the age of two.

The family moved to Washington D.C. when his father was offered a position at the World Bank,[6] and Dan attended the Maret School.

[7] He moved back to Australia when he was recruited by the Hobart Devils basketball team in Tasmania, where he played for four years while studying for a Bachelor of Economics degree.

[10] He lost his seat at the 2022 state election to independent Geoff Brock, who had transferred from the Frome following a redistribution.