He was a key figure in the lease of the Port of Melbourne, and led negotiations with cross benchers to enable the legislation to pass through the Victorian Parliament.

[1] In 2002, Donnellan was preselected as the Labor candidate for Narre Warren North, a new seat with a notional Liberal majority.

[6] On 13 December 2021, Donnellan was not preselected again for Narre Warren North by the Socialist Left-dominated ALP National Executive and as a result will not run for re-election in the 2022 Victorian state election.

[7] Donnellan was born in Melbourne, and attended Xavier College 1977–84 where he was involved in sports, captaining the hockey team and competing in 1sts rowing.

After periods as a planning finance consultant and a client services manager, he became an advisor to various Labor MPs, and was a member of the Administrative Committee from 1999.