[4] After the 2006 election, he was given the portfolios of finance (including WorkCover and the Transport Accident Commission) and tourism as well as information and communication technology.

Some initially saw this as a demotion, but Premier Steve Bracks described Holding as having done a 'great job' with finance being seen as central to government decision-making with fewer potential political difficulties than the notoriously tricky police portfolio.

[2][5] Due to his relative youth and prominence, Holding has often been touted as a possible future Victorian Labor leader.

[8][9] He was promoted in an August 2007 reshuffle following the ascension of John Brumby to the premiership, receiving the responsibilities he held until the Labor party was voted out in the 2010 election.

On 31 August 2009, Holding was reported missing after he failed to return from a solo hiking expedition of Mount Feathertop, Victoria's second highest mountain, having walked up the Bungalow Spur.