Representative Dan Tehan Contact information

Daniel Thomas Tehan was born on January 27, 1968, in Melbourne, Australia. His father was a country vice-president of the Liberal Party of Australia, and his mother was elected to the Parliament of Victoria in 1987 and served as a state government minister. Tehan grew up on the family’s farming property near Mansfield, Victoria. He attended a Catholic primary school and a public high school in country Victoria before completing his secondary education as a boarder at Xavier College, Melbourne. He later received his Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from the University of Melbourne, Master of Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University, and Master of International Relations from the University of Kent in England.

Tehan worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1995 to 1998, and then was a member of the diplomatic service from 1999 to 2001. He was posted to Mexico City and was also involved with Central America and Cuba. In 2002, he was seconded to the office of Trade Minister Mark Vaile. After the defeat of the Howard government, he served as director of trade policy and international affairs with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2007–2008) and deputy state director of the Liberal Party in Victoria (2008–2009).

Tehan was encouraged to run for Liberal preselection by Denis Napthine, a family friend, and was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2010 federal election, succeeding David Hawker in the Division of Wannon. In the following years, he held various ministerial positions, including Minister for Defence Materiel (2016), Defence Personnel (2016–2017), Veterans’ Affairs (2016–2017), Social Services (2017–2018), and Education (2018–2020).

Tehan is married and has five children. He opposes same-sex marriage, but in June 2016, announced he would vote in parliament in accordance with the results of a nationwide plebiscite. He is a member of the centre-right faction of the Liberal Party. In December 2020, he was appointed as the Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment in the Morrison government, succeeding Simon Birmingham.