David was born in South Africa in 1988 and is the oldest of three boys to Jane and Andy Pocock. David grew up on a farm near Gweru, Zimbabwe but relocated to Brisbane in 2001 with his family following the Zimbabwe government’s land reform. He was educated there at the Anglican Church Grammar School.

He began his rugby career early on, touring with the Australian Schoolboys team to the UK in 2005. His professional debut in rugby union was with Western Force in Perth. His first test match playing for the Australian National Rugby Team, the Wallabies, was in 2008 and he continued playing for Australia until 2019. He won the highest honour in Australian rugby, the John Eales Medal, in 2010. He began playing for the ACT Brumbies in the Super Rugby competition in 2012 and for the Japanese team, the Panasonic Wild Knights, in 2016. David retired from all professional rugby in 2020.

David has co-founded EightyTwenty Vision, a charitable foundation with a focus on improving maternal health, food and water security in Zimbabwe; was the 2012 WA ‘Young Australian of the Year’; with his wife Emma, co founded the sports advocacy organisation, FrontRunners, in 2020; and with his brother, co founded a regenerative agricultural project in rural Zimbabwe. David holds a Masters of Sustainable Agriculture from Charles Sturt University.

David was elected as an independent Senator for the ACT at the 2022 federal election, the first non Labor-Liberal Senator in the ACT’s history. His policy areas of focus include integrity in federal politics, action on climate change, equality and safety for women and Indigenous Australians, access to health services, and greater legislative powers for the ACT.