Nick Xenophon

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Nicholas Xenophon (né Xenophou; 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017.

He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST in South Australia.

In October 2017, Xenophon resigned from the Australian Senate to contest a seat in the House of Assembly at the 2018 South Australian state election.

From 1997 to 2007, he was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council, serving as an independent on a No Pokies policy platform.

When the Nick Xenophon Team changed its name to Centre Alliance, Xenophon himself ceased to be directly involved with the party.Xenophon initially focused on his central anti-gambling policy, but also embraced other issues in federal parliament such as civil liberties, defence, education, foreign policy, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, national security, and regional affairs. Xenophon failed in his central mission to have poker machines curbed or eliminated in a lasting way, but was instrumental in the Rudd Government's repeal of WorkChoices legislation and the passage of the economic stimulus package, as well as the Abbott Government's repeal of the Clean Energy Act 2011.

Additionally, Xenophon was pivotal in the obstruction of the Abbott Government's 2014 austerity budget, the plan to build next generation submarines overseas, and the Pyne higher education reforms.

Early life

Xenophon (born Nick Xenophou) was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the older of two children to Theo Xenophou from Cyprus, and Georgia from Greece.

Xenophon attended Prince Alfred College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Adelaide. From 1976 until 1981, he was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and the Young Liberals. In his first year, Xenophon was elected on the Adelaide University Liberal Club ticket to On Dit student magazine. At the end of his eighteen-month term, Xenophon wrote as a whistleblower in On Dit that the Young Liberals had rigged the vote in order to secure the unlikely victory of their editing team.

According to Xenophon, the party politics of the On Dit incident disenchanted him, although some Labor members maintain that he considered joining the Australian Labor Party while at university. In 2015, the publishers of former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard's 2014 memoir My Story retracted an allegation that Xenophon had been "infamously excluded from university for a period as punishment for stuffing a ballot box full of voting papers he had somehow procured".

Personal life

In 1990, Xenophon married physiotherapist Sandra Kazubiernis. When their only child was born in 1992, Xenophon changed his own surname by deed poll from Xenophou to Xenophon, his paternal grandfather's surname. Kazubiernis and Xenophon separated in 1995 and later divorced.

Xenophon had his second child in early 2019.

In 2017, former staffer Jenny Low claimed, in response to an article appearing in The Australian, that she had been in a seven-year secret relationship with Xenophon that was psychologically abusive, "destructive" and detrimental to her career. Xenophon admitted that a relationship had commenced in 2007, but rejected any negative assertions.

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Legal career

Xenophon worked as a solicitor in Jacob van Dissel's private practice between 1982 and 1983. Van Dissel gave Xenophon the personal injury portion of his practice in 1984, allowing Xenophon to become principal of his new company, Xenophon & Co. Attorneys. On a no-win-no-fee basis, the company continues to deal mostly with worker compensation and personal injury claims.

Xenophon served as President of the Australian Civil Lawyers' Association in 1994 and 1997. He taught law at the University of South Australia, where his current political adversary Christopher Pyne was among his students at the University of South Australia.

The Australian Financial Review announced in 2019 that his law firm was representing Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which Xenophon claims had "been treated incredibly unfairly." David McBride, a military whistleblower, appears on his own.

Political career

Xenophon, who ran for the South Australian Legislative Council on an Independent No Pokies ticket, called for the downsizing and abolition of poker machines (colloquially referred to as "pokies"). He received a statewide total of 25,630 votes, much less than the 8.33 percent required to be elected in his own right, but he went from a quota of 0.34 percent to 1.08 percent and was thus elected. Xenophon was the first independent candidate to the Legislative Council in 60 years, thanks to this.

Following the 1997 election, the Olsen Liberal government needed the help of two additional non-Liberal upper house members in order to pass legislation, with Australian Democrats keeping the balance of power on three seats. However, Terry Cameron and Trevor Crothers, two laborers, would often bring Xenophon into play. Xenophon voted with Cameron and the government in 1998 for the second reading of the ETSA power sale bill. The bill became law when Cameron and Crothers voted for the Liberal government, but Xenophon voted against the bill in its final form. Following the 2002 state election of the Rann Labor government, the government needed an additional five non-Labor upper house members to pass legislation, giving a shared balance of power to the Democrats on three seats, incumbent Independents Xenophon and Cameron, with the Family First Party winning their first seat.

Xenophon was an activist for a variety of topics besides the demise of poker machines, speaking out on customer rights, essential services, taxation, and political honors. Xenophon was also involved in the Eugene McGee hit-and-run affair, becoming an advocate for the victim's wife, with public opinion eventually pushing the Kapunda Road Royal Commission for stricter penalties for hit and run offences.

He ran a fast campaign and attracted a lot of attention in the 2006 state election, including riding a model locomotive "gravy train" outside Parliament House, protesting MPs' superannuation rights, parading wearing a sandwich board to advertise his campaign, and even taking a small goat to Parliament to ask voters not to "kid around" with their vote. Despite media rumors that he would be re-elected due to the major parties' vetoes against him, he attracted sufficient funding and volunteers to staff the majority of state booths on polling day. He received 190,958 first votes, or 20.51 percent of the total vote, enough to not only be elected himself but also to elect Ann Bressington, the second No. Pokies candidate. His figure was 5.46 percent less than the Liberal Party, and he outpolled the Liberals in several booths, including Enfield's electoral district. With the Labor government requiring four non-Labor upper house members to pass legislation, No Pokies on two seats shared the balance of power, with Family First on two seats, the SA Greens winning their first seat.

Xenophon called a press conference at the Adelaide Zoo on October 11, 2007, announcing that he would "stick his neck out for South Australia" by resigning from the South Australian Legislative Council in the effort to reclaim the Australian Senate seat in 2007. His website included anti-gambling and consumer protection services, alerting the Murray River's water crisis, ratifying Kyoto, opposition to a "decrease in state rights," and opposition to WorkChoices. Nick Minchin, a South Australian Liberal senator, urged people not to vote for Xenophon. Rather than running as an independent Xenophon, the senator's name did not appear on the ticket, instead he was only portrayed by the letter "S" above the line, with voters having to search for his information.

A joint session of the South Australian parliament was convened on November 21, 2007 to select Xenophon's replacement as Xenophon had vacated his Legislative Council seat to run for the Senate. John Darley, the former treasurer general who had appeared on Xenophon's ticket in 2006, was appointed. Ann Bressington blasted Xenophon, questioning his legitimacy and suitability for federal parliament, suggesting that his "anti-politician" appearance was more spin than reality during the joint session convened to announce his appointment. Xenophon had also requested that she contribute AU$50,000 to campaign costs at the 2006 state election, according to her. Xenophon said in response that he was "shocked and distraught" that she had failed to communicate her worries with him in person, and "deeply distraught" that she had failed to reveal her doubts with him in person, adding, "both personally and publicly, I have been extremely supportive of her." Several people who fought Xenophon, like Di Gilcrist, whose husband's murder of his wife resulted in the Kapunda Road Royal Commission, came forward to defend the cause. Ms Gilcrist said the following day that "based on my knowledge not only as a victim of Nick but also someone who has worked with Nick and his office... Nick is passionate and empathetic." He is certainly committed, and he is entirely committed." Kris Hanna, a Lower House candidate, defended Xenophon, saying that Bressington had "obviously been out to do some harm" and jeopardize Xenophon's election hopes.

Xenophon walked a large mule down Rundle Mall to exemplify his tenacity at the end of the campaign. Xenophon obtained 14.78 percent of the vote. This was down from his 2006 state election victory of over 20%.

Xenophon provided the balance of power in the Senate with the Australian Greens and the Family First Party. To pass legislation, the First Rudd Government required the help of two crossbench senators or the opposition.

The Rudd Government had to pass its AU$42 billion economic recovery plan in February 2009. Xenophon initially rejected the plan but later accepted it after amendments were made. Xenophon advised the government not to bring forward AU$900 million in Murray-Darling basin funds and other water programs, which included AU$500 million over three years for water buybacks.

Xenophon branded the Church of Scientology as a criminal group in November 2009, charging that members of the Church of Scientology had been subjected to blackmail, torture and terror, labor camps, and coerced abortions. A Senate commission recommended that a charities commission be established on September 7, 2010, with the intention of investigating and monitoring charitable organizations' transparency. This plan received bipartisan support.

Xenophon lost the balance of power to the Greens in July 2011, but his anti-pokies position was strengthened when independent Andrew Wilkie was elected to the lower house in 2010, resulting in a hung parliament. Wilkie had voted largely against pokies in the general election. The Gillard Government approved compulsory precommitment equipment, which would have to convince people using high-bet machines before playing, as well as safer AU$1 maximum bet per spin machines that do not require pre-commitment. Sport clubs and other industries that profit from poker machine usage have continued to criticize the proposal.

In September 2011, Xenophon controversially used parliamentary privilege to accuse a Catholic priest of rape in connection with alleged events that occurred in the 1960s. He also accused Monsignor David Cappo and Philip Wilson, the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, of failing to properly investigate the allegations in 2007. The senator's allegations were denied by the three guys. Xenophon took the initiative after receiving a "unsatisfactory" response from the Church in alerting them of his intentions and ultimatum. Cappo resigned from several of his public positions shortly after. Xenophon said he may not have used parliamentary privilege if he knew the individual was going to be unable to take a period of leave several days later, after high-level media coverage.

In November 2011, Xenophon voted against the Clean Energy Bill. The carbon pricing initiative was passed by the Labor government, who also approved the bill in the Senate.

Xenophon, a vocal promoter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, visited Malaysia in May 2012 to observe anti-government demonstrations for the first time. In an essay that included part of his 2009 speech criticizing Scientology, the New Straits Times challenged Xenophon's legitimacy. Scientology was replaced by the newspaper by the word Islam. Xenophon threatened to sue for defamation, but the story was taken from the newspaper's website.

Xenophon attempted to return Malaysia by himself in February 2013, but immigration authorities at Kuala Lumpur airport detained him. He was later sent back to Australia. Xenophon was not on a Australian Delegation list when he met Malaysia's parliamentary affairs minister, but it was confirmed that he would not be on a Malaysian legislative delegation list.

Xenophon named four main policy topics during the 2013 federal election; palm oil reforms, banning palm oil from being sold in Australia; and improved Riverland irrigators; The result of Xenophon's voting result climbed to 24.9 percent, just a few points shy of two quotas. A record number of candidates appeared in the poll. Multiple candidates were provisionally elected with the vast majority of their 14.3 percent quotas coming from other political parties.

After returning to a balance of power in the Senate, Xenophon concentrated on defence (especially the Collins-class submarine replacement scheme) and budget cuts made by the Abbott Government in the 2014 Australian federal budget.

Xenophon initiated the Abbott Government's Direct Action Plan for Combating Climate Change in October 2014, allowing the bill to pass in the Senate. However, he later said that the scheme had been "neutered" because of legislative changes.

Xenophon voted against the Tertiary education reforms suggested by Minister of Education and Training Christopher Pyne in December 2014, which would have seen a shift toward privatization of universities in Australia.

Xenophon wrote a letter in March 2015 rejecting the revisions to the national security legislative framework, particularly on the topic of telecommunications data retention. Xenophon said in his Senate "spycatcher" address in 2014, that the new legislation would have a chilling effect on investigative journalism in Australia. Xenophon negotiated with then Minister of Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison for the reintroduction of the Temporary Protection Visa.

Xenophon and an Adelaide sheikh travelled to Indonesia in March 2015 to unconvincingly request clemency for the Bali Nine duo, who were on the death row.

Xenophon responded to calls for a royal commission into the Australia-East Timor spy crisis in November 2015.

In February 2016, Xenophon joined the Australian Greens and the Government to promote a rewrite of the Senate election system. Other crossbench senators, including John Madigan and David Leyonhjelm, whose re-election prospects under new voting conditions, accuse Xenophon of "political trickery of the highest order."

Xenophon was the object of criticism from both political parties during his campaign for Adelaide Tower Pty Ltd, which also implicated his father. Xenophon slammed proponents of a "partisan and personal campaign." Labor has requested that the Australian Electoral Commission look at disputed loans provided to Xenophon by businessman Ian Melrose.

The planned same-sex marriage plebiscite was rejected by Xenophon and NXT colleagues in August 2016, citing that it was not binding and a waste of public funds.

Xenophon declared in March 2017 that he would launch a new party in time for the 2018 South Australian state election. The Electoral Commission of South Australia had registered Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST in July 2017.

In August 2017, Xenophon became embroiled in the 2017 Australian Parliament election scandal and asked to be referred to the High Court for clarification of his 2016 eligibility. On October 27, 2017, the High Court found that he had been eligible in 2016 to nominate and be validly elected.

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The Turnbull Government with the support of Nick Xenophon (who allowed a company to own a TV station, newspaper, and radio station in a single market) and the "reach rule" (which barred a single television broadcaster from attracting more than seventy-five percent of the population).

Xenophon resigned in order to stand for the Parliament of South Australia in the 2018 South Australian general election, which was announced on October 6th. Xenophon resigned from the Senate on October 31 and was replaced by Rex Patrick, his party's senior advisor.

Xenophon revealed on August 19th that British authorities had confirmed that he was a British Overseas Citizen because his ethnic Greek father was born in Cyprus during the British colony. On August 30, Xenophon's subsequent request to renounce citizenship became effective. 123. Xenophon later announced that he had already renounced Greek citizenship obtained by his mother. In the Court of Disputed Returns, Xenophon ordered that his federal government notify him of his 2016 eligibility. The High Court declared on October 27, 2017 that Xenophon had been eligible to nominate and be validly elected in 2016.

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Xenophon unsuccessfully contested Hartley's seat in the South Australian House of Assembly on March 17th, 2018. Despite coming second in the primary vote ahead of Labor's Grace Portolesi by 202 votes, Xenophon's eliminated fourth-placed Greens nominee's preferred voting margins of Labor became a 357-vote deficit. Hartley's third-placed Xenophon was therefore disqualified, with Hartley reverting to the traditional Liberal versus Labor contest.

Xenophon declared on March 24, 2022, that he would run for the Australian Senate for the 2022 Australian federal election.

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