Nick Xenophon targeted by China critic and Senate candidate Drew Pavlou in election campaign

Nick Xenophon is taking legal action over a “sickening” attack by Queensland China critic running against him for the Senate.

Outspoken China critic Drew Pavlou is launching a “sickening” campaign against South Australian Senate candidate Nick Xenophon with billboards accusing him of being Beijing’s “man in Canberra”.

Mr Pavlou, who is running for the Senate in Queensland, announced his Democratic Alliance Party would deploy billboards around Adelaide attacking Mr Xenophon over his links with banned tech company Huawei.

“A vote for Nick Xenophon is a vote for Uyghur genocide,” Mr Pavlou, 22, claimed on Twitter, alongside a photo that displayed Mr Xenophon’s face against a black and white background showing a Xinjiang internment camp.

No evidence was provided for the claim. Mr Pavlou’s party is fielding two SA candidates for the Senate, and one lower-house hopeful in the eastern suburbs seat of Sturt.

Mr Xenophon said the attack was “highly distressing”.

“I’ve sought legal advice and will be taking action against it. It’s sickening,” he said.

“I have also been on the record, and I will say it again, that I fully support the findings of Human Rights Watch in relation to the Uyghurs.”

Drew Pavlou

Nick Xenophon hands out election pamphlets in Rundle Mall to drum up support for his latest federal Senate bid. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Mr Pavlou said the billboards would be deployed next Monday.

“The one that I posted on Twitter, that is the tamest version and that’s not the one we are probably going to put up,” he said. He said others would be “much more extreme”.

“If Nick wants to sue me, that would be beautiful, because I believe in freedom of speech,” Mr Pavlou, 22, said.

The China critic is known for being highly outspoken against human rights atrocities, particularly on the Uyghur genocide.

Mr Pavlou first attracted media attention when he was suspended from the University of Queensland for misconduct in May 2020, but he claimed it was due to his on-campus protests against Beijing.

Two “serious misconduct” allegations involved a satirical stunt in which he posed outside the UQ Vice-Chancellor’s office wearing a hazmat suit and online abuse of a fellow student.