Peter Jean: The High Court case is a reminder that there can be no Nick Xenophon Team without Nick Xenophon
NICK Xenophon could be unemployed by the end of next week and the party that bears his name left temporarily leaderless in the Senate.
NICK Xenophon could be unemployed by the end of next week and the party that bears his name left temporarily leaderless in the Senate.
Fortunately for Senator Xenophon, a Plan B option can be used to resurrect his political career if the High Court of Australia decides to disqualify him from Parliament: cleansed of his British Overseas Citizenship, he could effectively replace himself in the Senate.
The High Court case is a reminder that there can be no Nick Xenophon Team without Nick Xenophon.
Senator Xenophon knows this and wants to eventually move his party into a position where it could continue without him if he “fell under a bus”.
Senator Xenophon doesn’t like being referred to as the leader of the NXT and wants it to eventually be renamed. For the moment, it is registered federally as the Nick Xenophon Team and as Nick Xenophon’s SA BEST at the state-level.
Although he is key to the party brand, Senator Xenophon is trying to help his first-term federal colleagues Rebekha Sharkie, Skye Kakoschke-Moore and Stirling Griff to develop their own public profiles. The trio are making progress, but it’s hard to imagine any of them ever being able to match Senator Xenophon’s success at staging “stunts”, such as appearing with a goat or wearing pyjamas to Parliament.
The late Don Chipp proved that a centrist political party can survive after the charismatic founder retires. After Mr Chipp retired from the Senate in 1986, the Democrats continued successfully for many years before imploding spectacularly in the early 21st Century. In contrast to the Democrats’ glory years, One Nation quickly fell apart when founder Pauline Hanson walked out and only began winning seats again when she returned to the leadership.
Electing state MPs next year who go on to work effectively together would be the first proof that the Xenophon party might dream of survival after its founder eventually retires.
Before he can worry too much about the long-term future of his party, Senator Xenophon needs to focus on the constitutional challenge to his position in Parliament. While the full bench of the High Court hears the case next week, Senator Xenophon will be in the US supporting an Australian footwear manufacturer fighting for the right to use the term “ugg boot”.
Back in Australia, his legal team will argue that he shouldn't be punished for inheriting “British Overseas Citizenship” from his Cypriot-born father. Arguably, British Overseas Citizenship isn’t “citizenship” at all, because it doesn’t include the right to live in or visit Britain.
The Government would be quite happy to see the back of Senator Xenophon but because he is in a similar position to Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Nationals MPs who have also been referred to the High Court, will argue he should keep his seat.
If Senator Xenophon loses the case, it is likely a countback of ballot papers from the 2016 election would result in NXT candidate Tim Storer winning the vacant seat. By immediately resigning, Mr Storer would allow his leader to return to Parliament.
That would place Senator Xenophon in a much better position than Mr Joyce, who will have to recontest his NSW seat of New England if he is disqualified by the High Court.
Before he was sworn back into Parliament, “Mr Xenophon” could continue as the de facto leader of his party. This sort of arrangement is not without precedent: John Gorton was a senator when he became Prime Minister in 1968 after the death of Harold Holt.
Convention dictates that the PM be a member of the House of Representatives, so Mr Gorton quit the Senate and stood for Mr Holt’s Victorian seat of Higgins at a by-election.
In Queensland, Campbell Newman led a Liberal National Opposition from outside Parliament before becoming Premier. Although he wants to prepare his party to eventually continue without him, Senator Xenophon has shown no sign of wanting to retire anytime soon.
Lovers of political theatre would hate to see him go.