Election 2022: SA Senator Stirling Griff in unwinnable position under Xenophon

The quiet achiever of the Senate, Stirling Griff, insists he isn’t sacrificing his career for Nick Xenophon, who will clash with One Nation for the last upper house seat.

South Australian senator Stirling Griff is preparing to bring down the curtain on his parliamentary career in the understated fashion that has become synonymous with his many victories as a powerful crossbencher.

His departure will spell the near death of the already fractured Centre Alliance voting bloc, which was once the most powerful in the country before Senator Rex Patrick defected and flew his own banner.

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie will be all that is left of the minor party, which exists now only in name.

Senator Griff is in the unwinnable position of second on Nick Xenophon’s upper house ticket – effectively sacrificing his own career in Canberra for a man whose name doesn’t even appear above the line on the ballot paper.

Stirling Griff is in an unwinnable position, leading to the near death of the Centre Alliance voting bloc. Pic Roy VanDerVegt

During his six years in parliament, Senator Griff has quietly used the balance of power to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in government investments for SA that would have otherwise gone begging. These include $68m for the Southern Hemisphere’s first Proton Therapy Centre and an extra $424m in Gonski 2.0 school funding.

He also helped the media industry by instigating the ACCC Digital Platforms inquiry that brought tech giants Google and Facebook into line.

Senator Griff rejected the notion he was making a sacrifice for Mr Xenophon, who gave up his senatorship in a failed attempt to become premier in 2018.

“I am not and never have been a career politician, or a person who seeks power or needs their ego stroked by being recognised as a senator,” Senator Griff said.

“My senate term is just that – a term, not a career.

“I do not have a single achievement I hang my hat on – all are important to me and have benefited the community.”

Senator Griff hopes Mr Xenophon, if elected, would “take up the causes I have championed”. The odds are against Mr Xenophon. His legal work for banned Chinese tech giant Huawei has haunted him throughout the campaign – plus he is represented by just the letter “O” above the line on the ballot paper. He also did not have enough time to develop a volunteer base.

Nick Xenophon will be displayed only with a letter “O” above the line on the senate ballot paper. Picture: Tom Huntley

Greens candidate Barbara Pocock is on track to join colleague Sarah Hanson-Young in the Senate, in a huge win for the party. The sixth SA senate seat will likely be a scrap between Mr Xenophon and One Nation, led by Jennifer Game, who is the mother of newly minted SA MLC Sarah Game.

The pollsters have written off Senator Patrick, who was installed under the Xenophon team before going independent.

But senior Liberals still believe he would be an outside chance for the sixth senate spot, due to his healthy volunteer base.

Labor’s senate vote has been supercharged this year, but signs suggest the Liberals have made up some ground in the final days of the campaign. Penny Wong and Don Farrell are the two Labor senators up for re-election, while on the Liberal side it is Simon Birmingham and Andrew McLachlan.

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