Nick Xenophon announces his candidates for the federal election
AN emergency physician, a former SANFL footballer and a local councillor are among candidates spearheading Senator Nick Xenophon’s push to become Australia’s third political force.
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AN emergency physician, a former SANFL footballer and a local councillor are among candidates spearheading Senator Nick Xenophon’s push to become Australia’s third political force.
Unveiling his party’s long-awaited candidates exclusively to The Advertiser, Senator Xenophon revealed they would stand in eight of South Australia’s 11 federal seats, focusing on the city.
A further four Lower House candidates will stand in New South Wales, two in Queensland and one in Victoria, along with two Senate candidates in every state.
Flinders Medical Centre emergency physician Matthew Wright will target Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne in Sturt, while former Glenelg and Eagles footballer Daniel Kirk will stand in Liberal backbencher Matthew Williams’s western suburbs seat of Hindmarsh — the state’s most marginal.
Senator Xenophon is attempting to leverage the extraordinary 24.88 per cent of the first-preference SA Senate vote he secured at the 2013 federal election into historic Lower House victories.
He is aiming to win enough seats to enable his Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) to effect legislative change but risks diminishing his electoral appeal if candidates fracture under an expected onslaught of major party scrutiny.
Among other NXT candidates, former Liberal staffer Rebekha Sharkie in Mayo will target her old boss, Cities Minister Jamie Briggs, while Mitcham councillor Karen Hockley will stand in Boothby, where Liberal Andrew Southcott is retiring.
Senator Xenophon insists he is not targeting the Liberals, despite in February vowing to run candidates in Liberal-held seats and preference against the party in the Senate if Australia’s future submarines were not built in Adelaide.
His NXT party will run business development manager Joe Hill against Labor’s Kate Ellis in Adelaide and former Australian Democrats candidate Craig Bossie in ALP-held Makin, against Tony Zappia.
“It’s not about targeting one side from the other. It’s about keeping the major parties on their toes on the issues that they have failed to address,” Senator Xenophon told The Advertiser.
“It’s been a bit of a cosy club …. I just want to give people a real choice and I just hope people understand that these people bring the same passion and commitment to the state that I have.”
Senator Xenophon, who is not facing voters at a federal election expected late next year, told The Advertiser he would position his party as “a bridge between the Left and Right”.
But the major parties are warning a vote for his candidates is not a vote for Senator Xenophon, with Mr Pyne warning the fledgling party risks splitting like Clive Palmer’s.
The Liberals, in particular, have been nervous about losing Sturt, Boothby or Mayo to Senator Xenophon’s candidates.
But it is understood NXT polling in SA reflects a national surge to the Liberals since Tony Abbott was ousted by Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister in September, making them also eye off Labor-held Adelaide and Makin.
But predictions are complicated by the volatile nature of federal politics and yet-to-be-completed preference deals, although Senator Xenophon has historically evenly split these between Labor and Liberal.
Senator Xenophon, who a year ago today launched the NXT party, cited as his major policy areas curbing predatory gambling, boosting Australian-made industry and pushing government accountability and transparency.
Interstate, the NXT is standing candidates in electorates including Mr Abbott’s seat of Warringah and Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer’s seat of Higgins.
Asked whether they would vote as a bloc if elected, Senator Xenophon and his candidates told The Advertiser their shared ideology and values meant they would but this would not be compulsory.
Mr Pyne pointed out Senator Xenophon was re-elected for a six-year term in 2013 and, because he is not facing voters at the next poll, “the challenge for Nick’s team is that Nick isn’t actually part of it”.
Mr Pyne warned the NXT’s model was similar to the Palmer United Party, which has had two senators split to form their own parties.
“If the Nick Xenophon Team goes the same way, people who thought they were supporting Nick will find themselves with someone else entirely,” Mr Pyne told The Advertiser.
“This has happened in the past with some of Nick’s picks, such as Ann Bressington.”
Upper House Opposition Leader and SA Labor Senator Penny Wong has said Senator Xenophon’s strong brand awareness is not the same as brand authenticity.
“That’s a big risk for Nick as he invites other candidates to stand in his name,” she said.
Senator Xenophon declared a rigorous year-long candidate selection process, which involved whittling down more than 450 applications nationwide, would prevent internal rifts like that experienced by him in state parliament and the Palmer United Party.
Senator Xenophon infamously split from one-time running mate Anne Bressington, who in 2007 branded him a typical politician and a “chameleon”.
She also claimed he compelled her to take out a “huge” personal loan of almost $50,000 to cover 2006 election campaign costs following her unexpected victory, which resulted from his 20.5 per cent share of the Upper House vote.
Senator Xenophon denied the claims.
Without naming Ms Bressington, Senator Xenophon stressed his close working relationship with his state Upper House replacement, John Darley, and said: “I have learnt from the past and what I’ve learnt is to go through this (candidate selection) process, to work collaboratively.”
The candidate selection process was spearheaded by former Australian Retailers Association state director Stirling Griff, the NXT lead SA Senate candidate and party campaign director.
Of 150 applications in SA, 20 were eventually selected to form an election advisory committee and recommend candidates to the party’s management committee, which selected those now put forward.
The NXT candidates
Stirling Griff, 58
Occupation: Retail consultant and campaign director for the Nick Xenophon Team
Standing for Senate
Analysis: Former Australian Retailers Association state director and small business owner.
Renowned organiser has brought discipline to the NXT and should capitalise on his party founder’s support to secure a Senate spot.
Skye Kakoschke-Moore, 29
Occupation: Senator Xenophon’s legislation and policy adviser.
Standing for Senate
Analysis: Given Senator Xenophon’s group secured only one Upper House spot in 2013, when he stood, would require increased support this time to be elected. But Senator Xenophon does not face the voters at this poll.
Matthew Wright, 45
Occupation: Emergency physician at Flinders Medical Centre.
Standing for Sturt
Mission statement: “Employment and job security, the challenges facing the South Australian economy, status of the future submarine contract, the quality of their children’s education …”
Key opponent: Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Christopher Pyne, elected 1993. Margin 10.1 per cent.
Analysis: Mr Pyne is renowned for tirelessly working his seat and Liberal branches. Internal polling was said to show him in trouble before Tony Abbott was deposed as Prime Minister, which almost certainly fuelled Mr Pyne’s decision to back Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Wright is highly rated by Mr Xenophon and the party’s chances in Sturt have been talked up. Mr Pyne has survived threats before and is a ruthless, inexhaustible campaigner who will be difficult to depose.
Joe Hill, 33
Occupation: Business development manager with international aid firm Coffey.
Standing for Adelaide
Mission statement: “We need to drive growth and reverse the worrying level of unemployment.”
Key opponent: Labor’s Kate Ellis, elected 2004. Margin 4 per cent.
Analysis: Ms Ellis holds a seat the Liberals, buoyed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s poll surge, will be hopeful of snaring. Like other NXT candidates, Mr Hill will have to rely on splitting the major parties’ support and coming through the middle to win. But Ms Ellis is a long-term incumbent in the once highly marginal seat.
Karen Hockley
Occupation: Mitcham councillor and former Westpac management accountant.
Standing for Boothby
Mission statement: “A two-party system is promoted by the Liberal and Labor parties, but this is not the way of the future.”
Key opponent: Debut Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint (Andrew Southcott is retiring). Margin 7.2 per cent.
Analysis: Ms Hockley arguably has the strongest chance of any NXT candidate in this seat, which is being vacated by Andrew Southcott, who has held the seat for the Liberals since 1996. The Liberals lose the value of incumbency and Mr Southcott’s ability, despite criticism, to hold on in some extremely close shaves. There is a history of minor party success. In 2001, the Australian Democrats’ Jo Pride secured almost 20 per cent of the primary vote. Importantly, Senator Xenophon’s Senate vote at the 2013 election in Boothby of 28.80 per cent first-preference support was the highest of any seat, outpolling the Liberals 28.54 per cent.
Michael Slattery, 54
Occupation: Former stainless steel product factory worker now running a contracting business that has worked on projects including Adelaide Airport and Adelaide Oval.
Standing for Port Adelaide
Mission statement: “We should be visionary and make the Le Fevre Peninsula the defence capital of Australia, if not the planet.”
Key opponent: ALP National President Mark Butler, elected 2007. Margin 14.1 per cent.
Analysis: Port Adelaide has been held by Labor since it was created in 1949. Mr Butler has a large margin and would require a miracle to depose. Mr Slattery’s manufacturing credentials will bolster Senator Xenophon’s Australian-made campaign and, particularly, his push for to build submarines at Osborne, in this electorate.
Damian Carey, 61
Occupation: Doctor of Chinese medicine, with a master’s degree in acupuncture. Lecturer and clinic supervisor at Endeavour College.
Standing for Kingston
Mission statement: “Community cohesion is critical, with youth unemployment, domestic violence and drug and alcohol addiction needing the most immediate attention.”
Key opponent: Labor’s Amanda Rishworth, elected 2007. Margin 9.8 per cent.
Analysis: Ms Rishworth has transformed this once-marginal and volatile seat into a Labor stronghold, requiring an almost 10 per cent swing to unseat her. Opponents, including Mr Carey, will struggle.
Daniel Kirk, 33
Occupation: Strength and conditioning coach and former Glenelg and Woodville West Torrens SANFL footy player.
Standing for Hindmarsh
Mission statement: “Employment, particularly related to jobs in small business and manufacturing. Healthcare, focusing on preventive and affordable high quality primary health care, to ensure access for all ...”
Key opponent: Liberal Matthew Williams, elected 2013. Margin 1.9 per cent.
Analysis: The state’s most marginal federal seat will be a battle between Mr Williams and the man he snared Hindmarsh from, Labor’s Steve Georganas. This return bout and the seat’s highly marginal status might open up a chance for Mr Kirk, whose SANFL experience will lend him some profile.
Rebekha Sharkie, 43
Occupation: Senior manager at HYPA, a youth not-for profit group focused on employment and education. Adelaide Hills small business operator and former Liberal staffer for Jamie Briggs, Isobel Redmond and Rachel Sanderson.
Standing for Mayo
Mission statement: “We already are the third force, in the sense that we are more aligned to the sensible thinking of the majority of hardworking South Australians.”
Key opponent: Her former boss, Cities Minister Jamie Briggs, elected 2008. Margin 12.6 per cent.
Analysis: Mayo is a Liberal stronghold, in which Mr Briggs took over from former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer. But Redgum frontman John Schumann famously almost unseated Mr Downer in 1998, when standing for the Australian Democrats. This has fuelled regular mutterings about third-party candidates’ chances, none of which have since been realised. Ms Sharkie will be attacked as a turncoat and an opportunist switching to cash in on Senator Xenophon’s popularity. But this is a seat where, like other minor parties before it, the NXT considers itself a chance.
Craig Bossie, 53
Occupation: Executive officer, Chaplaincy Services SA. Former ASIO officer and previously stood for Australian Democrats in Boothby in 2007.
Standing for Makin
Mission statement: “The closure of GM in 2017 makes an intentional jobs plan urgent for those living in the northern suburbs.”
Key opponent: Labor’s Tony Zappia, elected 2007. Margin 5.1 per cent.
Analysis: Makin has been renowned as a Bible belt seat, which makes Mr Bossie a clever selection. But Mr Zappia is a former Salisbury mayor who works his patch hard, making him tough to depose. Makin voters have tended to back incumbents except in national landslides.