Role reversal as Nick Xenophon takes job as an adviser to former staffer Senator Rex Patrick

NICK Xenophon has been slammed for taking a $1500-a-week taxpayer-funded part-time job to advise his replacement in the Senate while he campaigns for a seat in State Parliament.

Leader of SA Best Party Nick Xenophon. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

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NICK Xenophon has been slammed for taking a $1500-a-week taxpayer-funded part-time job to advise his replacement in the Senate while he campaigns for a seat in State Parliament.

Australian Conservatives Senator Cory Bernardi labelled it a “scandal” while State Liberal Leader Steven Marshall said it was a “real problem”.

“After 20yrs in politics and millions in public funding @Nick_Xenophon quits Senate to become a staffer to ‘pay the bills’. I am calling BS. This is a scandal,” Senator Bernardi tweeted in response to The Advertiser story.

Mr Xenophon has accepted a job as adviser to newly minted Senator Rex Patrick, who was sworn in to Federal Parliament on Wednesday, filling the seat left vacant after the party leader resigned.

Under the “job-sharing” arrangement, Mr Xenophon said he would be taking home only half of the generous $160,000 publicly funded pay packet.

But he said he hoped it would be a short-term job given he hopes to be elected as the member for Hartley at the March state election.

“It allows me to help the transition (to Senator Patrick) and get taxpayers value for money,” he said.

“I’m working part-time so I can still spend 40 hours a week campaigning for SA Best.”

After 20yrs in politics and millions in public funding @Nick_Xenophon quits Senate to become a staffer to ‘pay the bills’. I am calling BS. This is a scandal #auspol #aBetterWay @AuConservatives

— Cory Bernardi (@corybernardi) November 15, 2017

Mr Marshall told ABC radio he did not believe Mr Xenophon could be a Senate staffer and lead a party at the State Election.

“To be a leader of a party is a full-time job,” he said.

“Nick Xenophon got one year into a six-year term, I’ve got a real problem with this.

“I don’t think this is the right thing for him to take this taxpayer-funded job when he’s supposed to be the head of the party that wants to hold control of the Parliament in SA.”

Premier Jay Weatherill said Mr Xenophon should focus his attention on telling the SA community which seats he planned to run candidates in at the March election.

“If he is doing that (working as a staffer) I think he owes the people of South Australia a full slate of candidates in various seats,” Mr Weatherill told ABC radio.

New SA Senator Rex Patrick. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

When asked if he thought the public would hold concerns about him taking a taxpayer-funded job, Mr Xenophon said it was “much, much less than what I was earning”.

“I’ve got to pay the bills, I’ve got weekly expenses to pay,” he said.

In his first day in Parliament, Senator Patrick did not pull any punches, using his first question to tell Finance Minister Mathias Cormann the Government had breached an agreement with NXT.

“Does the Government think that the departure of Mr Xenophon from this chamber means that agreements previously reached between NXT and the Government are null and void?” he asked.

“Your Government’s actions certainly seem to indicate that risky and foolish approach.”

Senator Patrick’s questions related to the Federal Government’s failure to implement in full a parliamentary committee’s recommendations to overhaul how it contracts billions of dollars worth of goods and services.

Leader of SA Best Party Nick Xenophon and staffer Connie Bonaros arrive to speak to the media on November 3. Picture: AAP/David Mariuz

Mr Xenophon’s job with Senator Patrick does not come without precedent. Major party candidates for state parliaments routinely hold jobs with sitting MPs.

However, if Mr Xenophon was running for a seat in the federal parliament he would need to resign from his job with Senator Patrick before nominating as a candidate.

The High Court on Wednesday ruled Liberal Hollie Hughes was ineligible to take the NSW senate seat vacated by former Nationals Deputy Leader Fiona Nash.

In another twist in the citizenship crisis, Ms Hughes was blocked because she took up the position of part-time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in July.

Under the constitution, taking an “office of profit under the Crown” disqualifies a person from parliament.