Xenophon stands by work for Chinese tech giant Huawei

Facing a barrage of attacks from all sides of politics, Nick Xenophon says he stands by his work for the controversial Chinese tech giant.

Political comeback wannabe Nick Xenophon has refused to shy away from his history with banished Chinese tech giant Huawei, insisting he was just doing his job as a lawyer.

The former senator has attracted a swarm of political enemies who suggest he can’t be trusted to return to parliament after working with Huawei for more than a year.

“This is a way of trying to tear me down with this hysterical campaign and I’m just not going to cop it,” Mr Xenophon told The Advertiser.

“These politically motivated attacks are outrageous and I will not be dragged into this sewer.”

Mr Xenophon said the company paid his firm Xenophon Davis “standard rates” of between $400 and $600 an hour for legal representation, which involved defending Huawei’s reputation after it was banned from Australia’s 5G mobile rollout in 2018.

“It was known that we had set up a law firm that was prepared to be involved in reputational (cases),” Mr Xenophon said.

“It was consistent with our approach to take on difficult cases, in the same way that we are now acting for whistleblowers. We were doing our job.”

Nick Xenophon has defended his legal work for Huawei. Picture: Tom Huntley

Since announcing his return to politics last month, Mr Xenophon has faced a barrage of attacks from Liberals, Labor and even his once-close ally, Senator Rex Patrick, who said working with Huawei was like working for weapons makers in Nazi Germany.

Mr Xenophon, who told Senator Patrick to “get his head out of the clouds”, said he never travelled to China while representing Huawei between September 2019 and December 2020, nor did he meet any officials from the Chinese Communist Party.

He said he only had contact with three senior Huawei Australia staff, who were all Australian and had since left the globally troubled company.

Without revealing the exact figure, Mr Xenophon said his firm was paid “standard fees” that were “in line with what law firms charge for legal work”. He earlier told ABC Radio Adelaide it was between $400 and $600 an hour.

Mr Xenophon said the number of hours he did work for Huawei varied each week.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull blocked the Chinese tech giant from Australia’s 5G mobile rollout in 2018 over national security concerns.

The global concerns centre around the company’s extremely close ties with the Chinese Communist Party.

Premier Peter Malinauskas was the latest to slam Mr Xenophon, accusing him of not being transparent about his “personal financial arrangements” with Huawei.