Back with the X: Nick Xenophon running for Senate again

Former South Australian senator Nick Xenophon will run for the Senate again on a platform of fixing aged care and targeting manufacturing jobs, as he says he supports Australia’s stance on national security after he did work for Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

More than four years after he quit federal politics to make an unsuccessful run for South Australian state politics, Mr Xenophon has announced he will run for the Senate at the upcoming federal election.

Nick Xenophon is running for the Senate again.Credit: Robert Shakespeare

His former party, the Nick Xenophon Team, was renamed Centre Alliance when he quit to run for state politics. The lack of a party means his name will not be above the line on the Senate ballot paper.

Mr Xenophon said if elected he would like to see action on improving aged care, the NDIS, and increasing the number of Australian manufacturing jobs. He also wants to ensure strong local content rules in South Australia for the construction of Australia’s proposed nuclear submarine fleet.

“I think people know my record. I’ll always try to work with the government of the day to achieve a good result,” Mr Xenophon told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Thursday.

“I’m not ideological like some of the other crossbenchers are.”

Mr Xenophon, who worked as a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer in his time off from politics, came under fire for working for Huawei, which was banned in 2018 from being part of Australia’s 5G network rollout due to concerns from security agencies.

Liberal senator James Paterson on Thursday tweeted “Huawei was excluded from Australia’s NBN, 4G & 5G mobile networks as a risk to national security. Despite knowing this, Nick Xenophon chose to represent their interests in Australia. He now wants to represent the interests of South Australians & should explain this contradiction” .

Mr Xenophon said Australia was a liberal democracy and everyone was entitled to legal representation. But he said he supported the way the government and the opposition were working in a bipartisan way on national security.

“Huawei has not been my client for some time now,” he said.

“On national security issues, I support what the government is doing.”

Rex Patrick (independent) and Stirling Griff (Centre Alliance) will be competing with Nick Xenophon for re-election.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Mr Xenophon’s announcement throws into doubt his former party member Rex Patrick’s chances of retaining his Senate seat in the May federal election.

“Clearly Nick Xenophon’s decision to throw his hat into the SA Senate changes the landscape,” Senator Patrick said in a statement on Thursday.

“I have worked for Nick as an adviser and I have great respect for him as a politician. He can again be a fine representative of our great State. I will make an announcement concerning my own political intentions tomorrow.”

Senator Patrick is now an independent, but he and Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff are both up for re-election at the next federal poll. With two Liberal senators and two Labor senators likely to be elected, the remaining two spots will be up for grabs.

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