Rex Patrick to set up micro-party to survive next election

SA senator Rex Patrick is planning to start his own micro-party to boost his chances to stay in the Senate.

Senators Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

South Australian senator Rex Patrick will start his own micro-party to boost his chances to stay in the Senate as he breaks away from the remnants of Nick Xenophon’s old team.

Senator Patrick, who replaced his former boss, Mr Xenophon, in 2017, has been blasted by former Centre Alliance ally Stirling Griff for choosing “self-interest” over the interest of South Australians.

But the upper house parliamentarian, who has made a name for himself in Canberra as a powerful swing vote, said he would have to boost his brand to stand any chance of continuing to get outcomes, and he believed Centre Alliance was doomed.

“Look at the crossbench: it’s the Jacqui Lambie brand, it’s the Pauline Hanson brand, it was the Nick Xenophon brand,” Senator Patrick told The Australian.

“Centre Alliance polled only 2.6 per cent at the last election. We’re getting very little recognition for what we do in the Senate beyond political tragics.

“The bottom line is we are at risk of losing the centrist representation we’ve had in South Australia since 1981 … I’m not Nick Xenophon but he was my mentor. I watched how he engaged, how he used every tool at his disposal, to solve problems and that what I aim to do.”

The Australian understands Senator Patrick will recruit candidates to his party to boost his chances of getting above-line votes at the next federal poll, but it will not be on the scale of his mentor’s past attempts to change South Australian politics.

Centre Alliance succeeded the Nick Xenophon Team when Mr Xenophon left federal politics to pursue the balance of power — and some polls suggested the premiership was in reach — in SA’s 2018 state election only to fail to pick up a seat himself.

Senator Patrick was his principal adviser and Senator Griff came in the large batch of NXT MPs swept in by the 2016 election.

Now Centre Alliance has two representatives — MP for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie and Senator Griff — and only Ms Sharkie is considered to have a good chance of holding at the next election.

Senator Griff said unlike his former colleague, he was not focused on the next election. He accused Senator Patrick of being interested in his own political survival. “The most disappointing thing is this all about self-marketing,” he said on Monday.

“We’ve not had an argument. We’ve not disagreed on policy. He’s doing this to ensure he gets the best prospect of being re-elected 14 or 18 months down the track. It’s all about self-interest in two years. When he was chosen by us to fill that position.

“He’s broken a pretty effective voting and negotiating bloc in the Senate.

“It’s absolutely not in the self-interest of South Australians.”