SA senator Tim Storer quits Nick Xenophon Team to sit as independent

SA senator Tim Storer has officially informed the Senate that he has quit the Nick Xenophon Team and will sit as an independent.

Senator Derryn Hinch and Senator Tim Storer talking in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

South Australian senator Tim Storer has officially informed the Senate that he has quit the Nick Xenophon Team and will sit as an independent.

The announcement comes as no surprise, after Senator Storer attempted to challenge Senator Xenophon’s decision to appoint former staffer Rex Patrick as his successor when Mr Xenophon quit the Senate in October last year to run in the South Australian election.

Senator Storer subsequently resigned from the party.

The High Court later found Senator Storer was the legitimate successor to former NXT senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore, who was found to have been ineligible for election due to dual citizenship.

Senator Storer had stood as the fourth candidate on the NXT South Australian Senate ticket at the 2016 election.

At his swearing-in on Monday, Senator Storer chose to be brought into the chamber by government and opposition leaders in the Senate Mathias Cormann and Penny Wong in a show of independence and bipartisanship.

Senator Tim Storer officially informing the Senate that he will be sitting as an independent. Picture: Kym Smith

Senator Storer made a brief statement in the Senate this morning, saying: “I inform the chamber that I will be sitting as an independent Senator for South Australia”.

Yesterday NXT senator Stirling Griff suggested the party did not need to try to regain its balance of power on the crossbench by luring Senator Storer back, because Senator Storer continued to share many of the party’s views.

“We don’t have to, because Tim actually has the same core principles that we have,” Senator Griff told ABC radio.

“I in fact advocated for him to be Number Four on our ticket. We get along well.

“We’ve had some preliminary discussions about some operational matters in relation to parliament, and I would imagine that in many cases he will actually follow the same position that we follow.”