Nick Xenophon

Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017.

He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST in South Australia.

From 1976 until 1981, he was a member of the Liberal Party of Australia and the Young Liberals.

In his first year, Xenophon was elected on the Adelaide University Liberal Club ticket to On Dit student magazine.

At the end of his eighteen-month term, Xenophon wrote as a whistleblower in On Dit that the Young Liberals had rigged the vote in order to secure the unlikely victory of their editing team.

According to Xenophon, the party politics of the On Dit incident disenchanted him, although some Labor members maintain that he considered joining the Australian Labor Party while at university.

In 1982 and 1983, Xenophon worked as a lawyer in the private practice of Jacob van Dissel.

In 1984, van Dissel gave Xenophon the personal injury part of his practice, enabling Xenophon to become principal of his new firm, Xenophon & Co. Lawyers.

The firm continues and deals primarily with workers compensation and personal injury claims on a no-win-no-fee basis.

In 1994 and 1997, Xenophon served as President of the South Australian branch of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers' Association.

During this time, he also taught law at the University of South Australia, where his future political opponent Christopher Pyne was among his students.

From 1997 to 2007, he was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council, serving as an independent on a No Pokies policy platform.

When the Nick Xenophon Team changed its name to Centre Alliance, Xenophon himself ceased to be directly involved with the party.

Xenophon initially focused on his central anti-gambling policy, but also embraced other issues in federal parliament such as civil liberties, defence, education, foreign policy, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, national security, and regional affairs.

At the 1997 state election, Xenophon stood for the South Australian Legislative Council under an Independent No Pokies ticket, advocating the reduction and abolition of poker machines (colloquially known as "pokies").

He received a vote of 2.86 percent, a statewide total of 25,630 votes – much less than the 8.33 per cent needed to be elected in his own right – but by receiving a large number of preferences first from microparties and then from Grey Power, he went from a quota of 0.34 to 1.08 and was therefore elected.

This made Xenophon the first independent elected to the Legislative Council in 60 years.

Following the 1997 election, the Olsen Liberal government needed the support of an additional two non-Liberal upper house members in order to pass legislation, with the Australian Democrats retaining the balance of power on three seats.

However, defectors from Labor in the upper house, Terry Cameron and Trevor Crothers, often brought Xenophon in to play.

In 1998, Xenophon voted with Cameron and the government to proceed with the second reading of the ETSA power sale bill.

The bill became law when Cameron and Crothers voted with the Liberal government, although Xenophon voted against the bill in its final form.

Following the election of the Rann Labor government at the 2002 state election, the government needed an additional five non-Labor upper house members to pass legislation, giving a shared balance of power to the Democrats on three seats, incumbent independents Xenophon and Cameron, with the Family First Party winning their first seat.

Xenophon was an activist for a range of issues apart from the elimination of poker machines, speaking out on consumer rights, essential services, the environment, taxation, and perks for politicians.

In 2008, The Australian quoted many Liberal and Labor politicians who believed Xenophon had shown himself to be a "lightweight" political opportunist during his decade in state politics.

In 2010, Xenophon sought to introduce anti-cult legislation similar to that of France's anti-cult legislation, primarily targeting the Church of Scientology and its tax-exempt status.

Xenophon failed in his central mission to have poker machines curbed or eliminated in a lasting way, but was instrumental in the Rudd government's repeal of WorkChoices legislation and the passage of the economic stimulus package, as well as the Abbott government's repeal of the Clean Energy Act 2011.

In 2012, Xenophon co-sponsored a bill with Victorian Senator John Madigan to restrict federal government subsidies for wind farms.

Xenophon's concerns about wind turbines were predominantly related to anecdotal evidence of health problems and the reliability of wind-sourced power.

Additionally, Xenophon was pivotal in the obstruction of the Abbott government's 2014 austerity budget, the plan to build next generation submarines overseas, and the Pyne higher education reforms.

Nick Xenophon (born Nicholas Xenophou) was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the older of two children to Theo Xenophou from Cyprus, and Georgia from Greece.

Xenophon attended Prince Alfred College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Adelaide.

In 2015, the publishers of former Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard's 2014 memoir, My Story, retracted an allegation that Xenophon had been "infamously excluded from university for a period as punishment for stuffing a ballot box full of voting papers he had somehow procured".

In 2015, Xenophon appealed in person to Indonesia's largest Islamic body to support a reprieve for two Australian convicted drug smugglers sentenced to death in Bali.

Xenophon's translator reportedly stated, “We are aware that the death penalty is the right of the Indonesian government.

Therefore, we do not ask that it be cancelled but plead that it be delayed”.

In October 2017, Xenophon resigned from the Australian Senate to contest a seat in the House of Assembly at the 2018 South Australian state election.

In 2018 during the 2018 South Australian state election, Xenophon and his party pushed for a law that crystal methamphetamine users in South Australia will be forced into drug rehabilitation.

In 2019, the Australian Financial Review reported that his law firm was representing Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, who Xenophon claims have "been treated incredibly unfairly".

He also represents the military whistleblower, David McBride.

Xenophon considers himself to be a centrist politician with strong views against poker machine gambling.