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Nick Xenophon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nick Xenophon (born 1959 in Adelaide) is a prominent South Australian politician, barrister and anti-gambling campaigner.
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Xenophon attained his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide in 1981, and in 1984 established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co., that deals solely with personal injury claims. In this field he became successful, and between 1994 and 1997 he served as president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Plaintiff Lawyers' Association.
After legislation was passed by the Bannon Government in 1992 that saw the introduction of slot machines or 'pokies' into South Australia in 1994, the increased incidence of problem gambling came to Xenophon's attention in his legal practice. At the 1997 South Australian election, Xenophon stood for the South Australian Legislative Council under a No Pokies ticket, advocating the reduction and abolition of pokies. He received 2.9% of the vote which, combined with preferences from other parties, made him the first Independent ever elected to the Upper House.
During his time as a sitting member, Xenophon has been an activist for a range of issues aside the elimination of pokies, speaking out on essential services, the environment, taxation and perks for politicians. He is best known for his many media-friendly publicity stunts that have gained him both deep respect and ardent criticism. Xenophon has also suffered severe health difficulties that at one stage forced him to take leave.
Xenophon stood again for 2006 election amid media speculation that he would struggle to be re-elected with the major parties preferencing against him. Despite this, he ran an aggressive campaign described by some commentators as 'anti-political' and received over 20% of the vote, enough to not only to re-elect himself, but also to elect the second No Pokies candidate, Ann Bressington.
The result was unprecedented in Australian political history; an Independent had never before been so significantly endorsed statewide. His Legislative Council vote of 20.5% was just 5.5% less[2] than the result recorded by the Liberal Party, one of the two major parties. Labor MP Michael Atkinson is even quoted as saying that some polling booths in his electorate had Xenophon polling higher than the Liberals. This series of events led some commentators to call Xenophon the new "third force" in South Australian politics.
Xenophon was left with a $100,000 campaign debt (as there is no funding for state elections, unlike federal elections) which has prompted him to release 2000 limited edition 'Nick Xenophon 2007 Stunt Calenders' in an attempt to pay for the debt. In the event that the the campaign debt is cleared, all excess funds will be used to employ extra staff in his parliamentary office.[3]