Nick Xenophon

Nick Xenophon (né Nicholas Xenophou; Greek: Νικόλαος Ξενοφού, romanized: Nikólaos Ksenofoú; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 until 2017. As a centrist, populist, independent politician, he twice shared the balance of power in the Australian Senate (from 2008 to 2010, 2014 to 2017). Xenophon was widely regarded as being among the most powerful politicians in Australia and among the most electorally successful independent politicians in Australian history, eventually able to form a political party: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST in the state of South Australia.

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 came to advocate for other issues in federal parliament such as civil liberties, defence, education, foreign policy, health, infrastructure, manufacturing, national security, and regional affairs. 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. 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.

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. Polls suggested that Xenophon's party may have been able to form government, however by election day support had collapsed, and Xenophon was not elected to a lower house seat. He tried to re-enter the Senate in 2022 but received less than 3 percent of the vote, the lowest performance at an election since his first statewide result in 1997.