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Stirling Griff
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Stirling Griff
Stirling Griff (born 2 December 1957) is an Australian former politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 2016 to 2022, representing Centre Alliance. His party changed its name from Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), led by Senator Nick Xenophon, to Centre Alliance in April 2018 after Xenophon ceased to be connected with the party. He served as deputy leader of the party in the Senate until April 2018, when it adopted its current name. He was also the NXT spokesperson for health, immigration and communications. He was defeated at the 2022 federal election, having only secured 3% of the vote. His term expired on 30 June 2022.
Griff was born and raised in South Australia. He is of Jewish Lithuanian descent. He has lived and worked in Adelaide, regional South Australia and Melbourne. He was married to Kristin (died 16 July 2021) and has four children aged 16 to 30 in 2016.
Griff has worked for the Bank of Adelaide, a radio network, Reader's Digest, Young & Rubicam, as a consultant, for the SA branch of the Retail Traders Association (later known as the Australian Retailers Association), and as a retail businessman in telecommunications, owning '3 Mobile' shops. Since 2013 he has been involved with Nick Xenophon, principally as his campaign manager in 2013.
During the 2013 federal election campaign, Griff was the campaign director for Nick Xenophon Group (as the party was then known). He also was instrumental in developing a computer program that assisted the campaign. Griff was second on the NXG ticket behind Xenophon. Despite receiving more votes than the Labor Party, only Xenophon managed to win a senate seat. This was because of preference flows against NXG.
Following the establishment of the Nick Xenophon Team as a formal political party, Griff served as party secretary from 2013 to 2014 and party treasurer from 2014 to 2016.
In 2015, Griff was interviewed by the Adelaide-based online newspaper InDaily. The paper declared Griff "the power behind the Xenophon throne". In another article, Griff said he did not support ongoing assistance from the government towards the Australian automotive industry, saying, "I stray a little bit with Nick [Xenophon] on this one". Griff also described how NXT was selecting candidates for the 2016 federal election:
You start bringing in other personalities, if you like, other egos that need stroking…is that going to mean we push the agenda we want to push or are we pushing their agenda? It's not about looking for celebrity candidates; I can tell you we're very strong in our resolve not to go for 'name brands' and celebrity candidates. We want like-minded passionate people … we're not looking for academics, we're not looking for political groupies, we're not looking for people who have been ticket-holding members of parties. We wanted people that have been involved in small business in some form … people that have experienced real life, rather than people that have gone up through a structure being staffers of MPs.
Griff was elected to the Australian Senate at the 2016 federal election, taking his place from September 2016. He was made Deputy Leader of the Nick Xenophon Team in August 2016. In his first speech, Griff called for the public ownership of electricity, water, gas and broadband utilities.
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Stirling Griff
Stirling Griff (born 2 December 1957) is an Australian former politician who was a Senator for South Australia from 2016 to 2022, representing Centre Alliance. His party changed its name from Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), led by Senator Nick Xenophon, to Centre Alliance in April 2018 after Xenophon ceased to be connected with the party. He served as deputy leader of the party in the Senate until April 2018, when it adopted its current name. He was also the NXT spokesperson for health, immigration and communications. He was defeated at the 2022 federal election, having only secured 3% of the vote. His term expired on 30 June 2022.
Griff was born and raised in South Australia. He is of Jewish Lithuanian descent. He has lived and worked in Adelaide, regional South Australia and Melbourne. He was married to Kristin (died 16 July 2021) and has four children aged 16 to 30 in 2016.
Griff has worked for the Bank of Adelaide, a radio network, Reader's Digest, Young & Rubicam, as a consultant, for the SA branch of the Retail Traders Association (later known as the Australian Retailers Association), and as a retail businessman in telecommunications, owning '3 Mobile' shops. Since 2013 he has been involved with Nick Xenophon, principally as his campaign manager in 2013.
During the 2013 federal election campaign, Griff was the campaign director for Nick Xenophon Group (as the party was then known). He also was instrumental in developing a computer program that assisted the campaign. Griff was second on the NXG ticket behind Xenophon. Despite receiving more votes than the Labor Party, only Xenophon managed to win a senate seat. This was because of preference flows against NXG.
Following the establishment of the Nick Xenophon Team as a formal political party, Griff served as party secretary from 2013 to 2014 and party treasurer from 2014 to 2016.
In 2015, Griff was interviewed by the Adelaide-based online newspaper InDaily. The paper declared Griff "the power behind the Xenophon throne". In another article, Griff said he did not support ongoing assistance from the government towards the Australian automotive industry, saying, "I stray a little bit with Nick [Xenophon] on this one". Griff also described how NXT was selecting candidates for the 2016 federal election:
You start bringing in other personalities, if you like, other egos that need stroking…is that going to mean we push the agenda we want to push or are we pushing their agenda? It's not about looking for celebrity candidates; I can tell you we're very strong in our resolve not to go for 'name brands' and celebrity candidates. We want like-minded passionate people … we're not looking for academics, we're not looking for political groupies, we're not looking for people who have been ticket-holding members of parties. We wanted people that have been involved in small business in some form … people that have experienced real life, rather than people that have gone up through a structure being staffers of MPs.
Griff was elected to the Australian Senate at the 2016 federal election, taking his place from September 2016. He was made Deputy Leader of the Nick Xenophon Team in August 2016. In his first speech, Griff called for the public ownership of electricity, water, gas and broadband utilities.