Stirling Griff

Senator
Stirling Griff
Senator for South Australia
Assumed office
2 July 2016
Deputy Leader of Nick Xenophon Team
In office
29 August 2016 – 10 April 2018
Leader Nick Xenophon
Personal details
Born (1957-12-02) 2 December 1957
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Political party
Spouse(s) Kristin[2]
Children 4[2]
Occupation Retail chief executive officer
Retail marketing
Profession Businessman
Politician

Stirling Griff (born 2 December 1957) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for South Australia since 2016, representing the Nick Xenophon Team and Centre Alliance.[3][4] 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.[5]

Background

Griff was born and raised in South Australia. He is of Jewish Lithuanian descent.[6][7][8] He has lived and worked in Adelaide, regional South Australia and Melbourne. He is married to Kristin and has four children aged 16 to 30 in 2016.[2]

Griff has worked for the Bank of Adelaide, a radio network, Readers 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.[2][9]

Political career

2013 election and 2016 election

During the 2013 Federal Election campaign Griff was the campaign director for Nick Xenophon Group (as they party was then known). He also was instrumental in developing a computer programme 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.[10] 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.[1]

In 2015, Griff was interviewed by Adelaide-based online newspaper, InDaily. The paper declared Griff "the power behind the Xenophon throne".[11] 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".[12] Griff also described how NXT was selecting candidates for the 2016 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.[13]

Australian Senate (2016-present)

Griff was elected to the Australian Senate at the 2016 federal election, taking his place from September 2016. He was made Deputy Leader of Nick Xenophon Team in August 2016.[14] In his first speech, Griff called for the denationalisation of electricity, water, gas and broadband utilities.[15]

In October 2017 Griff disclosed that he had accepted business class upgrades which contrasted with his then party leader Nick Xenophon's personal belief that "MPs [should] be banned from flying business class on flights of two hours or less".[16]

He is also reported to be a "strong advocate for emissions reductions".[17]

Griff brokered an ACCC inquiry into digital platforms such as Facebook and Google as a condition of his former party supporting the Turnbull governments of media reforms. [18]

During his first term he supported same-sex marriage.[19] He also provided support for a ban of "preferred" providers of medical and dental services, as well as the disclosure of doctors fees online by the government so that patients can better identify lower cost services.[20]

He has a particular interest in health genomics and was the principle advocate for a national Genomic Cancer Medicine Program that will treat more than 5,000 patients nationally.[21]

Griff supported the federal Territories Rights Euthanasia Bill stating he has “faith that none of us, no matter our upbringing or faith, desire to see people and particularly those close to us suffer a distressing death” [22]

In June 2018, Griff attended the Rambam Israel Fellowship Program sponsored by the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council. The lobby group funded "transport, accommodation, meals and other associated costs".[16][23]

References

  1. 1 2 "Senator Stirling Griff". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Stirling Griff. "Stirling Griff". 2016 candidate profiles. Nick Xenophon. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Senate Results". Federal Election 2016. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Senate: First preferences by candidate count still underway". 4 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Shepherd, Tory (30 October 2017). "Senator Nick Xenophon to be replaced by longtime adviser Rex Patrick in Senate". The Advertiser.
  6. ↑ Lowenstein, Nitza (23 October 2016). "Alex Dafner Australian Jewish leaders criticized the UNESCO resolution denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem". SBS World News.
  7. ↑ Whitman, Ariel (30 August 2016). "Record number of Jewish lawmakers sworn in to Australian Parliament". The Jerusalem Post.
  8. ↑ Levi, Joshua (20 October 2016). "Senator Griff's Jewish roots". The Australian Jewish News.
  9. ↑ Mayne, Stephen (29 April 2016). "Stephen Mayne: Nick Xenophon's campaign South Australia-centric". Crikey.
  10. ↑ "Senate Results: South Australia - Australia Votes - Federal Election 2013". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  11. ↑ "The power behind the Xenophon throne". InDaily. 21 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Xenophon sidekick says he wouldn't support Holden handouts". InDaily. 20 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Xenophon party promises: no egomaniacs, no academics". InDaily. 21 October 2015.
  14. ↑ Tom Richardson (21 October 2015). "The power behind the Xenophon throne". InDaily. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  15. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/oct/13/coalition-embarrassed-by-mistaken-support-for-labor-vote-politics-live?CMP=share_btn_tw
  16. 1 2 Williams, Rosie. "Bringing transparency to Australia". ausgov.info.
  17. ↑ Coorey, Phillip (26 July 2018). "Labor ponders election showdown on emissions target". Australian Financial Review.
  18. ↑ "ACCC targets tech platforms". InnovationsAus.com (in Australia). Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  19. ↑ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/how-senators-voted-on-samesex-marriage/news-story/efa0b4cb574ca2afe05208ebdc757ce1
  20. ↑ Jean, Peter (19 December 2017). "Bid to publish doctors' fees in online database to help patients shop around". www.adelaidenow.com.au.
  21. ↑ "$50 million to provide life-saving support to cancer patients". Greg Hunt MP. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  22. ↑ "Senators argue territories euthanasia bill". SBS News. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  23. ↑ "Senator and union leaders report on their visit to Israel". J-Wire. 1 August 2018.
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