Centre Alliance

Not to be confused with Central Alliance.

Centre Alliance
AbbreviationCA
FounderNick Xenophon
Founded1 July 2013; 11 years ago (2013-07-01)
Preceded byNo Pokies
HeadquartersAdelaide, South Australia
Ideology
Political positionCentre
Colours  Orange   Black
SloganWorking in South Australia's interests[1]
House of Representatives
1 / 151
Senate
0 / 76
Website
centrealliance.org.au

Centre Alliance (CA), formerly known as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), is a centrist Australian political party based in the state of South Australia. It currently has one elected representative, Rebekha Sharkie in the House of Representatives.[2]

Since its founding in July 2013, the party has twice changed names. At the time of the 2016 federal election, it was known as the Nick Xenophon Team. After Nick Xenophon founded SA-BEST, an affiliated state-based party, NXT sought to change its name to SA-BEST (Federal). However, prior to Australian Electoral Commission approval, Xenophon left politics, and the party withdrew its application and changed its name to Centre Alliance.[3] In 2018, Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff stated that SA-BEST is "a separate entity, a separate association, a separate party" from Centre Alliance.[4]

The party's ideological focus is a combination of socially liberal and populist policies,[5][6][7] drawing from the positions of Xenophon.[8] Its present members have variously declared support for same-sex marriage, reform of the Australian Intelligence Community, action on climate change, support for military veterans, affordable tax cuts, Australian-made manufacturing (including defence-industry spending), and legalising euthanasia.[9][10]

  1. ^ "Centre Alliance". Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. ^ Adam Gartrell (15 January 2016). "Nick Xenophon's plan to build a new political force is faltering". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  3. ^ MacLennan, Leah (10 April 2018). "Nick Xenophon's federal party drops his name". ABC News. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  4. ^ Podcast mpegmedia.abc.net.au March 2018 Archived 13 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Wroe, David (27 June 2016). "Brexit, Trump... Xenophon? Australia's modest populist backlash". smh.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  6. ^ "Turnbull must contain populists to win the battle of ideas". The Australian. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  7. ^ Berg, Chris; Roskam, John (10 July 2016). "Populism is not a dirty word". Institute of Public Affairs Australia. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Centre Alliance Party". ISideWith. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Senators argue territories euthanasia bill". Australian Associated Press. 14 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2018 – via SBS News.
  10. ^ Karp, Paul (15 August 2018). "Euthanasia bill defeated in the Senate after senators reverse position". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 24 August 2018.