Formerly a personal injuries lawyer, Nick Xenophon was elected to the Legislative Council in South Australia in 1997 on a 'No Pokies' ticket, the first independent elected to the Upper House in 60 years. In 1995 he was the inaugural president of the then Australian Plaintiff Lawyers Association.

Nick Xenophon reckons if you don’t know what he does by now, he hasn’t been doing his job over the last 10 years as a stirrer on a whole range of issues, not just on the pokies but on ETSA, consumer rights, victims of crime, Housing Trust and industrial manslaughter.

In the March 2006 election, Nick was re-elected with over 190 000 votes - a record number of votes for an Independent in any election ever held in Australia.