Rex Patrick

Before joining the Xenophon team, Patrick had been a staffer for Liberal Senator David Johnston.[13] Patrick assisted Johnston when he was the Shadow Defence Minister to expose the very high annual cost of Collins sustainment v the very low availability rates (well over $500 million per annum and at one stage, unable to put a single submarine to sea) and due to the pressure they were able to put on Defence, the Coles review was commissioned in 2012 and the problems associated with the Collins-class submarine were then rectified.[14]

Xenophon refers to Patrick by the nickname "Inspector Rex" owing to his investigative skills and use of Freedom of Information laws to obtain information in the public interest.[8]

On inheriting the Quantum Ark Technologies' files in 2013, Patrick discovered a mass data breach of classified documents from the French manufacturer DCNS related to the new Indian Navy's Scorpène submarines. Patrick took the data on a disc to a senior Defence official who declined to take it and so Patrick retained the disc, even though he knew of the leak during the competition to select the international partner for the Future Submarine Project, and didn't act on it until after the contract was awarded so as not to affect France's chances in the contract.[15] In 2016, after the contract was awarded, and the security breach became directly relevant to Australia from a national security perspective, Patrick, then an adviser to then Senator Nick Xenophon, provided some of the documents, carefully redacted, to The Australian newspaper after which Xenophon handed the disc to Defence Minister Marise Payne.[16]

Patrick was not investigated for[17] his handling of the sensitive material, and retained his security clearance as a Naval contractor.[13]

On 30 October 2017 Xenophon announced Patrick as his replacement. The nomination was lodged to the South Australian Parliament on 1 November. Premier Jay Weatherill revealed that an NXT Senate candidate from the 2016 election, Tim Storer, had "assert[ed] rights" to the vacancy.[18] Patrick was confirmed as the replacement senator on 14 November by a joint sitting of the SA Parliament.[19] He became a senator on 15 November when he was sworn in by the Senate.[20]

Within three days of coming to office Senator Patrick defended the appointment of Xenophon as an advisor on a part-time contract.[19] Xenophon subsequently announced that he would leave the role "within weeks".[21]

Patrick used his first speech to call for more parliamentary oversight of the Australian Intelligence Community.[22]

In December 2017, Patrick informed the Turnbull Government that NXT would suspend negotiations on welfare reform because a minister had failed to answer "reasonable questions". Patrick said this was part of "a broader problem with regard to the government’s preparedness to be appropriately open and accountable".[23]

Patrick has been critical of the Future Submarine programme, suggesting that the Rear Admiral overseeing the project, Gregory Sammut, has no professional experience in project management.[24] The project was revealed by Xenophon to have a requirement that 50% of the submarine's manufacture be Australian, down from the publicity stated figure of 60%. Patrick called this "treachery" by the Turnbull Government.[25]

Patrick used Parliamentary Privilege to call ExxonMobil Australia's boss Richard James Owen a "shameless corporate tax dodger. He should be called out for what he is. Behind a veneer of professional respectability, he's a hypocrite and a corporate scumbag" over little payment of tax in Australia.[26]

Patrick pulled a stunt in the federal Senate Chamber to push his view that submarine jobs will be lost to Western Australia. This brought the wrath of the Senate President, Scott Ryan who yelled at Senator Patrick "Remove yourself from the chamber. You're embarrassing yourself."[27]

In August 2020 Patrick split from his party Centre Alliance, arguing it would improve his chances for re-election by standing as an independent in the 2021/2022 federal election.[28] His Centre Alliance Senate colleague Stirling Griff regarded the move as akin to removing "a powerful voting bloc that has achieved a remarkable amount for South Australia."[29] During the Parliamentary year, Patrick was noted for criticising the Murray-Darling Basin Authority for its delays in appointing an Indigenous representative and for putting a sunset clause on the cashless debit card in Indigenous communities.[30][31] Following an offensive tweet made by Zhao Lijian, Patrick called on the Commonwealth Government to expel two-thirds of China's 143 diplomats and consular staff.[17]

In January 2021 the Australian Electoral Commission approved Patrick's application to form a political party called the Rex Patrick Team (REX). The party is capable of receiving funding and will run under its own banner at the 2021/22 federal election.[32]