Tim Storer
Tim Storer | |
---|---|
Senator for South Australia | |
In office 16 February 2018 – 30 June 2019 | |
Preceded by | Skye Kakoschke-Moore |
Personal details | |
Born | Timothy Raphael Storer 24 October 1969 Loxton, South Australia, Australia |
Political party | NXT (2016–17) Labor (1996–2002, 2013–15)[1] |
Other political affiliations | Independent (during Senate term) |
Relatives | Annabel Crabb (sister-in-law)[2] |
Alma mater | University of Adelaide Australian National University |
Timothy Raphael Storer (born 24 October 1969) is a former Australian politician who served as a Senator for South Australia from February 2018 to June 2019. Following the disqualification of Skye Kakoschke-Moore during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, the Court of Disputed Returns declared Storer elected on a countback. He had been ranked below Kakoschke-Moore on the Nick Xenophon Team's ticket at the 2016 federal election. However, by the time he was declared elected he had left the party. He sat in the Senate as an independent and did not recontest his seat at the 2019 election.
Early life
Storer was born in Loxton, South Australia one of five children of GP Brian Storer and school teacher Jennifer Storer. He studied economics at Adelaide University and was dux of his cohort in the Master of Business Administration at the Australian National University.[2]
Business career
Storer has been active in state branches of the Australia China Business Council and the Australian Republic Movement. A fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese, Storer ran a sole proprietorship helping South Australian businesses with Asian trade and investment, having spent twenty years working in China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam from the early 1990s.[3][4][2]
Political career
From 1996 Storer was a member of the ALP in New South Wales for more than five years before his membership lapsed in 2002. He rejoined the party's Adelaide branch in South Australia in 2013, but quit his party membership in 2015.[5] He characterises each bout of Labor Party membership as being motivated by a desire to promote an Australian republic.[6]
He was the Nick Xenophon Team's fourth and final Senate candidate in South Australia at the 2016 election, which saw the three NXT candidates above Storer elected, two of whom resigned in late 2017. When party leader Nick Xenophon resigned in October 2017, intending to appoint staffer Rex Patrick as his successor, Storer wrote to the Parliament of South Australia claiming he held the right to fill the casual vacancy.[7][8] One week later, Storer withdrew the challenge and resigned from the party.[9]
NXT Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore resigned in November 2017 after confirming that she held British citizenship, becoming a casualty of the dual citizenship crisis. The High Court of Australia held that she was invalidly elected, but delayed announcing her successor since the only other candidate on the party list, Storer, had left the party.[10] In February 2018, following a challenge by Kakoschke-Moore to reclaim her seat having renounced her foreign citizenship, the High Court appointed Storer as a senator.[5][11]
Storer did not support the Coalition's proposed corporate tax cut,[12] later saying that one of his key goals was to increase the Newstart Allowance.[13]
He launched and chaired a parliamentary committee into electric vehicles in Australia, reporting bi-partisan agreed recommendations.[14][15]
Storer's First Speech outlined four guiding principles of integrity, fairness, prosperity and sustainability, with legislation evaluated on basis of evidence, with no side-deals on unrelated issues.
Storer was an innovative and vocal transparency advocate, pursuing a number of initiatives to increase the accountability of and public confidence in our national government.
Storer also introduced Private Senators Bills on Establishment of Social Security Commission, Improving Energy Efficiency in Rental Properties, EPBC Great Australian Bight, and Appointment of ABC Directors. He served on the Select Committee into the Obesity Epidemic and other Senate Inquiries on corporate tax proposals, personal income tax proposals, the ABC’s governance and allegations of political interference, Australia’s energy system, and the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
Storer announced his retirement from politics in April 2019.[16]
Tim Storer Independent SA Party
Storer submitted an application to register the Tim Storer Independent SA Party. As he was a sitting member of parliament, the party did not require a minimum number of members. The Australian Electoral Commission published a notice on 15 June 2018 calling for any objections to registration of the party to be submitted by 15 July 2018.[17] The associated constitution of the party sets out its guiding principles in section 3.[18] The party was registered on 30 August 2018.[19] It did not stand any candidates in the 2019 Australian federal election, as Storer had announced his intention to retire from politics.
Storer did not support the 26% emissions reduction target of the National Energy Guarantee, arguing that as it is cheap to reduce emissions in the electricity sector, the target should be higher.[20]
References
- ^ Owen, Michael; Packham, Ben (29 March 2018). "ALP links: 189-vote senator Tim Storer blocking tax reform". The Australian. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
- ^ a b c McIlroy, Tom (22 March 2018). "Meet SA's new centrist independent senator Tim Storer". The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
Mr Storer was born in Loxton, South Australia, where his father was a local doctor and his mother a school teacher. He later studied at Adelaide University, and received his MBA from Australian National University in Canberra.
- ^ "Council Members' Biographies". The University of Adelaide. 8 January 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "TIM STORER". Australia-China Business Week. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ a b "Ex-Xenophon candidate Tim Storer gets Senate seat". The Australian. AAP. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "Deciphering Tim Storer | Inside Story". Inside Story. 25 June 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ Press, Australian Associated (1 November 2017). "Nick Xenophon's handpicked replacement challenged by 2016 candidate". the Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ Shepherd, Tory (1 November 2017). "Legal fight over Xenophon's Senate seat". News.com.au. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "Tim Storer drops attempt to seize Nick Xenophon's Senate seat Clearing the way for Rex Patrick to Become SA's Newest Senator". The Advertiser. 6 November 2017.
- ^ Doran, Matthew (22 November 2017). "How will Kakoschke-Moore be replaced? Nothing is simple in the Senate". ABC News. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
- ^ Hair, Jonathan (16 February 2018). "Tim Storer takes over vacant SA Senate seat". ABC News. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
In the lead-up to the 2013 federal election, Senator Storer nominated himself as the Shanghai contact for ALP Abroad, a Labor Party movement that works to promote the ALP to Australian expats [...] He resigned his membership from the Adelaide sub-branch of the SA Labor Party in 2015.
- ^ Murphy, Katharine (27 March 2018). "Coalition postpones corporate tax cut bill after failing to secure support". the Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
- ^ Murphy, Katharine (28 March 2018). "Tim Storer insists he won't horse-trade, but flags boost to Newstart as top goal". the Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
- ^ "Electric vehicle inquiry to test governments' resolve for new industry". Financial Review. 27 June 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ "Select Committee on Electric Vehicles". www.aph.gov.au.
- ^ Bourke, Latika (18 April 2019). "'What this means for my young family': Senator Tim Storer quits". The Age. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
- ^ "Tim Storer Independent SA Party" (PDF). NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION AS A POLITICAL PARTY. Australian Electoral Commission. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
- ^ "Tim Storer Independent SA Party Constitution" (PDF). Tim Storer Independent SA Party. Retrieved 26 June 2018 – via Australian Electoral Commission.
- ^ "Registration of a political party - Tim Storer Independent SA Party" (PDF). Notice under s 133(1A)(a) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Australian Electoral Commission. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ Packham, B. (2018, July 28). Lib MP sceptical on power savings. Australian, The. p. 8.