Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned voters against voting for independent Senator Nick Xenophon’s Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), claiming party members would “not be Nick”.
The centrist party was formed in 2013 and is looking to make inroads into federal politics.
“I like Nick. I’ve known him for a long time and we have a lot of interests in common,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio in Adelaide.
“But Nick will be running Xenophon Team candidates. They are not robots or clones of him.
“Whether they in practice work as a team with him remains to be seen.”
Mr Turnbull referred to Xenophon’s ill-fated pairing with fellow South Australian independent Ann Bressington in 2006 to make his point.
“Nick’s track record to date is that when he last ran with a running mate, he and she split up.”
In August Xenophon stated his intention to have 11 lower house seat candidates in the next federal election.
