Senator X – a rolling stone gathers no policies

Yet one senses that the South Australian public doesn't really care. They just want to know that he's 'fighting the good fight'.

Mr X and the media

For people outside of South Australia this might seem a bit twee – a bit 'try hard'. And they are right. It's hard to sustain the Henry V 'warrior of the working day' lingo when so much of the edifice is supported by considerable rhetoric.

There is a curious pattern about Senator Xenophon's public statements. They almost always come after a media story on the same issue. While I am not suggesting that Senator Xenophon is 'fishing' for media exposure, he is certainly adept at attracting TV cameras for one-liners.

In part, this is typical of a lone Senator who has a single-issue supporter base. He doesn't have a political party machine to generate the headlines.

Below is a rough snapshot in chronological order of Senator Xenophon's announcements going back 18 months. It is far from complete but it's a fair sample of his public statements.

Calls to action

2011

• Senator Nick Xenophon calls for an independent inquiry to determine why Agape leader was allowed to leave Australia.

• Introduces a bill to parliament banning live animal exports.

• Calls the competition watchdog "a toothless chihuahua" against the market domination of Coles and Woolworths.

• Calls for a public inquiry into rail infrastructure.

• Pushes for legislation to introduce mandatory palm oil labeling in Australia.

• Proposes changes so that creditors could protect farmer's taxpayer-funded exit grants from claims.

• Calls for betting ban on interest rate rises.

• Calls for concessions to farmers who made early investments in on-farm water efficiency measures, during the Murray Darling Basin's water reform processes.

• Seeks an upper house inquiry after concerns the major supermarkets are driving out competition.

• Calls for a government agency to be set up to "monitor and control the activities of cults in Australia". Also calls for law reform to protect "vulnerable individuals from cult activities."

• Proposes to introduce a Bill that aims to crack down on cheap imports.

2010

• Called for urgent overhaul of sports betting laws in the wake of the Melbourne Storm scandal.

• Called for a website so taxpayers have up-to-date information on where and when their political representatives are travelling

• Called for new federal election campaign laws to prevent the distribution of misleading how-to-vote cards in key marginal seats in SA.

• Proposed to block key national broadband network (NBN) legislation in 2011 because it would allow special treatment for Telstra.

• Moved a Private Members Bills to jail Internet predators who lie about their age to children on the Internet.

There are scores of references to Senator Xenophon 'calling' for this or that since he took his seat in 2008.