Patrick, who served in federal parliament from 2017 until 2022, said while there were differences between himself and the Tasmanian senator, they were committed to working as a united front holding the government to account.
“Jacqui and I are not the same, she’s Army, and I’m Navy, we do things different, but that’s actually a strength, and there are areas of strong common values, particularly around transparency, integrity and accountability,” he said in a statement.
“We’ve had plenty of experience working together, we’ll be an effective tag team.”
Patrick, a former submariner, first entered parliament as a replacement for South Australian Nick Xenophon after he resigned for a failed bid in state politics.
Patrick was in federal parliament as a member of the Centre Alliance party, but split from the group in 2020 to serve as an independent.
At the 2022 election, he ran under his own party called the Rex Patrick Team but failed to get re-elected with just over two per cent of the vote.
He then ran for Adelaide Lord Mayor, losing to former Labor Minister Jane Lomax-Smith by a handful of votes.
While he had been using the years out of politics as a government transparency advocate and working to protect prominent whistleblowers like David McBride and Richard Boyle, Patrick said he had unfinished business in Canberra.
“As much as I enjoy my current work as the ‘transparency warrior’, after careful consideration, I’ve concluded on balance I could do more for the public good as a senator for South Australia,” he said.
“I know the job, I have the skills to hold ministers, bureaucrats and indeed admirals and generals responsible for their actions.”
Patrick faces an uphill battle to win one of the six South Australian senate spots open at the next election.
Based on past voting patterns, the Liberal Party is likely to win three seats, the Labor Party two and the Greens one.
One Nation would be next in line based on 2022 election results. The party won around four per cent of the vote last time and narrowly missing out on the sixth senate spot.
But Patrick believes he is within striking distance. The former senator today posted a private poll done by Melbourne-based outfit UComms that saw “Rex Patrick for the Jacqui Lambie Network” at a 15.6 per cent vote share – ahead of the Greens on 13.1 per cent and One Nation on 6 per cent.
The July poll had a sample size of 2051 South Australian voters. It showed Labor on 28 per cent and the Liberal Party on 23.6 per cent, with 8 per cent undecided
“There has been some private polling done that shows if I don’t get a quota, I’ll get very close to a quota,” Patrick told reporters today.
The UComms poll (sample size 2051) that was highlighted by Rex Patrick today.
Asked what would happen if there were differences on policy between him and Lambie, Patrick said: “We’re both experienced in the senate. If there are differences, and there may well be some difference, we will work those out.”
Lambie said she “probably” would have only run candidates in New South Wales and Queensland if Patrick was not available to run in South Australia.
Asked who approached who to run, Lambie said: “I have been begging Rex to come in for 12 months because I actually give him a lot of work to do, and that’s (parliamentary) bills as well.
“Because I just cannot physically with the people I’ve got in my office and me myself get through all those bills.
“I rely really heavily on Rex and I’m really really grateful for that.”
The Liberal Party State Council earlier this year controversially elevated right-wing senator Alex Antic to its lead senate spot, ahead of moderate frontbencher Anne Ruston. Sitting senator David Fawcett is on the ticket’s third spot.
For Labor, sitting senator Karen Grogan, a Left faction powerbroker, is up for re-election for along with senate colleague Marielle Smith from the Right.
The Greens lead candidate is senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who is running for a another term after first being elected to parliament in 2007.
The next election is due to be held by May 2025.
– InDaily staff writers and AAP
