Tim Storer

{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use Australian English|date=February 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Tim Storer | honorific_suffix = | image = Senator Tim Storer.jpg | alt = | caption = Official portrait, 2018 | office2 = Senator for South Australia | term_start2 = {{start_date|2018|02|16|df=y}} | term_end2 = {{end_date|2019|06|30|df=y}} | predecessor2 = Skye Kakoschke-Moore | prior_term = | pronunciation = | birth_name = Timothy Raphael Storer | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|10|24|df=y}} | birth_place = Loxton, South Australia, Australia | death_date =  | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | party = Tim Storer Independent SA Party (2018–2019) | other_party = Nick Xenophon Team (2016–2017) <br/> Labor (1996–2002, 2013–2015)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/alp-links-189vote-senator-tim-storer-blocking-tax-reform/news-story/6a6335b77118c448d888676e8b94ba1b| title=ALP links: 189-vote senator Tim Storer blocking tax reform |work=The Australian |last1=Owen |first1=Michael |last2=Packham |first2=Ben |date=29 March 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> | spouse = Belinda Storer | partner =  | relations = | parents =  | mother =  | father =  | relatives = Annabel Crabb (sister-in-law)<ref name="AfrBio"/> | education = Saint Ignatius' College | alma_mater = University of Adelaide (BEc)<br />Australian National University (MBA) | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards =  | website =  | module = | footnotes = | successor2 = Marielle Smith | children = 2 }} '''Timothy Raphael Storer''' 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== Timothy Raphael Storer was born in Loxton, South Australia, one of five children of GP Brian Storer and school teacher Jennifer Storer. He studied economics at the University of Adelaide and was dux of his cohort in the Master of Business Administration at the Australian National University.<ref name="AfrBio">{{cite web |url=http://www.afr.com/news/meet-sas-new-centrist-independent-senator-tim-storer-20180321-h0xswe |title=Meet SA's new centrist independent senator Tim Storer |work=The Australian Financial Review |last=McIlroy |first=Tom |date=22 March 2018 |access-date=31 March 2018 |quote=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 the University of Adelaide, and received his MBA from Australian National University in Canberra.}}</ref>

==Business career== Storer was active in state branches of the Australia China Business Council and the Australian Republic Movement. In 1992, Storer moved to Hong Kong at the age of 23, working in publishing and events management, and later moved to Vietnam, working for World Bank.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name="AfrBio" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.adelaide.edu.au/governance/council/uni-council/biographies/ |title=Council Members' Biographies |work=The University of Adelaide |date=8 January 2018 |access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://acbwchina.com.au/speakers/tim-storer/ |title=TIM STORER |work=Australia-China Business Week |access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="AustralianBio"/> He characterises each bout of Labor Party membership as being motivated by a desire to promote an Australian republic.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Deciphering Tim Storer {{!}} Inside Story |url=http://insidestory.org.au/deciphering-tim-storer/ |access-date=3 July 2018 |work=Inside Story |date=25 June 2018}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/01/nick-xenophons-handpicked-replacement-challenged-by-2016-candidate|title=Nick Xenophon's handpicked replacement challenged by 2016 candidate|agency=Australian Associated Press|date=1 November 2017|website=the Guardian|access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/candidates-to-duke-it-out-over-nick-xenophons-former-senate-spot/news-story/71208851a96679f8c8fa31486694d5ea|title=Legal fight over Xenophon's Senate seat|website=News.com.au |first=Tory |last=Shepherd |date=1 November 2017 |access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref> One week later, Storer withdrew the challenge and resigned from the party.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/tim-storer-drops-attempt-to-seize-nick-xenophons-senate-seat-clearing-the-way-for-rex-patrick-to-become-sas-newest-senator/news-story/8811e20b7f557f88d123cf2c8bf3fe34 |title=Tim Storer drops attempt to seize Nick Xenophon's Senate seat Clearing the way for Rex Patrick to Become SA's Newest Senator |date=6 November 2017 |newspaper=The Advertiser}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-22/what-will-happen-to-skye-kakoschke-moores-senate-spot/9180218|title=How will Kakoschke-Moore be replaced? Nothing is simple in the Senate |first=Matthew |last=Doran |newspaper=ABC News |date=22 November 2017|publisher=|access-date=23 May 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref name="AustralianBio">{{cite web |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/exxenophon-candidate-tim-storer-gets-senate-seat/news-story/72de84a99825da8892227c87636bb788|title=Ex-Xenophon candidate Tim Storer gets Senate seat |newspaper=The Australian|agency=AAP |date=16 February 2018 |access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-16/tim-storer-takes-over-vacant-sa-senate-seat/9454338 |title=Tim Storer takes over vacant SA Senate seat |newspaper=ABC News |first=Jonathan |last=Hair|date=16 February 2018 |publisher= |access-date=16 February 2018 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref name="Storer aph">{{cite Au Parliament |mpid=275424 |name=Senator Tim Storer |access-date=2021-11-07}}</ref>

Storer did not support the Coalition's proposed corporate tax cut,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Katharine|title=Coalition postpones corporate tax cut bill after failing to secure support|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/27/coalition-postpones-corporate-tax-cut-bill-after-failing-to-secure-support|access-date=29 March 2018|work=the Guardian|date=27 March 2018|language=en}}</ref> later saying that one of his key goals was to increase the Newstart Allowance.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Murphy|first1=Katharine|title=Tim Storer insists he won't horse-trade, but flags boost to Newstart as top goal|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/29/tim-storer-insists-he-wont-horse-trade-but-flags-boost-to-newstart-as-top-goal|access-date=29 March 2018|work=the Guardian|date=28 March 2018|language=en}}</ref>

He launched and chaired a parliamentary committee into electric vehicles in Australia, reporting bi-partisan agreed recommendations.<ref>{{cite news |title=Electric vehicle inquiry to test governments' resolve for new industry |url=https://www.afr.com/news/economy/electric-vehicle-inquiry-to-test-governments-resolve-for-new-industry-20180627-h11y8g |access-date=3 July 2018 |work=Financial Review |date=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Select Committee on Electric Vehicles |url=https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Electric_Vehicles |website=www.aph.gov.au |language=en-AU}}</ref>

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.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

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.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Storer announced his retirement from politics in April 2019.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theage.com.au/federal-election-2019/what-this-means-for-my-young-family-senator-tim-storer-quits-20190417-p51f73.html |title='What this means for my young family': Senator Tim Storer quits |newspaper=The Age |first=Latika | last=Bourke| date=2019-04-18 | access-date=2019-04-18}}</ref>

== Personal life == Storer has two children, and is fluent in Mandarin.<ref name="AfrBio" />

Storer's brother, Jeremy Storer, is married to ABC TV presenter Annabel Crabb.

==Tim Storer Independent SA Party== {{Infobox political party | name = Tim Storer Independent SA Party | abbreviation = Tim Storer Independent SA | logo = Tim Storer Independent SA Party logo.svg | colorcode = #208abe | leader = Tim Storer | foundation = 15 June 2018 | registered = 30 August 2018 | dissolved = 21 May 2020 | split = Nick Xenophon Team | seats1_title = Senate | seats1 = {{Composition bar|1|76|hex=#208abe}} <small> (2018–2019)</small> }}

The Tim Storer Independent SA Party was formed by Storer in 2018.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

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.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |date=15 June 2018 |access-date=26 June 2018 |work=Notice of application for registration as a political party |url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/party_registration/applications/files/2018/register-abf-wap-tsis.pdf |title=Tim Storer Independent SA Party}}</ref> The associated constitution of the party sets out its guiding principles in section 3.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Tim Storer Independent SA Party |via=Australian Electoral Commission |access-date=26 June 2018 |url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/party_registration/applications/files/2018/tim-storer-independant-constitution.pdf |title=Tim Storer Independent SA Party Constitution}}</ref> The party was registered on 30 August 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/party_registration/Registration_Decisions/2018/2018-tim-storer-independent-sa-party-notice.pdf |title=Registration of a political party - Tim Storer Independent SA Party |work=Notice under s 133(1A)(a) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission |date=30 August 2018 |access-date=12 September 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>Packham, B. (2018, July 28). Lib MP sceptical on power savings. Australian, The. p. 8.</ref>

The party was voluntarily deregistered in May 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tim Storer Independent SA Voluntary Deregistration |url=https://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/Party_Registration/Deregistered_parties/files/19-20-036-web-notice-voluntary-deregistration-tim-storer-independent-sa.pdf |publisher=Australian Electoral Commission}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/sa/tim_storer They Vote For You profile]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storer, Tim}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:21st-century Australian politicians Category:People from Loxton, South Australia Category:University of Adelaide alumni Category:Australian National University alumni