Rex Lyall Patrick was born on 8 May 1967 and is an Australian politician who served as a Senator for South Australia from November 2017 until June 2022.
31 Facts About Rex Patrick
2.
Rex Patrick was appointed to the Senate to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Nick Xenophon.
3.
Rex Patrick joined the Senate as member of the Centre Alliance party, though in August 2020 he left the party and became an independent.
4.
Rex Patrick created the Rex Patrick Team party in January 2021 and sat in parliament as its only member for the duration of his term.
5.
Rex Patrick was born in New Zealand and moved to South Australia as a child.
6.
Rex Patrick attended school in Whyalla then joined the Royal Australian Navy.
7.
Rex Patrick served in the Royal Australian Navy from 1983 to 1994.
8.
Rex Patrick trained as an electronic technician and volunteered for submarine service.
9.
Rex Patrick served on several Oberon-class submarines before being selected and posted as a member of the trials crew of the first Collins-class submarine at Osborne in Adelaide.
10.
From 1995 to 2008, Rex Patrick worked for Sonartech Atlas as a project manager.
11.
Rex Patrick was focused on the design and development of sonar systems.
12.
In 2008, Rex Patrick started a company called Acoustic Force, which provided training in sonar and acoustics to domestic and international customers.
13.
In 2009, Rex Patrick began writing articles calling for Australia to buy cheap, off-the-shelf submarines to replace the Collins-class submarine fleet.
14.
Rex Patrick believes that attempts were made by naval personnel to muzzle his criticisms of the Collins-class vessels.
15.
In 2013, Rex Patrick took over a training contract with Quantum Ark Technologies, a company that trained members of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
16.
In 2015, Rex Patrick wrote several articles for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute which were published in The Strategist.
17.
When Johnston was the Shadow Defence Minister, Rex Patrick assisted him in exposing the very high annual cost of the Collins-class submarines compared with their very low availability rates, being well over $500 million per annum but, at one stage, not a single submarine was at sea.
18.
On inheriting the Quantum Ark Technologies' files in 2013, Rex Patrick discovered a mass data breach of classified documents from the French manufacturer DCNS related to the new Indian Navy's Scorpene submarines.
19.
Rex Patrick took the data on a disc to a senior Defence official who declined to take it and so Rex Patrick retained the disc, even though he knew of the leak during the competition to select the international partner for the Future Submarine Project, and didn't act on it until after the contract was awarded so as not to affect France's chances in the contract.
20.
Rex Patrick was not investigated for his handling of the sensitive material, and retained his security clearance as a naval contractor.
21.
Rex Patrick used his first speech in the Senate to call for more parliamentary oversight of the Australian Intelligence Community.
22.
In December 2017, Rex Patrick informed the Turnbull Government that NXT would suspend negotiations on welfare reform because a minister had failed to answer "reasonable questions".
23.
Rex Patrick said that was part of "a broader problem with regard to the government's preparedness to be appropriately open and accountable".
24.
Rex Patrick was critical of the Future Submarine programme, suggesting that the Rear Admiral overseeing the project, Gregory Sammut, has no professional experience in project management.
25.
Rex Patrick used Parliamentary Privilege to call ExxonMobil Australia's boss, Richard James Owen, a "shameless corporate tax dodger" due to his payment of little tax in Australia.
26.
Rex Patrick pulled a stunt in the federal Senate Chamber to push his view that submarine jobs would be lost to Western Australia.
27.
In November 2021, Rex Patrick was opposed to the Liberal Morrison government plans for a Voter ID Law, calling it "a solution looking for a problem".
28.
Rex Patrick announced he would be running for Lord Mayor of Adelaide in the November 2022 council elections.
29.
Rex Patrick lost to Jane Lomax-Smith by 52 votes, prompting Patrick to appeal the result due to the small margin and potential voter fraud.
30.
The Rex Patrick Team was formed by Patrick in October 2020, after he left Centre Alliance.
31.
The party voluntarily deregistered in October 2022 after Rex Patrick failed to be re-elected.