while initially elected at the  and  elections as a member of the labor party he moved to the greens in early  he ultimately resigned from the greens on  february  and ran in the  election as an independent and won his chances of retaining his seat in  had been essentially written off by most commentators after his decision to become an independent mp but he won a narrow victory after a very low liberal primary vote and an endorsement from popular independent mp nick xenophon he narrowly lost at the  election despite an improved vote due to finishing third after all non-major party preferences had been distributed