Nick Champion

---

title: "Nick Champion" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["australian-people-of-cornish-descent", "australian-labor-party-members-of-the-parliament-of-australia", "labor-right-politicians", "living-people", "members-of-the-australian-house-of-representatives", "members-of-the-australian-house-of-representatives-for-wakefield", "university-of-south-australia-alumni", "1972-births", "australian-trade-unionists", "members-of-the-australian-house-of-representatives-for-spence", "australian-mps-2007–2010", "australian-mps-2010–2013", "australian-mps-2013–2016", "australian-mps-2016–2019", "australian-mps-2019–2022"] description: "Australian politician (born 1972)" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Champion" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Australian politician (born 1972) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Nick Champion
honorific-suffix	MP
image	Nick_Champion (cropped).jpg
office4	Minister for Trade and Investment
term_start4	24 March 2022
term_end4	15 April 2024
premier4	Peter Malinauskas
predecessor4	Stephen Patterson
successor4	Joe Szakacs
office2	Minister for Housing and Urban Development
term_start2	24 March 2022
premier2	Peter Malinauskas
predecessor2	Position created
office3	Minister for Planning
term_start3	24 March 2022
premier3	Peter Malinauskas
predecessor3	Josh Teague
constituency_AM5	Taylor
assembly5	South Australian House of
term_start5	19 March 2022
predecessor5	Jon Gee
<!--	successor5
{{Collapsed infobox section begin	Federal parliament
constituency_MP6	Spence
parliament6	Australian
term_start6	18 May 2019
term_end6	22 February 2022
predecessor6	New seat
successor6	Matt Burnell
constituency_MP7	Wakefield
parliament7	Australian
term_start7	24 November 2007
term_end7	18 May 2019
predecessor7	David Fawcett
successor7	Seat abolished
birth_name	Nicholas David Champion
birth_date
birth_place	Elizabeth, South Australia, Australia
nationality	Australian
party	Australian Labor Party (SA)
spouse	Fiona Webber
alma_mater	University of South Australia
occupation	Union official
::

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable | name = Nick Champion | honorific-suffix = MP | image = Nick_Champion (cropped).jpg | office4 = Minister for Trade and Investment | term_start4 = 24 March 2022 | term_end4 = 15 April 2024 | premier4 = Peter Malinauskas | predecessor4 = Stephen Patterson | successor4 = Joe Szakacs | office2 = Minister for Housing and Urban Development | term_start2 = 24 March 2022 | term_end2 = | premier2 = Peter Malinauskas | predecessor2 = Position created | successor2 = | office3 = Minister for Planning | term_start3 = 24 March 2022 | term_end3 = | premier3 = Peter Malinauskas | predecessor3 = Josh Teague | successor3 = | constituency_AM5 = Taylor | assembly5 = South Australian House of | term_start5 = 19 March 2022 | term_end5 = | predecessor5 = Jon Gee | constituency_MP6 = Spence | parliament6 = Australian | term_start6 = 18 May 2019 | term_end6 = 22 February 2022 | predecessor6 = New seat | successor6 = Matt Burnell | constituency_MP7 = Wakefield | parliament7 = Australian | term_start7 = 24 November 2007 | term_end7 = 18 May 2019 | predecessor7 = David Fawcett | successor7 = Seat abolished | birth_name = Nicholas David Champion | birth_date = | birth_place = Elizabeth, South Australia, Australia | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = Australian | party = Australian Labor Party (SA) | relations = | spouse = Fiona Webber | residence = | alma_mater = University of South Australia | occupation = Union official | profession = | religion = | signature = | website = | footnotes = Nicholas David Champion (born 27 February 1972) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the South Australian Labor Party and has served in the South Australian House of Assembly since the 2022 South Australian state election, representing the seat of Taylor. He has served as the Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development and Minister for Planning in the Malinauskas ministry since March 2022.

Champion previously served in federal parliament as a Labor Party member in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2022, first representing the Division of Wakefield until its abolition in 2019, before transferring to the new Division of Spence.

Early life

Champion was born in Elizabeth in South Australia. He spent his early years in the rural town of Kapunda and completed his secondary education at Kapunda High School while working part-time as a fruit picker. He also previously worked as a cleaner, salesman and trolley collector. He completed an Arts degree and a Graduate Diploma in Communication at the University of South Australia.

Champion became a union official at the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) in 1994, serving as an organiser, training officer and occupational health and safety officer.

Champion served as South Australian State President of the Australian Labor Party from 2005 to 2006 and was a ministerial adviser to state Labor Minister Michael Wright.

Federal parliament

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/2010_0119_Tour_Down_Under_Murray_Street_Gawler_(9)_(19332572883).jpg" caption="Gawler]] for the [[Tour Down Under]] in 2010."] ::

Champion won the seat of Wakefield at the 2007 election, defeating incumbent Liberal Party of Australia member David Fawcett with a 56.6 percent two-party vote. He was the third Labor member to ever win the seat. Champion made it a safe Labor seat on paper at the 2010 election with a 62 percent two-party vote, and became the first Labor member to be re-elected to Wakefield. The South Australian federal redistribution in 2011 had the greatest impact on Wakefield where the Labor margin declined by 1.5 points. Champion retained Wakefield at the 2013 election on a 53.4 percent two-party vote even as Labor lost government, marking the first time the non-Labor parties won government at an election without winning Wakefield. Champion increased his margin at the 2016 election with a 61 percent two-party vote, again making Wakefield a safe Labor seat on paper.

Champion served as a shadow parliamentary secretary (shadow assistant minister from 2016) in Bill Shorten's shadow ministry from 2014 to 2019.

In August 2019, he called for the nationalisation of Port Darwin following its lease to a Chinese-owned company.

State parliament

In 2020, Champion was rumoured to be considering a switch to state parliament, initially through the electoral district of Light in the South Australian House of Assembly, following the release of draft new boundaries that would have left the seat vacant. That plan was thwarted by the final report of the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission, however Champion was again the topic of speculation in January 2021, this time for the safe seat of Taylor. Both state electorates are covered by Champion's larger federal division of Spence.

On 13 February 2021, Champion was pre-selected for the House of Assembly seat of Taylor for the 2022 South Australian election. On 22 February 2022, he resigned his federal seat of Spence to contest the state election a month later. A by-election in his seat of Spence was not held due to the pending federal election. Taylor was a comfortably safe Labor seat, and Champion easily retained the seat. He was immediately promoted to Cabinet, serving as the Minister for Trade and Investment, Minister for Housing and Urban Development and Minister for Planning in the Malinauskas ministry.

Personal life

Champion is married to Fiona Webber, a former ABC journalist and Chief of Staff to a Federal Labor Minister. They were married in Gibraltar after he proposed in the week of the 2013 election. Their first child was born just over a month after the 2016 election. Nick Champion lives outside of the electoral district of Taylor. He is a resident of North Adelaide.

References

References

1. {{Cite SA-parl
2. "Nick Champion". [[Australian Labor Party.
3. (13 September 2009). "Wakefield MP's push to remove 'pokies trickery'". The Advertiser.
4. {{cite Au Parliament
5. (24 November 2007). "Big swings against Coalition across SA". ABC News.
6. Ferguson, Richard. (5 August 2019). "Labor MP calls for Port Darwin to be nationalised". The Australian.
7. Richardson, Tom. (7 September 2020). "Labor's election push: Wortley bows out, Federal MP 'considering state switch'". [[InDaily]].
8. Richardson, Tom. (27 January 2021). "By Gee, Champion set to seek swap to state politics". [[InDaily]].
9. Bowe, William. (14 February 2021). "Comings and goings". Poll Bludger.
10. (29 March 2022). "Hansard - House of Representatives 29/03/2022 Parliament of Australia". aph.gov.au.
11. (24 March 2022). "New South Australian cabinet sworn in, with independent Geoff Brock making surprise comeback". ABC News.
12. (11 June 2010). "State pays up on baby death". News Limited.
13. (7 May 2016). "Off the Record: The home of SA political gossip". News Limited.
14. McGuire, Michael. (25 June 2016). "Spouses of Parliament: Families of Labor's Nick Champion and Amanda Rishworth and Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham reveal all". The Advertiser.
15. (10 August 2016). "Nick's baby joy". [[The Bunyip]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::