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.[3]
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.[1]
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.[5] 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.
In August 2019, he called for the nationalisation of Port Darwin following its lease to a Chinese-owned company.[6]
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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] On 22 February 2022, he resigned his federal seat of Spence to contest the state election a month later.[1] A by-election in his seat of Spence was not held due to the pending federal election.[10] 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.[11]
Personal life
Champion is married to Fiona Webber, a former ABC journalist and Chief of Staff to a Federal Labor Minister.[12][13] They were married in Gibraltar after he proposed in the week of the 2013 election.[14] Their first child was born just over a month after the 2016 election.[15]
Nick Champion lives outside of the electoral district of Taylor. He is a resident of North Adelaide.
^"State pays up on baby death". The Advertiser. News Limited. 11 June 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2021. Treasurer Kevin Foley's spokeswoman Fiona Webber said
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