Nick Xenophon says politics in South Australia has hit a new low after being accused of manipulating and controlling a former partner.
Mr Xenophon has denied any allegations made by Jenny Low who announced her candidacy for state parliament, describing her seven-year relationship with the former senator as "inappropriate".
"Being my first long-term relationship, I thought the manipulative and controlling behaviours towards me were normal," Ms Low told reporters on Friday.
"I now know this is not."
The political staffer is running as a candidate in the March election for the Advance SA party, set up by MP John Darley, who is another disgruntled former colleague of Mr Xenophon.
Mr Xenophon said Mr Darley did not contact him about the issue before the party's launch on Friday morning.
"That he now chooses to use my former relationship at his party's launch smacks of the lowest form of dirty and desperate political opportunism," Mr Xenophon said.
Ms Low was 23 in 2007 when she started her relationship with the former senator while she worked for Mr Darley, who was in SA's Legislative Council as a member of the Nick Xenophon Group.
She accused Mr Xenophon, who is 25 years her senior, of taking advantage of a junior staffer from a position of power.
Mr Xenophon denied her allegations. He said her comments were hurtful and wrong.
"It's been a pretty ugly, awful day," he said.
"I absolutely reject and am most distressed by any suggestion my relationship with Jenny was abusive or predatory in any way, manipulative or controlling."
Ms Low said she was running for an upper house seat in the SA parliament on a platform of female empowerment.
But Mr Xenophon said Advance SA was seeking political gain.
"The party should be renamed Gutter SA," he said.
The high-profile politician recently quit the Senate to contest the March state election in his local seat of Hartley.
His SA Best party plans to run candidates in up to 20 seats with the hope of securing the balance of power.
Mr Xenophon also revealed he and Ms Low had sought counselling in 2013 and early 2014 but "that did not save our relationship".
"We talked about a future together but unfortunately we couldn't make it work. In the end, we were not compatible," he said.
