Two of SA’s most senior cabinet ministers call it quits
A cabinet reshuffle is in the wind after two top SA ministers announced their shock decision to retire from parliament.
Deputy Premier Susan Close and Treasurer Stephen Mullighan are today standing aside from State Cabinet after telling the Premier they would retire from State Parliament at the March election.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said he was “really saddened by this” at an announcement in Adelaide today. Both ministers held senior front bench portfolios for more than a decade, delivering significant leadership and results for South Australians.
“This is a significant day in our state’s political history,” he said, describing the two as “close confidants and friends”.
“It has been my immense honour and privilege to have worked so closely with both Susan and Stephen over the past decade.”
“Both have demonstrated formidable intellect, incredible leadership, competence and loyalty.”
He said Close advised him a few weeks ago of her decision, which “naturally had me taken aback”.
“I was somewhat disappointed at the news if I’m totally honest,” the Premier said.
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Mullighan approached the Premier in the lead up to the Labor party’s State Convention, and advised him that it was his intention to not contest the seat of Lee at the next state election.
“You could’ve knocked me over with a feather,” he said.
“I’m here today to make it very clear that my persuasive powers failed.”
Susan Close served as Deputy Leader of the South Australian Labor Party for seven and a half years and Deputy Premier for three and a half years, working in close partnership with Peter Malinauskas throughout.
Close has been Minister for Climate, Environment and Water and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science since March 2022. She has also served as Minister for Workforce and Population Strategy since April 2024.
Close was first elected to the seat of Port Adelaide in 2012, serving in a variety of ministerial roles in the Weatherill Government, including Minister for Manufacturing, Innovation and Trade, Minister for Education and Child Development, and Minister for Higher Education.
Close has delivered significant education, environment and social policy reform throughout her parliamentary career. This included new STEM facilities for public schools, the introduction of phonics checks in reception, advocating for the introduction of three-year-old preschool, delivering a new university and Biodiversity Act, banning puppy farms, tripling RSCPA funding and enshrining emissions reduction and adaptation planning in Climate Change legislation.
The Premier said she was a “close confidant”.
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“I’ve been able to rely on her every step of the way,” he said.
Close said she wanted to take the “remarkable opportunity to choose to leave politics, to be able to do something else with still some energy to give”.
“I didn’t want to make a decision that could hurt Peter or that could hurt the team, but I did need to make a decision for myself,” she said.
“Life is really short. I have been watching my mother disappear into dementia over the last four years, and it was for me an alarm bell reminding me that life is finite and it’s precious and it is way shorter than you think when you’re young.
“I want to do something else. I want to have some freedom, and I feel I’ve given what I can to public life.”
Mullighan has served as Treasurer since 2022, returning the budget to surplus and keeping it there, improving the state’s credit rating outlook, delivering the nation’s best performing economy and winning business endorsement as the best state in which to operate.
Mullighan also served as Minister for Defence and Space Industries since April 2024 and Minister for Police since January.
First elected as the Member for Lee in 2014, Mullighan became only the second Labor MP in history to immediately enter Cabinet, serving as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and also later Minister for Housing and Urban Development in the Weatherill Government.
In addition to funding the state’s biggest ever infrastructure project in a non-stop South Road, the Premier said Mullighan played a crucial role in delivering previous major projects including the Torrens to Torrens, Darlington, and Northern Connector projects, along with the O-Bahn city access project and city tram extension.
The Premier said that under his stewardship “the South Australian economy has grown faster than nations”.
Mullighan said his decision brought to an end more than 22 years of being in state government in South Australia “in a number of different ways”, including 12 as the Member for Lee.
“These are very personal decisions for both Susan and I. But for me, I’m in a position where I’ve lost both my parents and Antonia [his wife] has lost her father.
“It takes a village to raise children and our village is a little bit smaller. I want to make sure while the kids are still young, and I’m relatively young, that I can be around more and be more present as a husband.”
The Premier said he would announce the new shape of the State Cabinet to contest the March election tomorrow.
