‘Freight train’ controversy won’t derail: The Peter Malinauskas campaign story
Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas says a defamation notice, an embattled steelworks and record ramping won’t derail him, as polling launches Labor toward an election win. Watch the video interview.
Early in the run-up to the March election, the Premier was being questioned daily on his role in the Adelaide Writers’ Week call to axe a Palestinian-Australian author, who has taken defamation action against him.
When asked in an exclusive interview with InDaily if he was concerned about the defamation proceedings clouding his re-election campaign, he was quick to say “no”.
“It would only do that if it clouded my judgment, and it’s not doing that,” he said.
“And why would I allow that to happen? I formed a view about what I thought was right for the state and civility and respect of one another, and I wouldn’t change that position, so I’m not really too fussed about that.
“I’ve just got to focus on doing what I believe is right, to advance the interests of the state as a whole.”
Malinauskas said the Writers’ Week controversy was a “freight train” he saw coming, but that his decision did not come from a place of wanting to quell division in South Australia.
“My job isn’t to quell division. My job is to not actively seek to fuel it,” he said.
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“I believe that political leadership at its best invites people to come together around a common set of values and causes that we all believe in to advance our society as a whole.”
He lists state wins including getting ambulances to show up in time, the fastest housing growth rate in the country along with working with the private sector to build more, five new tech colleges, a world-leading social media ban now being followed by other countries around the world, and figures showing crime numbers falling after police recruitment investment.
Writers’ Week was among the freight train issues to impact his first term as Premier, others bore the cargo of the state government’s flagship promise during the last election to build a hydrogen plant coming undone. While its promise to “fix ramping” has been met with monthly figures continually showing no improvement.
Despite voters rating his government poorly on areas like ramping and the algal bloom that has devastated many coastal industries and communities, the Premier’s popularity remains high in recent polling.
On ramping, he admits the numbers “are nowhere near” what he would have liked to achieve after making a commitment at the last election to fix the problem.
“If you look at what we said at the last election, we’re very plain about the fact that we wanted to get ambulances off the ramp so we can get them on the road to respond to call-outs,” he said.
“We’ve been able to do the second part by increasing the capacity of the ambulance service.”
On Whyalla, though “cautious”, he says SA is in a “far stronger” position a year on from the embattled steelworks being plunged into administration.
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“If you told me this time last year that we’d be in the position we are in now, I would have taken it in a second,” he said.
And he claimed departures from some of his most senior Cabinet members, like former deputy premier Susan Close, treasurer Stephen Mullighan, Arts Minister Andrea Michaels did not shake him.
“I’ve been candid about the fact that I was disappointed”, he says, but “we don’t want people to stay in the parliament if they feel as though they’ve run their race”.
Malinauskas has not run his, intent on landing another four-year stint in the top role, which he has held since 2022, after one term as opposition leader, succeeding Jay Weatherill in 2018.
| SA Labor Policies |
|---|
| More technical colleges, including $50 million sites at Marden Senior College and Murray Bridge High School |
| Deliver an extra 1300 aged care beds, including transforming the old Women’s and Children’s Hospital into a dedicated aged care precinct. |
| Invest $90 million to upgrade Horrocks Highway |
| More than $100 million for Murray Bridge commitments, including expanding bus services, a $15 mil maternity ward and a new police station. |
| New guidelines to limit screen time in schools |
| Three more 24/7 pharmacies opening in the Adelaide Hills, west and north-eastern suburbs in the next year |
| Three new Mental Health Assessment Units next to the Royal Adelaide, Lyell McEwin and Noarlunga hospitals |
| More than $200 million for Mount Barker, including a new Mount Barker High School, TAFE and new police station. |
| New rebates for IVF fertility treatments |
From a re-elected Malinauskas government, South Australians can expect loose ends at the Whyalla Steelworks to be tied up and a continued focus on crime, with SA eventually being the most policed state in the country with a plan to have 5000 sworn officers by 2031. Spending $172 million over six years to get to that figure.
“Some people will criticise that. We think it’s a good thing,” Malinauskas says.
“People need to appreciate the role that police perform on the ground in domestic violence situations … it’s not just about catching people doing the wrong thing. It’s about preventing it from occurring in the first place.”
He says SA has “a lot of need in the community at the moment” and one of the ways he’s committed to addressing challenges like housing supply and bolstering the economy is through more technical colleges, like the one where he chose to be interviewed by InDaily. Labor has opened five and intends opening three more.
Before Malinauskas sat down there was an obvious nod to his popularity amid excited murmurs in the halls of Findon Technical College.
High-vis-wearing future tradies declared “Mali’s coming!” – a far cry from a 2022 interview moment after his election when InDaily observed a University of Adelaide student return a greeting from the then-newly minted Premier with a thousand-yard stare.
