The Premier starts to feel the winter chill as storms brew
The winter chill has descended across South Australia in more ways than one and the Malinauskas government may already be reaching for the proverbial “Peter Heater”, writes Mike Smithson.
The Premier’s received chilly receptions from groups and individuals on various cold fronts.
They range from opposition to the $50 million proposed parklands golf course redevelopment, to public sector medicos seeking pay rises and individuals stuck on ambulance ramps.
In my mind, the most ominous warning to the Premier came from an ordinary lady who thought her elderly mother was going to die in the back of a parked ambulance.
91-year-old Pat Turner had suffered a fall and was subsequently ramped at two public hospitals, treated in a corridor and eventually admitted after nearly 24 hours of stress.
“The system’s not fixed, it’s f**ked,” was the brutal assessment from her daughter Libby.
The Health Minister was left to apologise and defend the indefensible.
“I’m truly sorry for what happened,” Chris Picton said.
Picton may well want to take refuge in a ramped ambulance over the coming month as he’s likely to be making more apologies during the long, cold weeks ahead.
Ramping figures released for June show it’s the second-worst month on record.
They’re dead-set certain to hit a new record in July and perhaps go even higher in August.
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‘Vote Labor like your life depends on it’ was Ash the Ambo’s union-prompted election pitch in 2022, but that slogan has rung awfully hollow ever since.
The Premier’s beaming corflutes promising to fix the ramping crisis would already be locked away in a never-to-be-opened storage unit deep in Labor’s HQ.
The Liberals are making much of the current ramping and flu health crisis, but also know it’s easy to do so from the cheap seats of Opposition.
If they’d been re-elected in 2022, it’s hardly likely the problem would have been fixed and may have been far worse, but we’ll never know.
The only certainty is that the candid assessment from Libby Turner will feature heavily in future Liberal election campaigning.
The Premier has also been nervously watching the rocky path to reaching agreement with various public sector unions.
He originally forecast that as one of his “keep me awake at night” issues way back in January.
Doctors, nurses and paramedics’ pay negotiations are so frozen that even a thermo-blast in an industrial microwave would make little difference.
To the government’s credit, it’s reached an agreement with allied health workers such as psychologists, radiologists, physios and the like.
They are all vital to the smooth running, recovery and patient discharge in public hospitals.
Their 13 per cent pay increase over four years was loudly cheered when the Health Minister and Attorney-General entered a recent media conference.
But two things stood out.
These workers are enjoying their first-ever stand-alone pay agreement, and they are, arguably, the easiest nut to crack.
Other frontline medicos at the start of the hospital admission process, and often the ones dealing with angry ramped patients, are destined to play hardball until the end of negotiations.
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And the Premier’s other issue, which won’t go away, is the parklands golf course redevelopment.
He’s already got the Adelaide Lord Mayor offside with an undercover law change to take control of our green space from the city council.
Rally for Adelaide’s Heart protests refer to our leader as Chainsaw Pete in reference to alleged tree and habitat destruction they claim will take place for the golf course upgrade.
They also strongly object to the second Walker tower, a 38-storey structure, they say will blight the Festival Centre Plaza forever.
You could almost write-off that group as greenies out for a stoush, other than the loudest voice of dissent is coming from former Labor Premier Lynn Arnold AO, as well as heritage architects and the Deputy Lord Mayor.
It’s all predictable, but not the vibe the Premier’s accustomed to, especially with him striving to deliver his LIV golf grand vision.
It’s also cast a shadow over Labor’s popular MP for Adelaide, Lucy Hood.
She genuinely loves the parklands, but perhaps loves the Labor Party even more.
Hood would like to have it both ways, but in the end, self-interest is almost certain to prevail.
Even a perception of toeing the Party line rather than defending any parkland onslaught is a lightning rod for ongoing attack from protestors.
She’s done a fine job and advocated fiercely for her constituents.
I’ve always rated her as future minister, should Labor be re-elected to power.
But her carefully structured and stage-managed appearances during the parklands’ turmoil leave her exposed to criticism all the way to the election.
And Malinauskas is now choosing his words very carefully after his recent unkind rhetoric towards Independent MLC and now aspiring Liberal candidate Frank Pangallo.
The Premier emerged as potentially arrogant, unfair and ageist in his assessment of Pangallo.
That’s not the hallmark of the statesman-like Premier that he is, and he knows it.
Throw in the algal bloom mess for good measure, and the Labor government has its hands full on multiple fronts, especially with weekend calls from the Libs for a Royal Commission.
It’s not a cumulative political disaster yet, but more of a wake-up call that life wasn’t meant to be easy eight months out from the election.
There’s still a long way to go with some stormy times ahead, but they’re always confident of a ray of sunshine election victory.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7NEWS.
