Smithson: Is the Mali-Midas touch being undone by left-field issues?
Brewing issues that the Malinauskas government didn’t foresee may be a hint of more things to come in its second term, writes Mike Smithson.
The all-conquering Premier cruised through his rise to power after Covid, helped along by a lame Opposition which was always unsteady with David Speirs and then Vincent Tarzia at the helm.
It’s a new-look Liberal Party under Ashton Hurn with some top-notch advisers who know how to scrap when the political punches are thrown.
The obvious warning sign for a government, with an overwhelming majority, is that the bigger you are, potentially, the harder you fall.
But tricky issues coming from left field often consume attention the government wishes didn’t exist.
A seemingly simple but compelling problem emerged in the media last week leaving the housing minister appearing as if he lacked a caring spirit.
7News highlighted the plight of an elderly woman who’d heard strange noises in the roof space of her Housing Trust unit.
According to her version, calls to the Trust were largely ignored, giving her the impression they thought she was a troublemaker of unsound mind.
It turned out that a drug-using intruder had been coming and going from her roof space and even setting up bedding and cutlery stolen from her kitchen.
Minister Nick Champion seemed less inclined about her mental trauma and legitimate concerns than he did about the reputation of the Housing Trust.
His lack of empathy was breathtaking.
The government has also been unable to quell the growing tide of discontent over tree removal in two parkland locations to make way for a new golf course and a MotoGP track.
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The Mali-Midas touch has now been lost on a permanent basis, it seems, with current Lord Mayor and former Labor MP and minister Jane Lomax-Smith.
She originally supported his golf course plan but has now teed off on him on multiple occasions.
Another Labor stalwart also has something to say about the internal workings of the party and the administration of the state.
SA’s longest serving Attorney-General Chris Sumner knows plenty about the wheels within wheels and is one of the sharpest minds to occupy the hallowed halls of parliament, Labor caucus or the cabinet room.
Sumner was at the front line for 19 years, also serving stints as acting Premier from the 70s to the early 90s.
He recently published his thoughts in the Labour History Newsletter, where he eloquently outlined traditional policies that have been dumped.
For starters, he’s critical that after Susan Close left politics from the position of Deputy Leader, Peter Malinauskas used a “captain’s pick” to ensure Kyam Maher would be her replacement.
Sumner says it is unprecedented since 1881 to have the second-highest party office bearer seated in the Legislative Council rather than where government is formed, the House of Assembly.
“No one gave a moment’s thought to the Labor tradition and conventional constitutional position,” he said.
“What has happened is unprecedented and reflective of the fact that factional considerations in the ALP are paramount and have trumped Labor tradition and policy.”
Sumner’s criticism isn’t aimed at Maher, but the party machine that put him there.
He’s also scathing of the decision not to hold a by-election after the seat of Mount Gambier was left vacant for months following the conviction and imprisonment of sitting independent MP Troy Bell over fraud and theft totalling $430,000.
Sumner took aim at former Speaker Leon Bignell, claiming he wrongly denied a by-election based on “consistency with past practice.”
Sumner labelled the ongoing vacancy, until the general election in March this year, as “downgrading democracy.”
He questions whether the winning independent candidate, and former Bell staffer, Travis Fatchen, was given an electoral advantage.
Sumner says Mount Gambier should be solid Liberal territory, but allowing Fatchen to remain working from Bell’s electorate office potentially provided him with a solid leg up.
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“Fatchen was not entitled to use the facilities of the office for campaign purposes and nor entitled to campaign during regular office hours unless he had arranged to take leave,” he said.
“It is not known whether Fatchen took advantage of this in the campaign.”
Sumner didn’t stop there.
He says Labor’s line of independent Speakers is a farce.
Changed legislation under the Constitution (Independent Speaker) Amendment Act 2021 means the Speaker can’t be a member of or actively participate in the votes of proceedings of a registered political party.
This means someone who is elected Speaker after a general election must resign from their party.
It seems unlikely, under normal circumstances, that the current office holder Nat Cook or her predecessor Bignell would easily say goodbye to the party, their colleagues, their friends and their mentors.
Perhaps for the salary of $326,500 a year plus perks they would.
The other catch is that the law change dictates they can rejoin the party after July 1 in the year before the next election.
So, in effect, it’s a “Clayton’s resignation”, and does it mean they’ll remain totally impartial in the big chair?
Prior to that Dan Cregan quit the Libs, throwing them into minority government in 2021, to become an independent MP and then landed the Speaker’s job soon after, claiming it was a vital improvement to democracy.
“It turns out that nothing could be further from the truth,” Sumner says.
“The whole business has been revealed as a farce albeit a very convenient one for the Labor Opposition at the time.”
Bignell’s selfless exile to the ranks of independency, in the twilight of his political career, may have also helped him secure the plum role of SA’s Agent-General in London which provides an annual taxpayer-funded salary and allowance package of around $640,000 per annum.
Sumner has always been a straight shooter.
If he sees that such tinkering around the edges of tradition, or overtly changing rules to benefit parties or individuals is bad political form, then many others probably share his views.
Once the lines become blurred it’s often difficult to refocus on the straight and narrow.
Good on you Chris for telling it like it is.
Mike Smithson is weekend newsreader and political analyst for 7News.
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