South Australians have a new Premier after he was sworn into the role this morning following Labor’s landslide victory over the weekend.
Peter Malinauskas became the 47th Premier of the state after being sworn in by SA Governor Frances Adamson at a ceremony at Government House on Monday.
Alongside the now Premier, his deputy Susan Close — who will also take on the Environment portfolio — and Treasurer Stephen Mullighan were also sworn in.
During the proceedings Mr Malinauskas’ wife Annabel West and their three children sat in the front row.
The Premier is yet to make final appointments, but a swearing in ceremony of his full Cabinet will occur later this week.
Speaking on breakfast radio, the state Labor leader said he hoped to form a majority government was but “humbled”and “taken aback” by the landslide result.
“I always believed we could win but … on a footy field, if you think you’re up, you've got to keep playing to win and we had that determination and that resolve,” the Premier-elect said.
“26 (winning seats) would have been a number I would have hoped for in my wildest dreams so to be there is quite humbling.
“28 does seem surreal.”
Mr Malinauskas will meet with Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier to discuss the state’s Covid-19 restrictions.
He said there was a discrepancy with SA’s mask wearing and close contact rules compared to the rest of the nation.
“As Premier, I have a duty or responsibility to scrutinise the decisions that have been made because they are having an impact on our state.
“We’re out of kilter with the rest of the nation, and there may be a very good reason for that but if there is, the SA public need to know what it is.
“We do pay a price when we aren’t nationally consistent and I want to make sure that if we are going to have that approach, that the price is worth paying.”
Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albanese again congratulated Mr Malinauskas for his victory.
“South Australia has better days ahead,” he tweeted.
Steven Marshall arrived at Parliament House on Monday morning where he formally resigned as Premier.
He announced on Sunday he would stand down as the state leader of the Liberal Party, saying he took “full responsibility for the defeat.
Mr Marshall said he did want to remain in parliament to serve as an MP for his local electorate of Dunstan.
However, he faces losing the seat while counting continued on Monday morning.
All weekend the votes between Mr Marshall and his Labor opponent Cressida O‘Hanlon remained close and both bounced around the 50 per cent mark.
But Ms O‘Hanlon remains ahead, 50.5 per cent to 49.5 per cent.
So far, the Labor Party have won 26 seats, the Liberal Party hold eight and four were won by Independents.
Just 24 seats are needed to be won in order to form a majority government.
