South Australia’s opposition leader has encouraged people to call him by his nickname while being interviewed wearing a singlet after his morning run.
Recent polls had shown Peter Malinauskas was the favourite to win the March 19 state election and overthrow current Premier Steven Marshall who had been in the top position for one term.
If elected, he has promised to fix the state’s ambulance ramping issues and invest the $662 million that the Liberal’s pledged to build a new multipurpose arena on Adelaide‘s Riverbank into the healthcare system.
Labor have also pledged to fund a new aquatic centre in North Adelaide where Mr Malinauskas stripped down to his board shorts and flashed his biceps and abs for the media while swimming in the pool with his daughter.
In the lead up to the election, the Labor leader invited members of the public to join him on a weekly Wednesday run.
As Sky News reporter Joel Philp joined the father of three for the 5km stint, he questioned him on his policies.
The sweaty opposition leader was interviewed wearing his running gear, with a grey singlet top that read: “running for the future” on the front.
He said the early morning fun-runs were held as part of his campaign to allow citizens to interact with him in a different, more relaxed way.
“I'm certainly humbled by the amount of people who have shown their support,” Mr Malinauskas said.
During the interview, the opposition leader referenced nicknames that the Prime Minister allegedly gave to Mr Marshall, like “quokka” and “Mr Smiley”, because he claimed the premier always gave into Scott Morrison.
When asked what Federal Labor Leader Anthony Albaneses called Mr Malinauskas, he replied: “Most people call me Mali”.
“It’s not a very creative nick name but when your last name’s ‘Malinauskas’, 11 letters into four makes it simpler.”
He was also quizzed about the “cheap shots” he made against the Liberal’s Riverbank arena plan by simply calling it “a basketball stadium” and not acknowledging it could deliver much more in future.
“The basketball stadium is a nice to have. Having ambulances roll up on time is a need to have that we can’t compromise on.
“Call it what you like … The simple fact is what’s the priority at the moment and that’s got to be fixing our health system.”
