South Australian Premier-elect Peter Malinauskas has promised to stand up to the federal Coalition and says he won’t be treated as “ScoMo’s quokka”.
In his first press conference after his decisive state election win on Saturday night, the Labor leader said he would work with Scott Morrison’s government but promised to always put South Australian interests first.
Liberal Party Premier Steven Marshall conceded defeat on Saturday night, with big swings towards Labor making Mr Malinauskas the first leader to defeat an incumbent government since the pandemic began.
The ABC’s election analysis is projecting Labor will win 26 seats and the Liberals 15, with five independents.
“Let’s be clear about this, I will work collaboratively with any government of any persuasion that is willing to do the right thing by South Australia, plain and simple,” Mr Malinauskas told reporters on Sunday morning.
“If there are examples of where the federal Coalition want to do something good by our state, I will acknowledge it.
“But I’m not going to be ScoMo’s quokka either. If they do something I don’t agree with I will stand and fight for our interests.”
Mr Malinauskas said it would be the same rules for federal Labor if Anthony Albanese won the imminent election.
“Naturally, I sincerely hope it is Mr Albanese because we have common values, we understand the post pandemic opportunity and I will be doing everything I can to assist his efforts in getting re-elected,” he said.
He said the Prime Minister and Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham had both reached out to him on Sunday morning following his landslide victory.
Senator Birmingham, the most senior South Australian politician in the Morrison government, earlier claimed some voters were “potentially tricked” by Labor’s state election campaign claims about ambulance ramping.
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders program, Senator Birmingham said the Labor campaign had been solely focused on hospitals and ambulances, as he sought to downplay the federal implications of the state Liberals’ loss.
Asked about his campaign on Sunday morning, Mr Malinauskas denied his government would be singularly focused on the ambulance ramping issue.
“Our policy agenda is broad. We have a plan for hydrogen, we have a plan for three-year-old preschool, we have a plan for educational reform that is long, going from preschool to tertiary education,” he said.
“We have a plan for our health system, we have got a big housing policy. This is a very substantial agenda.”
Mr Malinauskas said he woke up feeling xjmtzywhumbled and grateful to have been voted in as South Australia’s new Premier.
“I woke up very early this morning, fully conscious of the fact that the people of our state have their confidence and faith in my leadership, and the ambition of my team,” he said.
“That is an incredibly humbling thing to think about. It is a humbling experience, to have other people put their confidence in you. And I want to thank the people of South Australia for doing that.”
