Canberra switch by SA Premier Peter Malinauskas suddenly seems less far-fetched | Paul Starick

The popular premier making the switch to Canberra seemed an outlandish prospect until the past week, writes Paul Starick.

Mali for PM seemed a remote and near-impossible prospect until this week.

Having watched SA Premier Peter Malinauskas’s progression from union chief to politician to Premier over more than a decade, the possibility of a first-term state leader making the jump to Canberra has seemed distant.

Little more than two years into his first term, Mr Malinauskas is yet to be searchingly tested by a strong Opposition or a major political crisis.

He has not yet kept his election promise to fix the ambulance ramping crisis.

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His government has promised, but not yet delivered, major projects including a new Women’s and Children’s Hospital and South Rd tunnels.

Yet there has, for some time, been a relatively widespread sentiment, even an expectation, that he somehow could and should leave state politics behind and take over from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Peter Malinauskas at The Advertiser’s Building a Bigger, Better SA forum at SkyCity Adelaide in March. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The logistics of such a move, particularly overwhelming federal Labor leadership contenders who have positioned themselves for years, have made this concept both far-fetched and discountable.

But Mr Malinauskas has given cause for reconsideration in recent days, at least to the possibility of an attempt, as he struts the national and international stage on issues including social media age limits, Palestinian statehood and the AUKUS security pact. These topics are more the preserve of a Prime Minister than a Premier.

His bold and agenda-setting move to ban children aged under 14 from holding social media accounts, revealed by the Sunday Mail, exemplified Mr Malinauskas’s rare ability to blend policy daring, pragmatism and personal political appeal.

Setting aside the overwhelming cost-of-living struggles, few issues preoccupy families more than the impact that social media is having on their children.

Then-opposition leader Peter Malinauskas with his daughter Eliza in a pre-election media stunt that made an immediate splash in his home state. Picture: Brenton Edwards

South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas addressed an Islamic community function on the Gaza conflict . Picture: Islamic Society of South Australia

The day before, Mr Malinauskas declared the state government agreed recognition of a Palestinian state was essential to the creation of peace – and the Palestinian people had a right to demand immediate recognition. This seemed more an attempt to placate Labor’s Left faction and key party donors than his deeply held conviction about social media’s ills. It was an unusually craven display, given the move effectively rewards terror group Hamas for butchering and kidnapping innocent Israelis from a democratic country.

By Tuesday afternoon, though, Mr Malinauskas was back on more appropriate ground. He jetted off for a 10-day trip to the United States, focused on growing skilled jobs for Adelaide-based AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine construction.

At the moment, Mr Malinauskas is talking the talk of federal politics but the question remains whether he really wants to walk the walk.

Almost a decade ago, in 2015, he was expected to opt for a safe federal seat at the next national election. Instead, he accepted an offer from the-then premier Jay Weatherill to enter the state upper house. As expected, he then transferred to the lower house at the 2018 election in the safe ALP inner northwestern seat of Croydon.

Premier Peter Malinauskas with Maryland Governor Wes Moore, announcing an AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine skills agreement. Picture: Supplied

The safe Labor federal seat of Adelaide, held by veteran MP Steve Georganas, would be the vehicle for any Mali for Canberra push. Ironically, Mr Malinauskas’s mentor, Trade Minister Don Farrell, unexpectedly lost a 1988 by-election in Adelaide to Liberal Michael Pratt.

Mr Malinauskas has the talent for a Canberra push but, most likely, would repeat his 2015 decision and opt for more time with his young family in Adelaide rather than an unlikely tilt at moving them to The Lodge.

Those who naively enthuse about a Mali for Canberra push have not considered either the practicalities of a first-term premier up-ending the established ALP leadership pecking order at a national level, or the state-based allegiances and raw seat numbers that frustrate the prospects of MPs from smaller states like SA.

Mr Malinauskas might be a big fish in a small pond. But he is yet to prove himself as a Premier, in terms of achievement, let alone have a credible and overwhelming case to become Prime Minister.