Peter Malinauskas’ candid admission invites some honest questions | David Penberthy

If Albanese or Dutton said what the SA Premier said in Whyalla this week, their goose would be cooked, writes David Penberthy.

The TV news parody Anchorman contains an excellent scene where newsreader Ron Burgundy is discussing a men’s fragrance called “Sex Panther” with such powerful aromatic qualities that women find it irresistible.

Made with pieces of real panther and illegal in nine countries, Sex Panther also comes with the terrific marketing line: “60 per cent of the time, it works every time.”

I was reminded of the scene this week while reading about Peter Malinauskas and his journey to Whyalla where he let a lucky group of voters in on a little secret.

Speaking at a town hall forum, the Premier was asked whether politicians were doing a good enough job honouring their oft-stated commitment to tackling the cost of living.

“Nine times out of 10 it’s all bullshit,” the Premier said.

Depending on where your allegiances lie, the comments were either refreshingly honest or a jaw-dropping admission confirming what people have long suspected. Namely that politicians will talk the purest form of BS for political gain.

Unscripted and unplanned moments such as these are rare in politics.

In the same way election night is the only moment in the electoral cycle where everyone tells the unadorned truth, an innocent question fired at a pollie who’s in relaxed mode late in the day at an intimate forum can flush out some gems of honesty too.

Premier Peter Malinauskas at an economic summit at Whyalla this week. Picture: Ben Clark

Less so than a radio interview, a TV profile or a long-form chat with a print reporter, where the pollie has been prepped by staff, war-roomed every possible topic and comes armed with the answers he or she wants to give, regardless of what the questions were.

Speaking afterwards in Whyalla with The Advertiser’s Paul Starick – an old newshound who rightly sensed the value of the Premier’s nine-out-of-10 comment – Malinauskas tried to contextualise his remarks.

“My experience is the general public have a pretty good nose for what’s true and what isn’t,” he said.

“And they instinctively understand that we have a market-based economy.

“They know that politicians can’t control these things.

“And they, the more they hear politicians talk about it, the more cynical I think they become, and with some justification.”

I am not sure if the explanation worked. I mean, it’s a fair explanation, but it’s still not a very tactically shrewd observation for someone to make when they’re in the business of promising to fix things.

It was also the second time in a fortnight that the Premier has drawn a cute distinction as to whether a promise was “core” or “non-core”, to use the term famously crafted by John Howard to explain away his own broken promises after his 1996 election victory.

Two weeks ago, when asked whether South Australia had been dudded by the decision to build six Hunter Class frigates instead of the promised nine, Malinauskas tried to downplay the weight of the original commitment.

He said the pledge to build nine subs had only ever been contained in a press release, but never had any actual money behind it in the budget papers. As such, he suggested the promise made in press release form carried less weight.

This statement must have come as a surprise to the several dozen press secretaries across every state ministry and department who produce multiple press releases every day promising to do things.

Turns out these documents aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. Every spin doctor in the State Admin building will be having an existential crisis upon learning this. It at least makes their job easier, I suppose.

You can issue a press release headed “New Women’s and Children’s Hospital to be built by noon tomorrow”, safe in the knowledge that it’s all a bit of a lark and that no-one should read too much into it.

The Whyalla clanger is in a league of its own. And it should be rightly regarded as a clanger, as if you are in the business of telling people they can trust you to fix bread and butter issues, whacking a caveat on 90 per cent of your pledges eats into your own credibility.

To be clear, I am not saying the Premier is a dishonest person. I am just wondering why he’s telling us that 90 per cent of the time he might be. Or if he isn’t talking about himself, who is he talking about?

It’s a moot point whether this gaffe does him any enduring political harm.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Luckily for the Premier, there is no audio of it, at least not as far as I can find.

The Libs would love a nice crisp grab of it, it could work a treat come 2026, overlaid on vision of a pained couple fretfully reading a power bill or an elderly person sitting in the back of an ambulance waiting for a hospital bed.

If Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton had made such a remark, their goose would probably be cooked. Especially at a time when both of them are framing everything around their determination to help on the cost of living.

There is not much wiggle room with the observation that 90 per cent of the time anyone in politics says they’re trying to help, they are in fact talking crap.

At the federal level such a remark would be page one news nationally and cost you your job.

The thing that made Malinauskas say it is probably the thing that has made him such an effective politician to date.

He’s seen as a laidback and candid guy, someone who might be in politics but doesn’t seem like a politician, as evidenced by his sales pitch to voters as the knockabout dad, suburban gardener, enthusiastic amateur footy player.

And really, don’t get me wrong, those of us in the media are all up for these moments of genuine candour.

I am just not sure whether his advisors are. Or in hindsight whether he was either.