Premier Peter Malinauskas campaigns like a state election winner but algal bloom is a summer nightmare

Malinauskas Labor is campaigning like it’s heading for another landslide but the popular Premier will be nervous about events beyond his control, writes Paul Starick.

Premier Peter Malinauskas will be concerned an algal bloom summer could impact the state election much like opening the border during Covid sunk the Marshall government. Picture: Ben Clark

The countdown to political oblivion for Steven Marshall’s Liberal premiership started four years ago, when he revealed a road map out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In late October, 2021, Mr Marshall announced the state’s borders would reopen within weeks.

Shortly afterwards, one senior Liberal presciently told me: “The election will be a referendum, or report card, on Marshall’s decision to open our economy and let Covid into South Australia.”

The rest is history. Peter Malinauskas-led Labor ousted Mr Marshall’s Liberals in a landslide at the March, 2022, election – a result that seemed fanciful even six months out.

It’s hard to believe now but, just two months before that election, Mr Malinauskas was worried about his lack of personal profile among mainstream voters.

This all serves to illustrate the adage that a week is a long time in politics and things can change rapidly, particularly in the social media era.

If there is a potential nightmare to wreck Mr Malinauskas’s premiership, it is the worst-case scenario for the algal bloom ravaging metropolitan and regional beaches during the summer.

Mr Malinauskas will remember how the omicron Covid wave sank Mr Marshall and, in his more anxious moments, worry about an algal bloom beyond his control wreaking similar havoc on his own political fortunes.

The Premier on Monday said an algal bloom summer response plan would be announced within a fortnight.

There is simmering anger in the community at both the federal and state governments for allowing the situation to get out of hand. This threatens to boil over if beaches become engulfed by marine carnage over a hot summer.

As algal foam continues to wash up on metropolitan coastlines, a fresh wave of bird deaths was reported by citizen scientists.

The devastation has been poignantly expressed in a song by Adelaide performer Steve Davis, called While the Ocean Died.

Foam continues to wash up on the beach as citizen scientists report a fresh wave of bird deaths. Picture: Dean Martin

The anger directed exclusively at the state government has dissipated somewhat through clever political management, spearheaded by Mr Malinauskas after the crisis erupted when he was on a family holiday in July.

Publicly, everyone within Labor, from Mr Malinauskas down, is wary of arrogance and overconfidence ahead of the March 21 election.

But their actions tell a different story. The relentless Labor machine’s wheels are ruthlessly grinding on to usher in a fresh generation of candidates.

The bombshell resignations on September 18 of Stephen Mullighan and Susan Close as treasurer and deputy premier, respectively, were followed on Wednesday by long-serving backbenchers Lee Odenwalder and Dana Wortley announcing they would quit politics at the next election.

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia (centre) will be hoping summer history repeats torpedoing Labor’s path to another election victory. Picture: Supplied

Labor also is campaigning with ambition underpinned by polling positioning the government as a hot favourite to win re-election in March.

In any election, watch where the parties campaign and allocate resources to tell you where they think they can win. Labor has been spending time, effort and money in the one-time blue-ribbon Liberal seats of Unley and Morphett.

Bike lane funding of $400,000 for Unley Council was announced on Sunday at a Malvern reserve by fledgling Transport Minister Emily Bourke, who was joined by ALP Unley candidate Alice Rolls.

The next day, Ms Bourke was joined by Morphett ALP candidate Toby Priest to tout progress on the $400m tram overpass at Cross and Marion roads.

These are the actions of a government expecting to win but relentlessly guarding against any public signs of overconfidence.

This leaves the Liberals working to defend territory that was once safe, while also trying desperately to attack Mr Malinauskas.

It’s a tough ask – he was lauded by former rivals as a “model Premier” when handed a national political award on Thursday. They will be hoping summer history repeats and events torpedo Labor’s path to another election victory.