Premier Peter Malinauskas’s ‘bullshit’ living cost confession triggers Liberal blunder

The bizarre response to Mali’s remarkably candid cost-of-living admission shows why the Liberals find him hard to pin down, Paul Starick writes.

It was a remarkably frank confession for a state leader – that politicians frequently vow to try to reduce living costs but “nine times out of ten it’s all bullshit”.

Speaking at a Whyalla public forum on Sunday night, Premier Peter Malinauskas’s argument to grow people’s wealth by boosting productivity sounded like it could have come from the lips of Liberal legend John Howard.

Economics, he explained, underpinned living standards. Boosting productivity boosted prosperity, he said, by elevating people’s quality of work, the type of work and the outcome from every unit of labour deployed.

“We talk about a cost-of-living crisis on a frequent basis and, more often than not, you get a politician saying: ‘We’re going to try and reduce the price of petrol. We’re gonna try and reduce the price of groceries’, and nine times out of ten, it’s all bullshit,” he told the 420 people at the forum.

Premier Peter Malinauskas speaking on Sunday at Whyalla’s Westland Hotel Motel. Picture: Ben Clark

Asked by The Advertiser the next morning if he was committed to being honest with voters, Mr Malinauskas said: “I think you should commit to being honest to everybody in all your relationships, but you know, people will look for honesty and frankness.

“That doesn’t mean that politicians shouldn’t be nuanced on occasion. You’ve got to think about the words you use carefully.

“But yeah, of course. I mean, I’ve never sought to be dishonest, that’s for sure.”

The Liberal Opposition’s response to this outburst of honesty and free-market rhetoric about enhancing productivity was bizarre role reversal.

The free-market Liberal Party, whose founder Sir Robert Menzies famously said should give people a chance in life by making them “lifters not leaners”, demanded more taxpayer-funded handouts.

Opposition treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey (left) with Opposition Leader David Speirs. Picture: Matt Loxton

In a joint statement on Tuesday, Treasury spokesman Matt Cowdrey and Energy and Net Zero spokesman Stephen Patterson demanded Mr Malinauskas “commit to further energy rebates for all households in the upcoming budget”. Energy rebates of $500 for about 420,000 South Australian households and $650 for 86,000 small businesses were part of a $254.4m, joint state-federal scheme revealed in last May’s federal budget.

“Peter Malinauskas needs to get his act together ahead of the upcoming Budget and provide broad cost-of-living relief for all South Australians and further commit to energy rebates,” Mr Cowdrey said.

This created a dramatic role reversal: Liberals pleading for government handouts and a Labor premier propounding the virtues of free-market economics.

The great irony was they missed another free kick. Mr Malinauskas on Tuesday announced an accelerated 100 per cent electricity net zero target in Port Augusta, where a vital coal-fired power station closed prematurely in 2016. This was despite owner Alinta Energy’s secret offer to keep generating electricity until mid-2018 in return for $25 million from the State Government.

BHP Copper South Australia asset president Anna Wiley with Premier Peter Malinauskas on Monday at Olympic Dam. Picture: Ben Clark

Two 10,000 tonne Northern Power Station boilers being demolished using charge-cutting explosives. The station closed prematurely in 2016. Picture: McMahon Services

Mr Malinauskas had flown in the day before from Olympic Dam, a world-leading uranium deposit, having talked up SA’s abundance of natural resources including copper and renewable energy. The Premier in late 2022 argued people dedicated to decarbonising the electricity grid to tackle global warming should be open-minded about nuclear power but has repeatedly declared cost was prohibitive.

Opposition Leader David Speirs has produced coherent and consistent rhetoric on nuclear energy, arguing SA should consider small modular nuclear reactors costing in the “low billions”.

The Liberals could have skewered Mr Malinauskas on the premature closure of a coal-fired plant during the Weatherill government, in which he and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis were senior figures. They might have pointed out the inconsistency of SA embracing nuclear-powered submarines and exploiting the world’s largest uranium resource for overseas nuclear power – but reflexively ruling it out here.

Instead, they demanded more expenditure of public funds for energy rebates. Senior business leaders are already asking quiet questions about the SA Liberals’ economic credentials. More blunders will turn those whispers into roars.