Adelaide’s most powerful couples from Premier Peter Malinauskas and wife Annabel to Laura and Max Sharrad
On their own, the skills, experience and talents they possess make them stand out, but together, they are forces to be reckoned with. Meet SA’s top power couples.
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On their own, the skills, experience and talents they possess make them stand out, but together, they are forces to be reckoned with. Meet SA’s top power couples.
PETER MALINAUSKAS AND ANNABEL WEST
South Australia’s ultimate power couple – the Premier and his wife, a corporate lawyer and partner in top national firm Thomson Geer.
Mali infamously forgot to thank Annabel during his 2022 election night victory speech but the morning after he poured his heart out: “I don’t know how I got so lucky in life. I just would not be here without Annabel”.
Indeed, some of those close to the couple say one of the key reasons Mr Malinauskas opted for state politics was to avoid disruption to his family and Ms West’s career.
She comes from a Liberal family background, he grew up in a middle-class family in Adelaide’s inner south. The pair met at a 21st and were married in 2013.
Now, they combine running a state (Peter), corporations and security law (Annabel) and parenting four children.
MATT SHORT AND MADI WILSON
It’s been a whirlwind romance for the Adelaide Strikers’ superbat and the Olympic swimmer, who only went public with their relationship at last year’s Allan Border Medal.
Ten months later, the photogenic couple announced their engagement and earlier this month, revealed they were expecting their first child together.
“2 becomes 3. What a journey ours has been, we are excited to announce we are expecting our rainbow baby in 2024,” the Adelaide-based couple captioned a joint Instagram video.
“It has been a whirlwind 12 months and we are so excited for what the future holds.”
Wilson, 29, is a veteran of the Australian swimming team who previously dated Kyle Chalmers, while Short enjoyed a breakthrough season in the Big Bash League with the Strikers, quickly becoming a crowd favourite.
LAURA AND MAX SHARRAD
The first couple of Adelaide’s food scene, Laura and Max first met while working alongside each other at Jock Zonfrillo’s award-winning Rundle St restaurant Orana – a year after she finished runner-up on 2014 MasterChef.
Love blossomed between the then-pastry chef Laura and then-junior sous chef Max, and two years later, he proposed at sunset in Tuscany, Italy.
“As soon as he pulled out the little box, I just started crying and blubbering. It was simply beautiful, just perfect,” Laura said at the time.
The couple tied the knot in the Barossa Valley in 2018 and last October, announced they are expecting their first baby.
“Honestly, we’re just so overjoyed, we’re still taking it all in,” said Laura, who with Max, have since opened top local eateries Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room and Nido.
JAMES STEVENS AND ALEX MAY
It’s a classic political love story – drawn together by the Liberal Party. Both Alex May, the Liberal Party state director, and James Stevens, the Sturt MP, have spent much of their adult lives in Liberal ranks, either as Young Liberals, staffers, campaigners or party members.
For a time, Mr Stevens was the-then premier Steven Marshall’s chief of staff and Ms May was deputy chief of staff.
Mr Stevens, 40, who replaced Christopher Pyne as Sturt MP at the 2019 federal election, was Young Liberal state president from 2004-06 and the president of Mr Marshall’s state electorate council from 2012-16.
As well as Mr Marshall, Ms May has worked as a staffer and policy adviser for Alexander Downer, Jamie Briggs and Isobel Redmond. She also was general manager stakeholder relations of Naval Group Australia, the French firm that was axed as Australia’s submarine builder.
SARAH ABBOTT AND SAM ABBOTT
Sarah, one of the city’s top PR professionals, and Sam, a leading Adelaide lawyer, have been together for 26 years after meeting at a party.
PR queen Sarah is the bubbly face behind some of Adelaide’s top events and marketing campaigns with 25 years experience in the industry, the last 15 of those with her own business, Sassafras Public Relations.
Named a Queen’s Counsel – now King’s Counsel – in 2019, Sam has represented a host of notorious criminals and been part of several landmark cases over his near 30-year career.
Together, the parents-of-three make a powerful team, and will celebrate 21 years of marriage in April.
NATASHA STOTT DESPOJA AND IAN SMITH
A former Australian Democrats federal leader and trailblazer for women in politics, Natasha Stott Despoja is now on the world stage.
She was endorsed in December by federal Minister for Women Katy Gallagher for re-election to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, to which she was first elected in 2021.
Serving as an independent expert, she is the first Australian to serve on the committee in almost 30 years, after the membership of former Family Court chief justice Elizabeth Evatt, from 1984 to 1992.
Ms Stott Despoja in 2021 stepped down as chairwoman of Our Watch, which she had led since 2013. The organisation is a national leader in primary prevention of violence against women and their children.
Ian Smith’s profile has diminished in recent times as he focuses on refugee advocacy chairing Barefoot for Boots, which helps people in camps. Since 2015, though, the British-born Anglophile has revelled in what might be his dream job – the United Kingdom’s honorary consul in SA.
RORY AND BELINDA SLOANE
He might be coming to the end of his illustrious Crows career but Rory Sloane is still one of the biggest names in town, and has been since his debut in 2009.
Right by his side throughout has been Belinda, a popular TV presenter who has appeared on shows including SA Weekender, Footy Plus and The Crows Show, plus hosted Seven’s Brownlow Medal red carpet special.
The glamorous couple, who tied the knot in Byron Bay in 2016, are also influential advocates in the challenge to reduce the rate of stillbirth in Australia
They joined forces with Red Nose Australia in 2019 to launch Lion Warrior, a personal campaign to raise awareness and funds for lifesaving stillbirth research, in honour of their first child, Leo Rory Sloane. Leo was stillborn in August 2018.
Rory’s business interests include The Sherrin Face Footys, designed to help kids with their kicking, and as owner-ambassador for alcoholic seltzer Hard Fizz.
SARAH HANSON-YOUNG AND BEN OQUIST
One has a high public profile and the other is a highly regarded veteran within the corridors of power in Canberra. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young was elected in 2007 and has been re-elected three times.
The pair were married in 2022 after dating for two years. Ben Oquist unexpectedly proposed during her 40th birthday celebrations on Kangaroo Island.
Mr Oquist works alongside Peter Costello’s former press secretary David Gazard at lobbyist firm DPG Solutions, where he is director climate and ESG.
He won respect in Canberra circles as the long-time chief of staff to Greens leader Bob Brown and, then, as head of leading think tank the Australia Institute.
JADE ROBRAN AND BEN WILLIAMS
She’s one of Adelaide’s most recognisable media personalities, and he’s guiding the careers of some of the country’s top young footballers – together it’s a powerful combination.
FIVEaa’s new roving breakfast reporter, Jade Robran has been a staple of the media scene for many years, including work as a presenter covering the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup Carnival, Australian Open and as a correspondent with Sunrise.
It’s been an impressive rise for top player agent Ben Williams, who established Players Ink over 15 years ago and since signed up a stable of rising SA stars including Port Adelaide’s Jason Horne-Francis and new captain Connor Rozee, Crows top draft pick Riley Thilthorpe and Gold Coast’s Jack Lukosius.
The former Big Brother winner’s interstate clients include Sydney trio Isaac Heeney, Logan McDonald and Errol Gulden.
Robran also plays a big role in the company, helping to look after clients’ media and welfare needs. The couple married in Bali in 2008 and share two sons together.
AEMON AND EMILY BOURKE
Another political love match – this time on the Labor side. Aeomon is the ALP state secretary and Emily is assistant minister to the Premier and also for autism. Both are former ministerial advisers and share three children.
Ms Bourke was raised on a farm near Maitland and worked for a local newspaper. Her station within SA Labor is highlighted by her portfolios. An assistant to the state or national leader portfolio usually indicates a rising star.
Mr Malinauskas has often emphasised the Australian-first nature of the autism portfolio and Ms Bourke’s policy initiatives.
JIM WHALLEY AND MELINDA O’LEARY
A former fighter jet pilot and Harvard graduate, Jim Whalley was SA’s first chief entrepreneur – an unpaid role aimed at helping people transfer innovative ideas to flourishing global businesses.
He is the deputy chairman and co-founder of Nova Systems – an Adelaide-based defence firm that describes its role as a leading technology and services provider operating in the global defence and security sector.
Mr Whalley flew more than 6000 hours on 40 aircraft as a test pilot for the RAAF before setting up Nova Defence in 2000.
Mr Whalley’s wife, Melinda O’Leary, also highly experienced in the defence sector, is a Nova co-founder. She advises Adelaide University’s defence studies.
She chairs the Lifetime Support Authority, which funds treatment, care and support for people who sustain serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident on South Australian roads.
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