Ex-MP Sam Duluk to become Liberal Party state treasurer

A former Liberal MP, whose career was sunk by a boozy Christmas party, is making a return to politics.

Former Waite MP Sam Duluk, whose career was torpedoed by a boozy parliamentary Christmas party, is poised to make a political comeback as Liberal treasurer.

Mr Duluk, who is now a director of a Wayville-based investment group, has been unanimously appointed state Liberal Party treasurer at a Liberal state executive meeting on Monday night.

Mr Duluk, a former Young Liberal state president, is from the conservative, or Right, faction, which has gained control of the party’s structure.

The Liberal Party state treasurer is an administrative role, not parliamentary, and does not have a vote on the party’s state executive.

Mr Duluk told The Advertiser he would not comment on internal party matters or deliberations.

Independent Waite MP Sam Duluk waits in line to vote at the state election on March 19, 2022, at Mitcham Village Uniting Church Hall School. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

The former Waite MP is making a gradual re-entry into politics, having suspended his Liberal membership in 2020 in the wake of an incident at a 2019 parliamentary Christmas party.

Mr Duluk was accused of slapping SA-Best MLC Connie Bonaros on the backside and stood trial on an assault charge.

He was found not guilty of a criminal offence but a magistrate branded him “rude, insensitive, uncouth and disrespectful” and said he owed Ms Bonaros an apology for “behaving like a drunken pest” at the party.

Waite Liberal MP Sam Duluk sits in parliament for the first time on February 10, 2015. Picture: Calum Robertson

Mr Duluk in May was elected unopposed as the president of the Waite state electorate convention.

That appointment came two years after he lost the seat at the 2022 state election, when he ran as an independent and polled 19.7 per cent of the first-preference vote.

Elected in 2015, Mr Duluk had been considered a rising star within state ranks before the booze-fuelled incident.

Following his acquittal, Greens MLC Tammy Franks used parliamentary privilege to unleash a barrage of fresh allegations, detailing shocking claims of drunk sexism, racism and homophobia on the night of the infamous Christmas Party.

But Mr Duluk denied the claims and said they were “salacious and designed to cause maximum political damage”.