Peter Malinauskas, the man who would be Premier
HIS entry into State Parliament on Tuesday is one of the most hotly anticipated in years. So what drives union chief Peter Malinauskas? And could he one day take SA’s top job?
LIKE any talented politician, Peter Malinauskas blends a fierce intellect with an ability to relate to everyday people.
It’s these qualities which have propelled him, at 35, to the top of Labor’s internal tree as state party president, Right factional chieftain and National Executive member.
But on Tuesday, in a move which has both excited and perplexed many, he will be sworn in to the Upper House of State Parliament. It is a chamber more renowned for inaction and lethargy than the dynamism which has, thus far, punctuated Mr Malinauskas’s career.
In some respects, he is not out of place. Australian upper houses have, traditionally, been used by both major parties to reward loyal servants and factional leaders. The statewide electorate spares them from in-depth contact with the public and, for some, lets them enjoy the perks of political life.
But Mr Malinauskas is no factional hack destined to fade into obscurity in the anonymous confines of the Legislative Council, even if he has, since 2008, been state secretary of South Australia’s largest union — the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association.
In 2011, the then 30-year-old, helped by Right faction colleague and Labor minister Jack Snelling, famously told Mike Rann his time was up as premier.
The powerful Right faction plumped for Jay Weatherill, installing as premier the rival Left faction’s star because the Right, ultimately correctly, believed he was the best chance to win the 2014 state election for Labor.
Ironically, Mr Malinauskas will now report to Mr Weatherill, having accepted the Premier’s offer, issued publicly on November 15, to enter parliament to replace the disgraced former MP Bernard Finnigan.
This has prompted some suggestions Mr Weatherill has outflanked his factional rival by consigning him to the upper house, rather than the anticipated political pathway of engineering a safe lower house seat for the star candidate. Backing this theory is the key fact that a premier must sit in the lower house.
Mr Malinauskas also joins several Labor Right contenders in State Parliament. Most notable as a potential future leader is Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan, 37 — a former Deloitte Access Economics associate director and deputy chief of staff to Mr Weatherill before he was elected in the western suburbs seat of Lee at last year’s state election.
Yet there is also the argument that Mr Malinauskas will gain at least two years of ministerial experience, before the March 2018 state election, because he is all-but certain to be rushed into Cabinet in an expected end-of-year reshuffle.
Rather than notching up a decade as union chief, he has decided to opt for the experience of parliamentary life and, presumably, take a ministry while he can.
It is widely expected he will assume Speaker Michael Atkinson’s safe inner northwestern suburbs seat of Croydon in 2018.
There had been some thought Mr Malinauskas would capitalise on his election in July to the ALP National Executive, the party’s chief administrative authority, and opt for a safe federal seat at a national poll expected in the second half of next year. The counterargument was there were no obvious vacancies.
But Mr Malinauskas is a devoted family man, whose daughter, Sophie, seven months, was christened on the day Mr Weatherill’s offer was publicly revealed. It is presumed one of the Premier’s key pitches in their earlier talks was the attraction of entering parliament in a senior role without the constant travel expected of federal MPs.
His wife, Annabel West, is a senior associate in legal firm Minter Ellison’s corporate team, as well as a Salvation Army SA advisory board member and SA Young Finance Professionals committee member.
His paternal grandparents, from Hungary and Lithuania, were among the flood of refugees who poured into Australia after World War II.
Younger brother Rob, Santos’ media manager, has recalled family life at Colonel Light Gardens revolving around backyard cricket and footy with his big brother. (Both continued their football career at Adelaide University Football Club, where in 2013 Peter, a keen Port Adelaide supporter, captained a “lower-grade” premiership team.)
The Catholic family sent Peter to Mercedes College, where he showed leadership potential in football and cricket, as well as excelling in his studies. He was a student representative council member and school captain in Year 12.
While still in school, Mr Malinauskas got a casual job at Woolworths Mitcham, where the intelligent and articulate lad came to the attention of shop assistants’ union organisers. He volunteered to become a shop floor representative, which eventually resulted in him meeting former union chief and senator Don Farrell. Once known within the ALP as “the godfather”, Mr Farrell offered him a job visiting night fill workers as a union rep.
While studying commerce at Adelaide University, he rose through the union ranks to become assistant secretary. When Mr Farrell joined the Senate in 2008, Mr Malinauskas, then aged 27, became state secretary.
Mr Malinauskas’s intellect and political philosophy were demonstrated at a union national council branch dinner speech he gave in 2013 at Adelaide Oval, which neatly meshed relevant statistics with powerful rhetoric.
Cost of living is, he emphatically declares, the one issue that stands out in people’s minds above all others, by a long way. Keeping wages up is, he asserts, the simple solution to tackling this problem, one that has consistently eluded both major parties.
Real wages growth, particularly for the low-paid, would underpin an expanding middle class, while enhancing future growth and prosperity. This would be economically sound and morally right.
Only Labor has prosperity for all and well-paying jobs as its core business, he argues.
“The trick for Labor is not getting distracted by other ventures, albeit some of them very important, to the extent we forget the core business,” Mr Malinauskas argues.
“If this agenda is not ideologically pure enough for you, if you need more social engineering in your politics, then join the Greens!
“For everyone else, it’s time to bring out the A-game.”
Forceful words. Now, the heat is on Mr Malinauskas to bring out his A-game as he enters the political fray, in an upper house more known for frustrated ambition than far-reaching achievement.
From trolley boy to MLC
■ Peter Malinauskas, 35
■ Educated at Mercedes College and Adelaide University
■ Worked at Woolworths Mitcham as a trolley boy and check-out operator
■Is outgoing state secretary, Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association
■ ALP state president and national executive member
■ Married to Annabel West, a lawyer
■ Has daughter, Sophie, 7 months
■ Enjoys footy, watching Port Adelaide, cricket, movies and time with family