Revealed: Former South Australian premier Steven Marshall’s life after leadership

Former premier Steven Marshall has given the first public insight into life after leadership as he continues a quest to boost jobs in SA. Here’s what he’s up to.

Former premier Steven Marshall is embracing an unofficial role pitching the state at the world’s leading cybersecurity event in the United States as he moves on from a crushing election defeat.

In the first insight into his post-leadership life, Mr Marshall told The Advertiser he was

continuing his signature mission of attracting hi-tech firms and jobs to SA – a quest endorsed by Premier Peter Malinauskas.

In a privately funded trip, Mr Marshall is attending the RSA Conference from June 6-9, where he has met with leading cyber firms including CrowdStrike and Splunk.

Taking a “short break in a busy program for both of us”, Mr Marshall met former federal Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor art museum to “get a look at their incredible collection”.

Speaking from San Francisco, Mr Marshall told The Advertiser he had personally funded the trip because he was passionate about attracting companies to SA – 7000 tech jobs were created in the state under his government.

“I’m just happy to assist in any way that I possibly can at the moment, I know these companies. I think it’s pretty evident that when I was the premier, I was also the business development manager for the state, trying to seed space cyber, plant protein (industries) into South Australia,” he said.

“Now’s a good time for me to just use my experience in context to further the ambition of the state. There’s nothing in it for me privately – in fact it cost to come over here.

“I’ve really enjoyed it – a huge buzz and caught up with a lot of friends and made new ones.”

Asked about Mr Marshall’s role, Premier Peter Malinauskas said his predecessor had told him about the San Francisco trip and declared he was keen to pitch SA to tech companies when the pair had spoken a few times since the March 19 election.

“Any way that the people of South Australia can benefit from contacts we have I’m very keen to engage as best as we can. I think that’s what people want to see,” Mr Malinauskas told The Advertiser.