SA Premier Peter Malinauskas co-hosts FIVEaa breakfast radio show on Friday

Peter Malinauskas joked he was “out of his depth” as he co-hosted the FIVEaa breakfast show this morning – and was grilled by listeners on housing and health.

Peter Malinauskas is no stranger to morning radio but the tables were turned on Friday morning when the Premier co-hosted FIVEaa’s breakfast show with Will Goodings.

As the show got under way at 6am, Mr Malinauskas admitted it was a “completely different experience” and joked he was “out of his depth” after being “stitched up” by his office.

“This is a marathon more than a sprint. And hopefully it’s not too painful for your listeners suffering a politician on radio for a couple of hours,” said Mr Malinauskas, whose one-off appearance comes while regular host David Penberthy is on holidays in Mexico.

“Bit out of my depth this morning but hopefully I’ll get a bit more comfortable as the morning goes on.”

But he seemed perfectly at home as he bantered with Goodings and handled some tricky talkback calls with typical finesse.

Peter Malinauskas and Will Goodings in the studio. Picture: FIVEaa

Caller Vince said he wanted to address the affordable housing “myth” and asked the Premier what he was going to do about it, complaining about SA’s high level of stamp duty on home purchases.

Mr Malinauskas pointed to last year’s abolition of stamp duty for eligible first-time home buyers who build a new home, saying it was a costly but deliberate policy to create more housing supply.

Despite concerns about SA’s median house price soaring over $700,000, locking out many young families from the homebuyer market, he said booming property prices were “to the benefit of many”.

“But understand this, when it comes to house prices going up in South Australia – which is to the benefit of many – what we want to see is a balance. That’s why we’re so determined to have massive increases on supply of housing,” he said.

Caller Stacey began with a compliment but said: “I still worry about hospitals, nurses, and the doctors which are often getting the blame for the ramping.”

“They’re good people and that’s why we’re getting more of them – it just takes time to recruit them, unfortunately,” Mr Malinauskas replied.

“The problem is for the people in that lower category, they’re the ones that find themselves waiting and that’s all about capacity.

“Where we could increase capacity quickly we’ve done it and the ambulance services are a good example of that as response times are down.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ben Clark

The pressure ramped up slightly when a second round of callers were accepted after 8am and the Premier was asked a range of questions, from e-scooter safety to cricket, and everything in between.

But one question that caught the Premier off-guard was about health rebate differences between different states.

Caller Naomi gave the example of her 77-year-old father, who had his voice box removed and replaced with a prosthesis.

“He has to pay about $1200 a month for the instrument and for the cleaning and everything that goes with being able to talk now,” she said.

“He cannot claim anything back now in South Australia but in the eastern states they’re getting a $500-$700 rebate on that – why isn’t South Australia giving that option?”

FIVEaa breakfast co-hosts David Penberthy and Will Goodings.

Mr Malinauskas said there were differences between the states with SA offering “a range of different services” and “goods and material” which the state covers at their own expense.

“It’s not unprecedented and it wouldn’t surprise me that there are discrepancies between the state about who gets what and subsidies for what equipment,” he said.

“But circumstances regarding your father, that’s the first I’ve heard about it … and what the arrangements are there.”

The slightly flustered Premier asked an offsider to grab the caller’s details so his staff could look into the problem.

Earlier, Goodings said he was excited to have Mr Malinauskas join him behind the desk.

“We pride ourselves on giving our listeners the opportunity to speak directly to people in power and (today) we’re going right to the top,” he said.

“As far as co-hosts go, he’ll most definitely be the most smartly dressed, a small step-up from David’s usual attire.”

FIVEaa station manager Craig Munn said it was an honour to have Mr Malinauskas co-host the brekkie show, after he joined Jodie Oddy on Nova’s early morning show for a couple of segments last year.

“I know our listeners will appreciate his insight and his taking the time to talk with them on the issues that matter to South Australia,” he said.