Winner of debate between Premier Steven Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas

Who won the great debate between Steven Marshall and Peter Malinauskas? Paul Starick analyses the election campaign’s first contest.

Premier Steven Marshall and Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas at the start of the debate. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

Presenting as an alternate premier a year out from an election is a gift for any opposition leader.

Simply by appearing on the same stage as Premier Steven Marshall, Labor leader Peter Malinauskas had a headstart in today’s debate, which handed him a narrow victory in a respectful and measured contest.

It was a courageous move by Mr Marshall to hand his opponent a level playing field. Mr Malinauskas even thanked the premier for the chance for the SA people to witness a genuine contest of ideas.

Both declared SA at a pivot point, painting a vision of great opportunity in the future. Unfortunately, discussion was mostly focused on battles over past and present policy differences, rather than outlining their detailed plans to seize these extraordinary opportunities ahead.

Mr Marshall played his trump card, the state’s world-leading performance during the pandemic, cleverly arguing every South Australian deserved credit for working together to achieve such success.

“(Chief Public Health Officer Professor) Nicola Spurrier is famous for saying there is no such thing as a neat and tidy pandemic, but the reality is South Australians are feeling more confident about the future,” Mr Marshall declared.

Mr Malinauskas countered by accusing Mr Marshall of riding on the coat tails of public servants during the pandemic and effectively handing over the state’s leadership to them.

“When you take away the hard work of Nicola Spurrier and (Police Commissioner) Grant Stevens, what’s left? The cupboard’s bare,” Mr Malinauskas said.

Peter Malinauskas: “When you take away the hard work of Nicola Spurrier and (Police Commissioner) Grant Stevens, what’s left?” Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

Steven Marshall: “South Australians are feeling more confident about the future.” Picture: NCA NewsWire / Morgan Sette

The first and only decent blow was delivered by Mr Malinauskas, who unflatteringly likened Mr Marshall’s plan for a $700m multipurpose Riverbank arena to the failed GlobeLink policy for a freight airport near Monarto – a centrepiece of the Liberals’ 2018 election campaign.

Mr Malinauskas branded the arena a policy for the 2026 election, rather than next year’s poll, claiming construction would not start until at least 2027.

“That doesn’t solve one problem for someone looking for work in our state right now,” he pronounced.

In a relatively calm debate, Mr Malinauskas became impassioned when attempting to sheet home blame for hospital ramping directly to Mr Marshall. He accused Mr Marshall of being bereft of leadership over health but, somewhat inconsistently, then declared him responsible for ramping doubling under his watch.

Many exchanges were bogged down in statistical argument over jobs and economic growth, with each leader choosing his preferred official figure to suit the argument.

Mr Malinauskas rightly observed that the pandemic had triggered talk about developing sovereign capability and reviving manufacturing, but little had eventuated in the way of hard policy measures.

It is, of course, difficult for either leader to spell out detailed policy a year out from the next election, on March 19, 2022. As Mr Marshall observed when making his strongest point, that is a long way away.

Mr Marshall knitted together state pride from the pandemic with jobs of the future.

“Aren’t we proud as a state that we’re now manufacturing space craft on Lot Fourteen?” he asked rhetorically, referencing the Australian Space Agency’s headquarters being established at the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site.

More debates between the pair have been flagged which, hopefully, will flush out more detail of their plans to capitalise on what both agree is a critical pivot point for the state.

Scores

Malinauskas 7.5/10

Marshall 7/10