Paul Starick: My night sleeping rough with Premier Peter Malinauskas

Reporter Paul Starick gives the inside story of a night spent sleeping next to Peter Malinauskas. Did the Premier reveal his deepest, darkest secrets?

In the middle of the cool night, Premier Peter Malinauskas woke suddenly, sprang from his sleeping bag and shouted: “Go Crows!”.

Roused from slumber beside him at the Vinnies CEO Sleepout, this reporter then listened intently as Mr Malinauskas divulged numerous state secrets and pleaded for Vladimir Putin to remove him from Russia’s blacklist so he could take his wife to Siberia after all.

Billed as The Night at the South Australian Museum, the sleep-out was mimicking the like-named 2006 fantasy comedy movie in which exhibits come to life. Even Nathan the lion was strolling about, showing off his famously flicking tail.

Of course, this was a pre-event daydream rather than the cold, hard reality of sleeping rough on a winter’s night. The CEO Sleepout doesn’t pretend to replicate the grim existence of homeless people – rather it is designed to educate participants, increase community awareness and, crucially, raise funds for people doing it tough.

Mr Malinauskas is the first Australian leader – premier or prime minister – to participate in the sleep-out. Thursday night was his sixth – his first as Premier – and he’s raised a total of more than $80,000 to support homeless people – including almost $30,000 for Thursday night’s event.

On Thursday night, I slept alongside him, both of us donning Crows and Power beanies knitted for the event by The Advertiser Editor Gemma Jones (the Premier is the Port supporter). We slept on lawn at the back of the museum, in sleeping bags and on pieces of cardboard.

Advertiser reporter Paul Starick and Premier Peter Malinauskas at the Vinnies CEO Sleepout in Adelaide, Thursday, June 23, 2022. Picture: MATT LOXTON

“It’s easy for us, to be honest – we’ve got a pretty good sleeping bag. When you know it’s only one night, it’s not that hard. But for people that do it all the time, it’s a pretty big struggle and they deserve our help,” Mr Malinauskas said.

The Premier suggested the lawn was more comfortable than hard cement, even if the latter was under cover. When light rain swept through Adelaide from 4am, Mr Malinauskas simply grabbed a few pieces of cardboard for a makeshift tent – a far better idea than my aborted plan to relocate undercover. That’s why he’s running the state.

Even when the nearby marquee was filled with people from 5am, quietly setting up for breakfast, the Premier and Committee for Adelaide CEO Bruce Djite slept relatively soundly under their cardboard tents before finally waking just before 5.30am.

Premier Peter Malinauskas’s makeshift tent when rain fell about 4am. Bruce Djite’s tent is behind the Premier’s. Picture Paul Starick

Asked then what he hoped to achieve by fundraising that a government department could not, Mr Malinauskas said: “A lot of people who walk through the city would have noticed that it does feel as though there’s been a few more homeless people around lately.

“On the back of Covid, there are a lot of people that slipped through the gaps, notwithstanding the very substantial government support that was handed out. As South Australians, we pride ourselves on looking after others and this is a pretty basic way that leaders across the state can make a contribution.”

The Bureau of Meteorology radar at 5am on Friday, showing the light rain during the Vinnies CEO Sleepout

By 8am on Friday morning, the 102 participants at the SA event had raised $636,517.

St Vincent de Paul Society SA chief executive officer Michelle Kemp said more people were seeking help to access food, pay bills or meet rental payments.

“Most can’t meet even the most basic costs of living and are just hanging on by a thread. It doesn’t take much for them to be pushed into homelessness,” she said.

“If you walk around the CBD you will see more evidence of people sleeping rough, which is worrying at any time of the year but especially so in winter.

“Funds raised at the Vinnies CEO Sleepout will go towards supporting people experiencing or facing homelessness – we are there for people in times of crisis when they have nowhere else to go, but also looking at what we can do to stop people becoming homeless.”

Donations can be made at www.ceosleepout.org.au/donation.

Originally published as Paul Starick: My night sleeping rough with Premier Peter Malinauskas