Premier Peter Malinauskas rules out running for PM as he blasts Labor’s moves on foreign students

The SA Premier has addressed speculation he could move on Australia’s top job as he carpets a federal push that he thinks will hit the Aussie economy hard.

Peter Malinauskas has declared he has no ambition to be prime minister as he carpeted federal Labor moves to restrict international student numbers as “some of the most self-defeating policy … in a long time”.

Interviewed at an Adelaide business lunch, Mr Malinauskas was asked about his stance on foreign students if he was Prime Minister, rather than Premier – prompting some applause.

“Thankfully, because I have no aspirations for that role, I can say things that it would be difficult to say if you did,” Mr Malinauskas replied.

Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia lunch, Mr Malinauskas labelled cutting international student numbers as “crazy”.

WOULD MALI MAKE A GOOD PM? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS

“It is the most self-defeating policy I’ve seen come out of the federal government in a long time,” he said.

“My relief on the weekend was that the Coalition, the Dutton plan for higher education, was to cut it even more – so, crazy stuff.

“I’ve said this pretty strongly previously – but if this was any other industry, if this was the mining industry, every second TV ad during the federal election would’ve been about how a federal government is trying to kill the goose that’s laid the golden egg in mining.

“Well, we’re doing it now in international education.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas has condemned plans to cut international student numbers. Picture: Keryn Stevens

The Albanese government effectively imposed foreign student caps last December, using a ministerial direction to tie new international student enrolments to quotas assigned to each university.

Former opposition leader Peter Dutton on April 6 vowed to slash international students by about 80,000, saying this would help ease the housing crisis.

Interviewed on Friday by AmCham executive and former NBC News journalist Sara James, Mr Malinauskas said universities funded vital research and development with revenue from foreign students, with the private sector spending comparatively less than in other wealthy countries.

Insisting that “people who care about innovation need to start piping up about this”, Mr Malinauskas said the federal government was not about to start pumping money into universities because of “a challenged fiscal position”.

“We shouldn’t be cutting off international student revenue. We should be trying to actually embrace it, to fund R & D,” he said.

Senator Jenny McAllister and federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers arrive on Friday for Labor’s caucus meeting at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Confessing he was “quite fired up about this”, Mr Malinauskas said he was “grateful” that Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Sunday had restated “his commitment for a productivity agenda”.

“There is no better productivity agenda that we can pursue as a country than getting higher education firing on all cylinders, in respect of R & D,” he said.

“ … We have to educate the community that productivity is about investments in technology to make the use of labour more productive, not less expensive.

“That, in turn, can actually lead to improved living standards because it justifies higher wages. Universities are central to this.”

Originally published as Premier Peter Malinauskas rules out running for PM as he blasts Labor’s moves on foreign students