It’s a bromance that has invited some ridicule but is fast emerging as one of the most significant partnerships within the Australian Labor Party and one that could have federal implications.
In a profession not known for its sex appeal, there was a moment on the eve of last year’s NSW state election when the physique and stamina of two political leaders somehow became the story of the day. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas flew to Sydney to meet then NSW opposition leader Chris Minns, ostensibly for talks about education policy and the banning of mobile phones in SA’s public schools, a policy Minns later embraced.
Before the talks, the two men hit the esplanade at Bondi Beach for a high-energy morning run, cameras in tow, Malinauskas wearing his trademark sleeveless running singlet, Minns a more demure sleeved tee.
Malinauskas’s athleticism became a talking point during SA Labor’s triumphant 2022 campaign in which Steven Marshall’s Liberal government was turfed after one term.
In a public sense, the most talked-about moment of the campaign involved an otherwise forgettable announcement by SA Labor promising to rebuild the dilapidated Adelaide Aquatic Centre.
On a slow-news Saturday, Malinauskas arrived at the pool with his young daughter, took off his shirt, stripped down to his boardies and jumped in the pool.
His ripped frame was the subject of a week’s worth of talk on FM stations and water coolers around the state, with the man who only last year stopped playing Aussie rules for his Adelaide Uni Blacks team at the age of 43 hailed as a modern-day Adonis.
Malinauskas’s stated awkwardness over the attention was in contrast to the private delight of Labor strategists determined to introduce their man to the people of SA as a sports-mad suburban dad.
Last year, NSW Labor was keen for some of this star power to rub off on their leader, even taking the cringe-worthy step of tweeting a photo of the pair running along Campbell Parade with the caption “Baywatch”.
Since then, Malinauskas and now fellow Premier Minns have mercifully stuck to wearing suits, their collaborations shifting from stunts to substance.
And at a time when the Albanese government struggles to maintain clear lines on everything from taxation and housing policy to anti-Semitism and foreign policy, the Right faction-dominated Minns and Malinauskas governments are reminding Australia that Labor is capable of governing consistently and effectively from the centre.
Both governments have eschewed the profligacy of other Labor states evidenced by 25c train tickets in Queensland and ballooning state debt in Victoria, where both administrations will struggle to be returned.
In contrast, Minns and Malinauskas are setting themselves up to govern for the long term, both enjoying the added blessing of Liberal oppositions riven by internecine factionalism.
Malinauskas told Inquirer that he and Minns had “hit it off” since meeting a few years ago and that he was enjoying their collaboration. Minns is more candid, saying that ahead of last year’s NSW election he regarded Malinauskas’s 2022 campaign in SA as “the model” for NSW Labor to replicate against Dominic Perrottet’s Liberal government in promising to govern from the centre.
“I’m a big fan of Mali,” Minns told Inquirer. “But he’s being modest. We were searching for the model last year and we nicked as much as we could off what Mali did in SA. I liked the way he approached Covid. But more importantly the model has to be around the economy. Labor is at its best when it talks about creating an economic future for people.”
Minns and Malinauskas have a lot in common, which has made their friendship come naturally.
Both came up through the Catholic Right tradition of the ALP, Minns doing his schooling at Marist College in Kogarah and Malinauskas at Mercedes College in Springfield. Malinauskas’s political hero is Bob Hawke and his mentor is Right faction powerbroker Don Farrell, whom Malinauskas followed as an SA/NT secretary of the all-powerful retail union the SDA.
Minns inherited his late father’s idolatry of Paul Keating and cut his teeth in Bob Carr’s electorally successful Labor government as a policy adviser to transport minister Carl Scully. Minns talks on occasion to Keating but cites the well-regarded Sydney Olympics minister Michael Knight as a regular sounding board.
They both love football, Minns rugby league and Malinauskas AFL, Minns a Canterbury Bulldogs fan and Malinauskas a Port Adelaide tragic who was openly furious last month when Anthony Albanese scheduled national cabinet in Canberra on the same day as the Port-Swans final. Minns is 45, Malinauskas 44, both have wives who are successful lawyers, and they have large families by modern standards, Minns with three children and Malinauskas four.
Despite both being involved with Labor since their late teens, Minns and Malinauskas met for the first time only five years ago. Their friendship and allegiance grew during Covid when they held the seemingly poisoned chalice of leading oppositions when frightened voters desperately wanted incumbent governments to succeed in managing the pandemic.
When Minns assumed the leadership from Jodi McKay in June 2021, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian was being applauded for her measured handling of the lockdown; at the same time in SA, then premier Steven Marshall looked immovable with an 80 per cent-plus approval rating as SA coasted through Covid while neighbouring Victoria resembled a prison under Dan Andrews’ rule.
Tactically, Malinauskas and Minns agreed that rather than constant attempts at pointscoring, the best approach was a bipartisan one almost willing the government of the day to succeed, but playing a long game in targeting inconsistencies over health rulings that unduly affected personal freedoms and the ability of business to operate.
This approach saw both men approach their election days with the business community fed up with Liberal acquiescence to the health bureaucracy and ambivalent at the prospect of a Labor win.
Their status as fathers has been the key driver of their most high-profile policy foray, the push for tougher limits on access to social media for children and teens – the topic of a major forum held across two days last week, first in Sydney and then in Adelaide.
The project was given ballast with the appointment of retired High Court Justice Robert French to negotiate the legalities of their push, which in a constitutional sense should rightly have been led by the commonwealth given its power over communications.
Instead, Anthony Albanese found himself following in the wake of the pair on an issue that has resonated hugely with parents who hold valid concerns over bullying and youth suicide.
Malinauskas and Minns are smart but would not describe themselves as intellectuals in the Bob Carr or Paul Keating mould. Malinauskas is notable as the first SA premier in three decades not to appoint himself arts minister, living almost in fear of seeing a play. Neither man is remotely “woke” and has deliberately gone to war with the left on several fronts.
When the Saudi-backed LIV golf expressed interest in staging an event in Australia, Malinauskas grabbed it with both hands, prompting claims of “sportwashing” from the Greens and the Labor left over channelling public money into securing the tournament.
Malinauskas hails LIV and the AFL Gather Round in Adelaide as central to revving new life and tourist dollars into a long-ignored city, in much the same way Minns broke ranks with Labor to go after the Baird government’s lockout laws, saying they had ripped the heart out of Sydney’s raffish night-life.
Minns was condemned for extending the life of the Eraring coal-fired power station by two years to 2027, arguing NSW could not sustain caseload power in its absence.
Malinauskas is regularly condemned for his passion for gas. And while his pursuit of hydrogen power is looking increasingly quixotic, with Origin Energy having declared its own project unfeasible, the SA Premier has been commended by conservatives from Peter Dutton down for advocating nuclear energy and waste storage. He has backed fracking, supported Santos against Greens-led attacks, and is helping BHP on a major water project in SA’s north.
When protesters from the extreme climate group Extinction Rebellion brought Adelaide to a standstill last year by abseiling off the Morphett St Bridge, Malinauskas angered the unions and left by rushing through tougher penalties for protests that cause major disruptions.
This month, Minns advocated the same thing in relation to the recidivist pro-Palestine activists with links to radical groups such as Socialist Alternative – which have racked up a bill in excess of $5m with their incessant demonstrations.
On the question of Palestine, Minns and Malinauskas have been clear and consistent in their support of Israel. While its disparate views have left the Albanese government sounding less like a government and more like a discussion panel on the issue, Minns and Malinauskas condemned October 7 unequivocally and expressed full support for lighting their cities in blue and white in solidarity with Jewish terror victims.
Both have been unmoved by calls from the Arabic community for similar displays in Palestinian colours in recognition of civilian deaths, Malinauskas holding the line even after one of his own multicultural advisers and Islamic leaders quit a state government advisory body in protest.
Malinauskas told Inquirer that he and Minns had developed an easy rapport from the moment they met.
“There’s a particularly strong camaraderie among state and territory leaders right now, but yes, in terms of Chris, we are of similar age and our world view is similar which means there is an affinity there,” Malinauskas said.
“He has been a great source of advice for me because he has a good read on what people’s concerns are and how we can use policy power to make a difference to their lives.
“The only thing I will say is that he barracks for the wrong code. When I met him I thought here’s someone I can talk to about footy but he has absolutely no idea about the national game. I know more about how the Sydney Swans are going than he does.”
Malinauskas is the subject of constant speculation in SA about a federal tilt, something he emphatically rules out on family grounds by joking his wife, Annabel, would show him the door. The people who most want him to go are the SA Liberals, to be rid of the man former premier Jay Weatherill described as “the candidate who was created in a laboratory”.
Try as he might to hose down the speculation, Malinauskas remains the subject of constant Canberra talk, driven in large part by SA business leaders who regard him as a wasted talent down in the provinces and a figure who makes the current Prime Minister look second-rate.
The rumours were put to both Minns and Malinauskas in a joint radio interview in Adelaide last week during their social media summit, during which Malinauskas attempted to duck the topic by drafting his friend.
“You live closer to Canberra mate,” Malinauskas said to Minns. “You’re a three-hour drive away, you can do it any time.”
Minns was having none of it.
“The fact that it’s so close and I rarely go is all the indication you need about my interest,” Minns replied. “Definitely not. Definitely not. Happy in NSW. Pete would be good in Canberra, though.”
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