Mandarins out, supercars in, under new SA Labor government

Premier-elect Peter Malinauskas has flagged a purge of public servants, consultations with business and the return of the Adelaide 500 supercars race.

Labor leader Peter Malinauskas with new MPs, from left, Lucy Hood, Erin Thompson and Susan Close, in Adelaide on Sunday. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

South Australian premier-elect Peter Malinauskas has flagged a potential purge of key public servants, the beginning of extensive consultations with the business community and a return this year of the contentious Adelaide 500 supercars race.

A buoyant Mr Malinauskas also left open the possibility of changes to his frontbench, signalling a continuing strong emphasis on the role of women in Labor, presenting five newly minted ­female MPs to the electorate.

Mr Malinauskas has also refused to rule out using Liberal defector Dan Cregan as Speaker, which would bolster his numbers on the floor of the parliament, which are heading towards 27 in the 47-seat parliament.

Asked about the senior heads of the public service, Mr Malinauskas on Sunday said: “Well, I think renewal is important. I think there are some very high quality leaders within the public service, which will be an important component of delivering our policy. I also think there are possibilities for positive change, and we will work through that in coming days.”

Declaring he would not be a yes man for any federal government, the Labor leader said while he would prefer to work with an Albanese government, he would always work in the best interests of the taxpayers.

“I’ll be working with whoever the prime minister of the nation is, but, naturally, I sincerely hope it is Anthony Albanese because we have common values, we understand the post-pandemic opportunity and I will be doing everything I can to assist his efforts in getting elected,’’ he said.

Mr Malinauskas criticised the agenda of parties running small-target campaigns, later denying that federal Labor was trying to get elected using that strategy.

Instead, he said federal Labor was backing policy vision including on the key issue of childcare.

“If there is one thing that excites me more than anything else about our success electorally yesterday is that we have one with a policy vision and agenda for the future of our state … this idea that oppositions have to run small-­target strategies and abandon ideas in order to win elections, well, that has been completely dispensed to the boundary before last night,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas said he had started talking to business leaders already after the dramatic weekend result and it would be his ­vision the government worked closely with the private sector.

“I want to work collaboratively with all the members of our community, but I said from the start I was going to be a pro-business Labor leader. I’ve already been in touch with some business leaders this morning and I will be speaking to more throughout the course of the day and the days ahead,” he said. “I do believe our economy works best when we achieve the right balance between the interests of capital and labour, and only the Labor Party understands the importance of that.

“When you have a pro-business Labor Party, you see the interests of working people working together with the interests of business, to ensure that our economy delivers for everybody, not just the few.

“And when you combine that with thoughtful policy around key government services, particularly at a state level, education and obviously health, we can do good things to help people out.”

He has strongly backed the return of the Adelaide 500 race, which effectively replaced the formula one Grand Prix but was abandoned by the Marshall government.

Labor’s chief challenge politically is dealing with the ambulance ramping crisis but it has given itself four years to deal with it.

The party has pledged $1bn for the state’s health system.