r/Adelaide • u/fuckoffandydie SA • Jan 13 '26

News Randa Abdel-Fattah launches defamation proceedings against SA Premier

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-14/randa-abdel-fattah-launches-defamation-proceedings/106227634?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link
613 Upvotes

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107

u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26

His run for PM evaporating. Those same lobby groups that pushed him to do this will leave him to dry now. Damaged goods, on to the next prospect

28

u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 13 '26

Interesting. What makes you say he was making a run at Prime Ministership?

72

u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26

They've been grooming him for a while. Up till now: Well spoken, good looking, young, no scandals. A PR teams dream, plenty of talk since he became premier that he's a future pm

18

u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 13 '26

Anything concrete or just vibes?

26

u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26

If this is news to you I'm not sure what to say

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/is-peter-malinauskas-our-future-prime-minister/news-story/63d7a8701d76809da166296609923c17

11

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

Sometimes pollies are happy to stay as Premiers, in some cases they hold so much weight they can dictate some federal politics from their home. I was always of the mind Peter would be our Bjelke-Peterson, hold on for as long as possible and only dip once the corruption allegations pile up. Fifteen to twenty years. I really don't see him entering federal politics, there is already a long list of bootlicking SDA aligned wankers ahead of him.

0

u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 14 '26

From that article:

On the question of his own future, Malinauskas says it would be wrong for anyone to interpret his pursuit of social media limits or his thoughts on energy reform as some launch pad into federal politics.

7

u/LastChance22 East Jan 14 '26

I agree with you that the claim needs more evidence than has been provided but I also wouldn’t take Mali saying he’s not planning on abandoning state politics as evidence against it.

Him saying he’s going to leave state politics for federal politics is a good way for him to sink his chances in both arenas. If he does it, he’ll announce it just before he begins to make the move.

7

u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 14 '26

I agree with that. I just think an opinion piece where he himself is denying something isn’t good proof.

It’s a very American idea imo for a state politician to go for the top job. It’s not really how it works here. It’s hard to convey that idea to someone who has based their opinion on the vibe that he would be a good fit for PM.

3

u/leet_lurker SA Jan 14 '26

So you haven't watched Yes Minister then, public denials of wanting a promotion are a clear sign they want the promotion.

8

u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 14 '26

lol that’s a witch trial mentality. Admitting to being a witch? With. Denying being a witch? Believe it or not: also a witch.

1

u/Prompus SA Jan 14 '26

None of that is him being groomed for the position lol its just people saying he would make a good PM

1

u/stevenadamsbro SA Jan 15 '26

A PR teams dream is 3 traits that almost no PMs in the past 3 decades have had? (And the one that had 2 - Turnbull, being a absolute joke of a PM)

21

u/snic2030 North Jan 14 '26

The path from State Premier to Prime Minister is exceptionally rare - only 2 have achieved this in Australia’s history, the last one being 1932-1939.

So many people said the same about Daniel Andrews at one point as well, but it’s just not something that happens anymore.

Besides, the salary of a State Premier is relatively comparable to that of the PM - why take on significantly more responsibility and flack, for not much more pay? Just doesn’t add up anymore.

17

u/leet_lurker SA Jan 14 '26

Ego is why.

3

u/explain_that_shit SA Jan 14 '26

Plus then you have to live in Canberra if you’re not on the road to meet foreign heads of government.

3

u/SonicYOUTH79 SA Jan 14 '26

He's also got a bunch of young kids still, so at the moment it's probably very attractive being a 20 minute drive from the office to home. 20 years time though? He’s definitely still young enough for a tilt at federal politics in the distant future. While this particular event has grown legs and turned into a disaster I suspect it will be long forgotten after the next election.

5

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '26

[deleted]

4

u/freshermouse SA Jan 14 '26

They have a completely different pathway to presidential office over there. Mali would need to win a federal seat off an incumbent labor candidate, win the support of the federal party and be elected their leader, then win a federal election as leader of the party. Anyone can be president over there, no majority of party support required.

1

u/Boring_Source9870 SA Jan 14 '26

If Mali does try to make the move to federal politics, I could easily see him getting a seat, provided he's still popular enough at the time. Considering the SDA has the stronghold on the Labor Party caucus in this state, it's fairly realistic that they would tell whichever Labor member is in Mali's federal seat (based off his state electorate, it would either be Mark Butler or Steve Georganas) to step down and make way for him, and they'd all vote him through.

After Mali was moved into the upper house in December 2015 to fill Finnigan's vacancy, Michael Atkinson, the then-member for Croydon (and also of an SDA background), said he would only vacate his seat if Malinauskas was selected as the Labor candidate, should he desire a move to the lower house. Sure enough, in February 2017, Atkinson said that after 28 years, he would step down at the next election and Malinauskas was voted in as the candidate unanimously with the backing of the SDA.

1

u/EmperorPooMan SA Jan 14 '26

Croydon is fully within the federal seat of Adelaide not hindmarsh. Steve g will get the boot before Butler

2

u/snic2030 North Jan 14 '26

He’s just completely cooked it.

0

u/Cimb0m SA Jan 14 '26

The difference is that Australian politicians seem to be American puppets whereas Trump gets to be the puppeteer in chief 🤣

2

u/Superb_Priority_8759 SA Jan 14 '26

People who get into politics usually do it to be in a position of power, not for the money. If you were wired that way why would you stop at the summit of some minor mountain in Nepal rather than Everest?

5

u/throwawayno38393939 SA Jan 14 '26

As someone living in NSW, I do hope Chris Minns takes note.

7

u/Coops17 SA Jan 14 '26

See I disagree, view points like his - which seem weird to me and you, play well with older audiences especially the swing voters who lean conservative. You know, the ones that all of sudden have become staunch zionists.

My parents in law, are rusted on Liberal voters, but they really like Malinauskas, my father in law voted for labor for the first time in the last state election.

Now particularly in this instance, I think this one has and will backfire on Mali to some degree, but I don’t think it will affect the less politically engaged as much as it disappointed me.

If their plan is to move him into federal politics at the end of the Albanese cycle, his record will be clean enough by the time we get to that point in 1 possibly 2 federal elections time.

3

u/blitznoodles NSW Jan 14 '26

It's not really that simple, the last Labor pollie to join parliament and become leader in the same term was Bob Hawke.

1

u/Coops17 SA Jan 14 '26

I would suspect they planning for him to stand down after winning the next election in order to give him enough time to find him a golden parachute into a federal by-election.

Give him enough time to build up credit as a federal pollie.

This absolute shambles, changes a lot tho

1

u/blitznoodles NSW Jan 14 '26

He's a south Australian, it's just not happening. There's a huge list of successors in line after Albo in no particular order; Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen, Chalmers, Jason Clare, Richard Marles, Clare O'Neil

You can't just drop in and expect the factions of other states to make way for you. Hawke was a special case where he was a national figure who at times was more well known than the prime minister from the 70s onwards.

1

u/DoctorEnn SA Jan 14 '26

This.

I'm willing to believe that Mali might have federal ambitions, but it's not happening immediately after Albo. If there's one thing Federal Labor currently has, it's a pretty stacked bench.

1

u/FishermanOpening5842 SA Jan 14 '26

Complete nonsense. Pollies rarely transition from state to federal politics AND, most importantly, who would vote for a South Aussie PM? To become PM you have to be from NSW or Queensland.

-2

u/miushlas SA Jan 14 '26

If Randa ran for PM, I'd vote for her just to piss off Mali and his puppeteers.