Mali to switch from dream boat to ‘mean machine’

Premier Malinauskas is tipped to drop the “warm, fuzzy guy that any mother would want their daughter to marry” image as Mike Smithson delivers some tough post- election insights.

Elections always toss up surprises with the major parties telling us, in hindsight, that they’ve learned a lot from the result.

So, with just over a week since polls closed and the result beyond doubt, I’m now revealing the ten points that I’ve learned from SA deciding in 2026.

Let me be clear, this is candid and will be considered brutal by some.

One: Mali to become the mean machine

Don’t expect Peter Malinauskas to be the warm, fuzzy guy that any mother would want their daughter to marry, despite the fact he’s indelibly hitched to the delightful Annabel with four children.

The Premier has already won the popularity stakes in successive elections and doesn’t necessarily need to keep the charm offensive going for the entire four-year period until 2030.

He knows that Labor’s long reign will continue well into the next decade and now is the time to solidify a huge team into an unbeatable force with an evolving succession plan.

He has already demanded discipline and solidarity and heaven help anyone who might break ranks.

Malinauskas can become an angry ogre if he needs to be and that firmness could be required as SA and the rest of the world continue to sail into uncharted waters of global uncertainty.

Two: The Liberals have become largely irrelevant

This result is an utter drubbing and a disaster for a party which needs to reform and recruit members and new candidates for the future.

I’ve been around politics long enough to recognise all the warning signs of irrelevancy.

When Labor was reduced to 10 lower house MPs after the State Bank collapse it took years to restore credibility with bright, young talent including Kevin Foley quickly emerging as true-believer warriors.

Mike Rann and his chief media advisor, the late Jill Bottrall, were relentless in planning and pulling every lever to claw back the party’s mojo.

That was before social media dictated public perceptions and without the lurking shadow of........

© InDaily