Peter Malinauskas

Peter Bryden Malinauskas ( MAL-in-OW-skəs; Lithuanian: [mɐ.lʲɪ.nɐʊ̯.skɐs]; born 14 August 1980) is an Australian politician who has served as the 47th premier of South Australia since 2022. He has held office as the leader of the South Australian Labor Party and as the member of the House of Assembly (MP) for Croydon since 2018, having previously served in the Legislative Council from 2015 to 2018. Malinauskas was born in Adelaide to parents of Hungarian and Lithuanian descent. He attended Mercedes College, and studied commerce at the University of Adelaide. In 2008, he was appointed as the Secretary of the South Australian/Northern Territory branch of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), serving until 2015. Malinauskas was appointed to fill a casual vacancy in the Legislative Council on 1 December 2015, following the parliamentary resignation of Bernard Finnigan. During the Weatherill government, Malinauskas initially served as the Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services and Minister for Road Safety before serving as the Minister for Health and the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. At the 2018 state election, Malinauskas contested and won the safe Labor seat of Croydon after the retirement of former member Michael Atkinson. His party, led by Jay Weatherill, was defeated at the election, ending 16 years in government. After Weatherill's resignation, Malinauskas was elected leader of the party with Susan Close as his deputy. After just a single term as Leader of the Opposition, Malinauskas led his party to landslide victories at the 2022 and 2026 state elections. As a member of Labor Right, the dominant faction within the South Australian branch of the Labor Party, and as a powerful figure within the relatively pro-business SDA, his political views have been described as centrist, while he has described his personal...