Peter Malinauskas

Peter Bryden Malinauskas (/ˌmælɪˈnaʊskəs/ MAL-in-OW-skəs; Lithuanian: [mɐ.lʲɪ.nɐʊ̯.skɐs]; born 14 August 1980) is an Australian politician and trade unionist 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, 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 was the Minister for Health and the Minister for Police, Emergency and Correctional Services. 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 in opposition, Malinauskas led his party to a landslide victory at the 2022 state election.

As a member of the Labor Right faction, the dominant faction within the South Australian branch of the Labor Party, his political views have been described as centrist, while he has described his personal views as socially conservative. In 2011, when asked about progressive political issues, Malinauskas stated that he did not involve himself with the Australian labour movement for those issues, and prefers equal opportunity and the "fair go" over imposing equality of outcome. During his premiership, Malinauskas supported the referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Federal Parliament, and implemented a state-based First Nations Voice to Parliament.