South Australia July to December 2022

After the March state election, a Labor government was installed after convincingly ousting Steven Marshall's one-term Liberal government, continuing a tradition of short-lived Liberal governments in South Australia. In the second half of 2022, Peter Malinauskas' new government was seeking to bed down its agenda, and was favoured by political circumstances. Generally, there is a common political cycle between elections. In the first stage, a new government will often spend the first six to twelve months conducting reviews, taking stock, and generally blaming its predecessor for policy failures. The second stage, usually in years 2 to 3, focuses on securing policy wins and ‘delivering’. In the final stage, the attention then turns to the imminent election. For Malinauskas, the key was to hit the ground running, while for the new Liberal opposition leader David Speirs, it was a period of review and reflection upon the election loss.