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Peter Malinauskas has promised to keep his shirt on from now on, after a photo of his muscled torso made quite a stir in the world of Australian politics.
ABC radio host Patricia Karvelas:
During the campaign, you were photographed shirtless in swimming shorts, and it caused a bit of a stir. I have to ask you … the Australian’s Greg Sheridan said jokingly on [ABC] Insiders that you’re “far too good looking”. Which I thought was quite a statement. What have you made of the reaction to that picture?
Do you have any idea how much grief I’ve copped around the place as a result of that?
Have they told you just to buff to be premier?
They’ve piled it on, let me tell you. I haven’t stopped copping it, and I deserve every bit of it.
We were announcing a big investment at our major aquatics centre here in South Australia and a whole bunch of us jumped in for a swim in our boardies with our kids there. And, yeah, it got a bit more attention than I anticipated, fair to say.
So you’re going to keep your shirt on from now on?
Damn straight!
I think we’re about to see a federal election where a cost of living is a front and centre issue. And I think Australians get the price of petrol, but they can’t control the price of groceries.
The way we address cost of living as a nation is to start having an incomes policy focus on how we improve working in small businesses to improve the productivity of their labour, so they can earn a higher income. And that’s why education, training and skills is so important.