South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says he ruined his victory speech by forgetting to thank his wife. After becoming the state’s 47th Premier over the weekend, leading Labor to victory, he took to the stage at Adelaide Oval to claim his victory. 

Standing at the podium, with wife Annabel next to him, the new Premier forgot his biggest supporter.   

In a speech this morning, Malinauskas laughed, saying he had “absolutely ruined” his speech.   

“Annabel is the most important person in my life and has made a massive sacrifice and obviously provided support to me, and I can’t thank her enough,” he told Sunrise.  

“What happened was when writing the speech, I honestly had it in there to thank Annabel and the kids.  

“She said ‘when it comes to me don’t get all mushy and start crying’ because this has happened previously, so in my speech, I get to mum and dad and mention them and then I felt the lump in my throat and was like ‘here we go’.”  

“I thought I’d come back to Annabel and the kids … except I didn’t come back,” Malinauskas said.  

“I’m absolutely brewing about it … I’m kicking myself.”  

The new South Australia Premier saw Labor return to government after just one term in opposition.