After years of declining importance, state premiers and chief ministers shot back to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as, day after interminable day, they updated us on COVID clusters, case numbers and the latest restrictions.

Peter Malinauskas became South Australia’s 47th premier in March 2022, as the pandemic entered its third year, when residents of the state took out their frustrations over issues such as ambulance ramping on the likeable but ineffectual Liberal premier Stephen Marshall.

And while he may have been best known, at least initially, for a viral photograph of him playing in a swimming pool with his young daughter – ripped abs and bulging biceps on full display – Malinauskas has quickly had an impact on the national political stage.

He was front and centre as a

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