00:00Premier, thanks for joining me.
00:04Pleasure.
00:05Reflecting on 2025, what's been your greatest success of this year?
00:10Look, seeing the recent implementation of the social media ban, which started in South
00:15Australia with our commissioning of the former Chief Justice of the High Court, Robert French,
00:19has been a really important moment, but when I cast my mind back to the beginning of the
00:23year, one of the most significant events I think we've seen in our state for some time
00:28was the extraordinary intervention that we made into Wyala.
00:31And that now looks as though it's heading in the right direction, although there's still
00:35a bit of work to be done.
00:36What about lowlights of this year for you?
00:40Well, the events of Bondi, which strikes at the heart of who we are as a country.
00:45You know, I've been pretty candid about the fact that we would have liked to have seen
00:49better results than what we have in terms of ramping hours, notwithstanding the fact that
00:53ambulance response times have continued to improve, but that's an area that still needs
00:58a lot of work.
00:59Algal bloom response, is that something that you would have done any differently?
01:03Look, you know, I think a lot of people say that with a value of hindsight, which government
01:07doesn't have at the time.
01:09We took all the advice of the best available scientists that we've got here in South Australia
01:14that understand the area, and we acted on their advice, and I'm not too sure what differently
01:19you could do.
01:20I'm also aware of the fact that there's no intervention that government could have made
01:24to stop the algal bloom or mitigate the algal bloom.
01:27It's about making sure that we support members of the community who are affected by it as best
01:31as we can, and obviously we've got a very large $100 million package to do that.
01:35What's on your mind heading into 2026?
01:38I still do think about Wyala a lot.
01:41We have now got a process in train for the sale of the steelworks, but landing the execution
01:46of that sale will take a lot of work, and that certainly remains top of mind.
01:51I'm concerned about the intersection of the aged care system and our public hospital system
01:56in this country.
01:57We see emergency departments being challenged around Australia, but the biggest mistake
02:03any government could make at the moment in South Australia would be not to embrace
02:07the extraordinary wealth of opportunity we've got before us, and making sure we translate
02:11that into improved living standards for South Australian citizens, particularly younger
02:17South Australians.
02:18At the 2022 state election, your government made more than 700 election commitments.
02:23You're well ahead in the polls.
02:25Your government is popular.
02:26We're going to see that same level of ambition coming into this state election.
02:30Yes.
02:31Of those 700 commitments, we monitor each and every one very closely.
02:37I think we've now well past 600 of those commitments having been met, and there's still more work
02:42to be done.
02:43But we're ambitious about the future of the state.
02:45We've got the strongest performing economy in the country, we're ostensibly at full employment,
02:50and we know there's a lot more economic demand and opportunity for new wealth creation
02:55in South Australia over the decade ahead.
02:57Because if we get it right, then younger people will have a lot more reason to stay here
03:01in the future and enjoy a great way of life.
03:05And just finally, what's your Christmas message for South Australians?
03:09Regardless of your faith tradition, Christmas is an opportunity to reflect on what to be
03:15grateful for, but also I think importantly to spare a thought for those who might be less
03:20fortunate, even just if they're lonely.
03:23Reach out to a relative you haven't spoken to for a while, or a neighbour that might not
03:28enjoy as much company as others, and just remind them that we're part of one bigger community
03:32as humans, and we're pretty lucky to live here.
03:35From here, thanks for your time.
03:36Pleasure.
03:37Pleasure.
03:42Pleasure.
03:43Pleasure.
03:44Pleasure.
03:50.
03:51Pleasure.
