State Premier Draws Criticism from Left and Right Over Comments on Aged Care Migrants

‘My message to One Nation voters is, who’s going to feed you and bathe you and wipe your bum when you’re 90, right?’ Malinauskas said.

Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas at press conference during day one of LIV Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia on Feb. 12, 2026. Sarah Reed/Getty Images

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has received criticism from both the left and right sides of politics for his comments on slowing migration.

Malinauskas, who faces an election on March 21, made his comments in response to questions at a Council for Economic Development of Australia business event in Adelaide.

“My message to One Nation voters is, who’s going to feed you and bathe you and wipe your bum when you’re 90, right?” he said.

“Because it ain’t going to be your kids, because if I get my way, they’re going to be working on [AUKUS] submarines with high-paying jobs so they can afford to own their home that has been built by someone, so who’s going to do that [care] work?”

South Australian One Nation candidate for Mawson Tyler Green described Malinauskas’ statement as “very off colour.”

“Care work is honourable work. If we need more carers in Australia, let’s pay them properly, train locals properly and value the profession properly; instead of using migration as a band-aid for poor workforce planning,” he said on X.

“If we have a shortage of nurses and aged-care workers in South Australia or will have in the future, the first question should be: why aren’t we training enough Australians?”

Greens Member of the Legislative Council Rob Simms also labelled the comments insulting, in an interview with ABC Radio Adelaide.

“The suggestion that the only benefit of migration to South Australia is people coming over to do work that no one wants to do, and that seemed to be the tenor of the premier’s comment, I thought was insulting,” he said.

Simms said the comments did not reflect the huge contribution that migrants make to South Australia.

“And might I say, it’s also denigrating of people that do that work—people in the care sector who offer really vital support particularly in aged care and our health sector,” he said.

The South Australian Liberal Party also labelled Malinauskas’ comments “unacceptable and demeaning” in a post to Facebook.

During his speech, Malinauskas argued that South Australia needed skilled migrants to increase by another 2,011 each year.

He said South Australia was already importing 20,167 skilled migrants each year.

Meanwhile, a Newspoll published Feb. 19 showed the Labor Party leading on 44 percent of the vote, One Nation with 24 percent, the Liberal Party with 14 percent, and Greens on 12 percent.

A separate YouGov poll released on the same day showed Labor with 37 percent of the vote, One Nation with 22 percent, Liberals with 20 percent, and Greens with 13 percent.

The writs for the state election will be issued on Feb. 21.