A Labor premier has blindsided his Liberal opponent, announcing a major energy policy moments before the first debate of an election campaign.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said his government had reached an agreement with energy giant Santos to acquire 20 petajoules of gas a year for a decade from 2030, which would be reserved for local industrial consumption.
He made the announcement in remarks before his first debate with Liberal leader Ashton Hurn, ahead of SA's state election on March 21.
Mr Malinauskas is on track for a crushing victory according to two opinion polls published on Friday.
Ms Hurn, who has been leading her party for less than three months, conceded it was "hard to ignore" the polls which showed the Liberals had been relegated to third by surging One Nation popularity.
"I'm aware of them, but you don't want to be like a flag in the breeze every single time a poll comes out, you have to stay your course and focus on your strategy," she said.
Mr Malinauskas said his energy policy was unlike others that offered false hope and promised to "reduce power bills by x and it rarely ever happens".
But later asked if the policy would lower power prices he declined to give a direct answer.
The SA Strategic Gas Reserve would underpin the transformation of the Whyalla steelworks, and the premier said the government had agreed on an undisclosed price with Santos that "suits both of us".
During the debate, Mr Malinauskas claimed he did not regret his promise before the 2022 election to fix ambulance ramping but said it was an example of "where we've fallen short".
The premier said big challenges remained that have been "largely beyond our control", with aged care the most substantial.
He said his government had shown the electorate it could be relied upon to not increase taxes or introduce new ones.
"And when the budget can afford it, we'll be making announcements about ways to reduce taxes, to derive outcomes the economy is looking for," he said.
"None is more important than housing."
While his government had been consistent in policy approaches, the opposition leader had been "the very picture of total inconsistency".
"What effect is One Nation having? Well, you already can see it. It's making the (First Nations voice to state parliament) an issue," he said.
"It's making renewables an issue. It's this chopping and changing. I still don't know what (the Liberals') position is on net zero."
Ms Hurn told The Advertiser Future SA debate that she didn't want to be a "Debbie Downer" but for many South Australians, the simple answer about whether their life was better after four years of Labor, was no.
"All of the fundamentals are going backwards, they don't feel better off, they're finding it harder to pay their power bills, they are finding it harder to get into the health system," she said.
"We're going to the election with a very distinct and very clear focus, a very clear ambition of lowering taxes in South Australia to unlock the economic potential of our state."
Ms Hurn said a Liberal government would expand the advanced manufacturing and defence uplift initiative from $3.3 million over two years, to $13.2 million over four years.
She said the Liberals were focused on the basics.
"I know that's not sexy ... but they matter to people," she said.
The writs for the SA election will be issued on Saturday with remote voting to start on March 10 and early voting on March 14.
