A campaigning premier has hurtled 100m down a hillside in a tube at an adventure park to promote a new policy, only to land in a controversy created by one of his ministers.
SA's Peter Malinauskas and his daughter Sophie lined up with other parents and kids at a tube slide in the Adelaide hills on Monday.
The picture opportunity, ahead of the March 21 state election, had a slight hiccup when Mr Malinauskas came down the slide with his back to the cameras, but a repeat attempt went off perfectly.
It was all to launch Labor's Kids Off Screens policy with a promise to introduce 150 minutes of active learning per week for public school students from the start of schooling to year nine.
The premier said the government had already made great strides towards getting kids off screens, banning mobile phones in schools and the world-leading social media ban for children aged under 16.
The latest policy would ensure kids were physically active so that when they returned to the classroom, they were paying attention, the premier said.
He also announced free school camps for every Year 7 student, under a four-year, $19 million plan, to ensure no child missed out on the experience because of cost.
But after a handful of questions on the new policies, the event went off-script with the premier besieged about a controversy engulfing Health Minister Chris Picton.
The government has been at pains to shift attention from ambulance ramping, which it had promised to end in its successful 2022 campaign to win government.
Last week, SA Health data showed ambulances were ramped for 3616 hours in February, which was higher than the 2711 hours when the government was elected four years ago.
On Friday, the ABC reported the story of Adelaide man Stephen James King, who died in 2025 after spending some of his final hours waiting for an ambulance, which was then ramped outside Royal Adelaide Hospital.
His widow, Bronwen Paterson, spoke about the death of her husband, who had terminal cancer, saying she was angry at the system.
Mr Picton's office subsequently released a 2023 email, which it said had been written by Mr King, that praised the health system.
The minister has now apologised to Ms Paterson after admitting that he had authorised its release and conceding that the email was sent by a different Stephen King.
"I think he feels pretty bad about it, and he's made a genuine mistake, and he has expressed unqualified contrition and sorrow for the error that he's made," Mr Malinauskas said.
Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn said the incident showed Labor was more focused on protecting its political reputation than fixing the health system.
"Labor has serious questions to answer about why they would act in this way," Mrs Hurn said.
"Labor has a track record of putting politics and PR ahead of everything else."
