Among the many shout-outs during South Australian premier-elect Peter Malinauskas's victory speech on Saturday night was one of a distinctly non-political nature.
It was to a Syrian refugee, Rateb Alkhalil, who had fled his war-torn homeland with his family, and who had met Mr Malinauskas on election day.
"When the war started in my country, I left my country with my wife and one child — we had one child before — and moved to Lebanon. We lived in Lebanon for five years," Mr Alkhalil said.
"After five years, we came to Australia."
While bloodshed and government oppression were major factors in Mr Alkhalil's decision to leave, one of the reasons he chose Australia, he said, was its free and fair elections.
"You vote for the government only. You can't choose anyone."
On Saturday, Mr Alkhalil — who lives in Adelaide's west with his wife and his children — attended a polling station in the electorate of Croydon.
It was there that he and his family had a chance encounter with Mr Malinauskas, who also happened to be casting his ballot at the same time.
It was a moment, he said, that prompted an instant expression of rapport: "Good to see you mate, good to see you mate."
Mr Malinauskas is the grandson of Lithuanian and Hungarian refugees, who escaped Europe for Australia after World War II.
He said Mr Alkhalil's emotional story moved him, and praised the Australian nation for opening its collective heart "to this beautiful Syrian family".
"As Annabel and I lined up at the polling booth next to them, it struck me: Here I was, as the leader of their Labor Party … standing next to this beautiful couple, who were voting for the very first time, who came here with nothing to their name," Mr Malinauskas reflected.
"They came from a town just outside of Aleppo, where their home was bombed only a few years ago. Everything they had was lost.
"They had a young son and they had nowhere to live. They fled to Lebanon, where they waited for four or five years trying to find a permanent place they could call home.
"They came to this nation seeking one thing above all else: the opportunity to have a say on their destiny and their future."
Mr Alkhalil said he already felt ensconced in his new homeland, where his family has recently expanded.
"We've got a new baby here. Now we have four children: three boys, one girl," he said.
"Now I've applied [to be] a driving instructor, to teach people to drive.
