Heavy protection for Rann after attack

South Australian Premier Mike Rann was expected to be shielded by unusually tight security at an official engagement last night, his first since being attacked and bruised last week by a magazine-wielding man.

Rann, a veteran Labor leader who grew up in New Zealand, said he was not about to be deterred by an attack that appeared to have been lodged in his friendship with a former waitress at the state Parliament's bar.

He told reporters he had just been through an "interesting few months" that had included a no-holds-bar legal battle against outlaw motorbike gangs.

"I've had a series of death threats, I've had death threats against my children, I've had hate mail, I've had stalkers ... I have threats of violence and acts of violence.

"But none of this is going to deter me or distract me from doing my job."

Last week Rann was attacked at the National Wine Centre in Adelaide, allegedly by 55-year-old businessman Richard Phillips, the estranged husband of former waitress Michelle Chantelois.

Phillips has been charged with aggravated assault and has been released on bail on condition he does not approach Rann or Deputy Premier Kevin Foley.

Rann has refused to comment on the assault or his relationship with Chantelois because of the charge against Phillips.

But local media claim Rann had met and befriended Chantelois when she was working at Parliament House in Adelaide, and had kept in touch.

Reports emphasised that there was no more than friendship in the relationship and that Rann's wife, Sascha Caruozzo, had not been concerned about it.

The Australian said that Labor Party sources had said Chantelois' relationship with Phillips had been troubled, and that Rann had advised her to leave the marriage for her own wellbeing. The newspaper said it was understood Chantelois later left Phillips for another man.

Another source described as a close friend of Phillips told the Australian that the businessman had been left emotionally damaged by what he believed was Rann's role in the breakdown of his marriage.

"All I can say to you is that what was happening at the time was enough to cause his marriage to break up and he had to buy his wife of many years out of all of their joint possessions," the source said.