New leader emerges after bombshell move

A new leader has emerged to take over South Australia’s embattled Liberal Party following the bombshell resignation of disgruntled Opposition Leader David Speirs last week.

Vincent Tarzia, will lead the conservative party after winning a party room vote on Monday morning 18-4, beating out rival contender Josh Teague.

Mr Tarzia will now front up to Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas.

Mr Tarzia’s elevation to the leadership follows the sudden resignation of Mr Speirs on Thursday.

In a press conference shot through with anger, Mr Speirs took aim at what he saw as factionalism with the Party.

“The party has got particular challenges associated with it being a grassroots, membership-based organisation,” he said.

“The party has got different groupings within it … one of my strengths, one of my offerings was that I wasn’t part of those groupings.”

He also said he had grown weary of the leadership speculation that shadowed his leadership in recent months.

“Speculation based on speculation based on nothing,” he said.

“I’ve just had a gutful.”

Speaking after the vote, Mr Tarzia, who has represented the eastern Adelaide electorate of Hartley for 10 years, said he “absolutely did not undermine” Mr Speirs and considered the former leader a Liberal “warrior” and a friend.

Mr Speirs will jet off to Scotland for a holiday at the end of this week.

Mr Tarzia said he would not pursue a “small target” strategy against Labor ahead of the 2026 state election and would present a “bold set of alternative policies to win the hearts and minds of South Australians.”

“You are going to start seeing some fights between Labor and Liberal,” he said.

“There are going to be clear lines in the sands, some battlelines.”

He said he would attack Labor on the state’s hospital ramping struggles alongside housing and debt concerns.

But the new leader stressed the contest would be civilised.

“They (the Labor Party) are our adversaries, they are not our enemies,” he said.

Labor, led by Mr Malinauskas, turfed the Liberals out of government in the March 2022 election, winning 27 lower house seats, with the Liberals securing 16 and independent candidates securing four.

And Mr Malinauskas has continued to rack up wins, with Labor snatching the Liberal seat of Dunstan in a by-election from March this year.

Labor candidate Cressida O’Hanlon took the seat, which was held by former Liberal premier Steven Marshall, with 50.8 per cent of the vote after preferences, beating out Dr Anna Finizio.

Mr Speirs apologised to the Party faithful for the result, but refused to step down from his position as leader at the time.

Mr Tarzia belongs to the moderate wing of the South Australian Liberal Party.

He said he not delivered any “promises” to the Party’s more right-leaning members to win support.

“I’m in the faction that wants to get into government in 2026,” he said.

“That’s what I’m here to do. There are no backroom deals. We’re not the Labor Party.”

Liberal MP John Gardner, speaking alongside Mr Tarzia and Upper House Liberal Leader Nicola Centofanti, said he backed Mr Tarzia.

“Vincent has a strength that is unparalleled, he has a capacity for work that is unmatched,” he said.

“He will be a really good leader.”

Mr Gardner expressed cautious optimism Mr Speirs would remain in the Liberal “family”, despite some speculation he might contest 2026 as an Independent candidate.

“I think he will be a Liberal candidate at the next election,” he said.

“I certainly hope that’s the case.”

The Liberal Party will now move to Port Pirie in the state’s Spencer Gulf region for a strategy meeting.

Before his resignation, Mr Speirs said the next Liberal leader would not likely diverge from the path he had set down ahead of 2026.

“It’s extremely easy to throw rocks at the leader of the opposition,” he said.

“It’s extremely easy to have different ideas as to how you might do it better.

“It will be interesting to see if those ideas are forthcoming in the coming days and if a new leader is able to take the party in a new direction.

“I suspect not because I suspect the foundation that I’ve put in place, in terms of the party’s values, and the policy platform that we are starting to unroll, will leave the party in reasonably good stead heading into the future.”