Daniel Wills: Steven Marshall has won but his challenge is for him to live up to his promises

STEVEN Marshall has a huge job ahead of him — the premier-elect ran a focused campaign that hammered home the message of change. Now voters will expect him to deliver.

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STEVEN Marshall has a huge job ahead of him.

The premier-elect ran a focused campaign that hammered home the message of change. He rightly identified that the state desperately wanted to move in a new direction and accurately bet that voters would eventually turn away from the seductive siren of SA Best and throw their lot in with the security of a traditional Liberal vision to get the state back on track.

His threat to govern alone or not at all, derided at the start of the campaign, now looks a masterstroke.

The Liberals have also learnt the lessons of past campaigns. In the past, they have won a massive statewide vote but not the seats needed for government. This time, they converted every single vote into gains on the ground.

Premier-elect Steven Marshall.

Mr Marshall has said he wants to lead a reformist Liberal government. He counts former prime minister John Howard as a mentor, but takes his real inspiration from another pair of leaders.

Former New Zealand prime minister John Key and ex-Victorian premier Jeff Kennett are his true role models.

Both took charge of places that were considered rust buckets or laughing stocks and turned them around in fast time. Melbourne is still living off Mr Kennett’s legacy and New Zealand is a case study in how to make the most of what you’ve got and not accept the bottom rung of the ladder.

Mr Marshall’s agenda lacked the sizzle of past state elections that became auctions over hospitals and stadiums or trams and roads.

But it is a radical one for a state that has basically become a company town with the government at the helm.

He promises huge reductions in businesses taxes and heavy deregulation that will disrupt a lot of the established order in government, the unions and even business.

For much of his time as Liberal leader, Mr Marshall has been dismissed for his mistakes that include the “vote Labor” gaffe and failure to lure key independents in 2014.

The only way to stop being seen as a loser is to win. That done, real work now starts.