Opposition Leader Steven Marshall will quit if he cannot lead Liberals to victory at 2018 state election

OPPOSITION Leader Steven Marshall will step down if he cannot lead his party to victory at next year’s state election — but insists he will not do a deal with Nick Xenophon to save his job.

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OPPOSITION Leader Steven Marshall will step down if he cannot lead his party to victory at next year’s state election — but insists he will not do a deal with Nick Xenophon to save his job.

Mr Marshall has also pledged Liberal ministers would be made to resign if they mismanaged portfolios, adding he is gunning for a majority government and warns voters against supporting popular third option Nick Xenophon.

The Liberal Party secured about 53 per cent of the statewide vote at the 2014 election but failed to form government in a scenario where Labor locked in the support of key independent MP Geoff Brock.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Advertiser, Mr Marshall said that if he couldn’t win this time around, he would step aside.

“If you are the leader of a party and you take your party to two elections and you don’t succeed, then I think that that’s enough,” he said

However, he would not name any potential successors in the party.

Mr Marshall said he would stay on in Parliament if he retained the seat of Dunstan in Opposition.

“I’m not focused on losing. I want to contribute to the Liberal team going forward,” he said.

The 2018 election is shaping as the first in South Australia’s recent history to offer a genuine three-way contest, involving the major parties and former federal Senator Nick Xenophon’s SA Best party.

Extraordinary, Newspoll results released this week showed SA Best recorded 32 per cent of the primary vote, compared to the Liberals’ 29 per cent and Labor’s 27 per cent.

Mr Xenophon, who quit federal politics to contest the eastern suburbs seat of Hartley at the March election, also polled as the state’s preferred premier.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall has made his decision. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Asked if he would seek or accept the support of SA Best MPs to form government if the election resulted in a hung Parliament, Mr Marshall answered a categorical “no”.

“We rule it out,” he said.

Mr Marshall said Mr Xenophon had “aligned himself with Labor policy” by revoking support for a cap on council rate increases and arguing against broadening shop trading hours.

“He’s not ruled out forming a government with Labor and has announced candidates in (mostly) Liberal-held seats,” Mr Marshall said.

“A vote for Nick Xenophon is a vote for continuing Labor government.”

An Advertiser -Galaxy poll in October showed Mr Xenophon leading in the race for Hartley, 53-47 on a two candidate basis, against incumbent Liberal MP Vincent Tarzia.

The next month, former Labor minister Grace Portolesi announced she would join the contest. Mr Marshall questioned whether Mr Xenophon “will even win his own seat”.

“And if he doesn’t, how bound are his grab bag of candidates going to be to stay with his party? How do we know that they’re not just going to move over to Labor?” he said.

“What you’re going to get with Nick Xenophon are more stunts. What you’re going to get with Jay Weatherill is more spin and management of the message.

“Spin and stunts are not going to turn this state around.”

Mr Marshall said his party’s election campaign would focus on policies to cut the cost-of-living and energy prices, create jobs, foster investment in South Australia and reform front-line services, such as health and education.

He would also appoint dedicated ministers for child protection, energy and mining, and economic growth and exports. Mr Marshall named cost-of-living as the top issue that would decide the SA election, followed by employment and services.

He would not be drawn on his plans for reform of the wider public service, such as job cuts, but conceded “there will need to be some changes” to the people in leadership positions under a Liberal Government.

It follows sustained State Opposition criticism of department chief executives for underperformance.

Mr Marshall also pledged to hold his ministers responsible for poor outcomes.

“I’ve made it very clear to my team that if they had performed like the Government has performed with regard to Oakden (nursing home abuse) or TAFE (accreditation problems) or Transforming Health, that I would expect their resignation – and if they didn’t offer it, they would be gone,” he said.

Ahead of the 2014 election, Mr Marshall had only led the Liberals for about a year.

Next month, he will clock five years in the top job – a notable achievement against a backdrop of long-running leadership instability within the party.

“I’m certainly in a much better position now, with much greater experience,” he said.