Vincent Tarzia says Libs will pressure the government on ramping, cost of living, housing and debt

The state’s new Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia has made a bold start after being elected this morning.

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Newly installed Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia has boldly declared the Liberals will “have some fights” and “have a crack” to win the next election and seize back the crucial seat of Dunstan.

In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Tarzia nominated Dunstan – former premier Steven Marshall’s seat lost to Labor in March – as totemic of his “in this to win” attitude.

Mr Tarzia earlier insisted, after winning the Liberal leadership by 18 votes to four at a Monday morning ballot by defeating Josh Teague: “The Liberal Party will win the state election in 2026.”

Speaking at Paradise Interchange in his northeastern Adelaide electorate of Hartley, Mr Tarzia vowed to repair relations with business with a “reset and recalibration”, saying he had already started engaging by “picking up the phone and having those conversations”.

He said he would target the government on ramping, cost of living, the housing crisis and a state “debt bomb” and signalled he would “be ruthless” in reshuffling his front bench, if necessary.

Mr Tarzia said his first acts as leader had been to engage with businesses and issue an olive branch to the ambulance union, declaring Labor “committed the biggest act of electoral fraud when they were elected on the promise to fix the ramping crisis”.

“I want to have those hard conversations,” he said.

“I think you’ve got to. You’ve got to have a crack. I want to make sure that we do everything possible to help people with cost-of-living pressures, housing pressures and do everything we can to work in a constructive manner as well in regards to things like ramping,” he told The Advertiser.

“We’re not going to necessarily oppose everything but we’re going to have some fights. We’re willing to do that.”

Speaking in his electorate of Hartley, Mr Tarzia branded himself a “boy from the northeast”, with roots stretching back to his grandparents moving there after emigrating from Italy in the 1950s.

Mr Tarzia, 37, said he would tell Liberal colleagues at a two-day Port Pirie strategy meeting starting on Tuesday to be “hardworking, focused and a team” and craft messages and policies with broad appeal.

“I’m a boy from the northeast. I went to local schools out here from this community,” he said. “I think that’s also our edge in terms of knowing what matters to everyday South Australians.

“There’s no silver spoon here. I’ve always had to do it hard in everything I’ve done and I think I’m better for it and it also gives me an opportunity to connect with what people are going through day to day as well.”

Asked if he had undermined outgoing leader David Speirs, who quit on Thursday, Mr Tarzia said: “No, absolutely not”.

“David Speirs is a warrior for the Liberal Party. He has my utmost respect and I want to make sure that we fight for his legacy,” Mr Tarzia said.

Mr Speirs on Friday said it would be “difficult to remain in the Liberal Party” if the “two or three” people who undermined his leadership were rewarded in a new regime.

Mr Speirs has not returned calls and messages from The Advertiser.

Mr Tarzia did not directly respond to speculation he would reward the Right faction bloc of nine whose votes propelled him to the leadership by installing Ben Hood as Shadow Treasurer and switch incumbent Matt Cowdrey to Infrastructure and Transport.

“We’ve got one shot to do this well, so I think we’ve got to recalibrate and we’ve got to be ruthless in how we reassign roles, if any,” he said.

“All I can say is, nothing’s in and nothing’s out at the moment … (I’m) certainly keen for stability wherever possible but if we have to make some changes then, of course, we’re happy to do that as well.”

Liberal MLC Ben Hood is touted as a rising star of the party by the Right faction and could be installed as Shadow Treasurer. Picture: NewsWire/Ben Clark

Mr Tarzia is expected to act in the health portfolio while Ashton Hurn, considered a future leader, is on maternity leave from the front bench until November.

Ms Hurn, who did not contest Monday’s ballot, said: “Vincent has my full support and I look forward to working with him as he leads the team towards the next election.”

Liberal defector Nick McBride ruled out rejoining the party, despite counting Mr Tarzia as a friend.

Mr Tarzia’s wife, Charissa Tarzia, is a Flinders University law lecturer and previously worked with Premier Peter Malinauskas’s wife, Annabel West, at Adelaide legal firm Thomson Geer. The Tarzias have one child, two-year-old Leonardo.

Mr Tarzia was elected in 2014 and won acclaim for defying the odds to fend off a concerted challenge in Hartley from Nick Xenophon in 2018, helping thrust the Marshall government to power.

Mr Tarzia after the party room vote at Parliament House. Picture: NewsWire / Ben Clark

He was elected Speaker that May, aged 31, becoming the youngest to hold that office in SA history, before being appointed Police Minister in 2020.

He attended St Joseph’s School in Payneham, then Rostrevor College, where he was head prefect and dux of the college.

At Adelaide University, he completed bachelors of commerce (corporate finance) and law, along with a graduate diploma in legal practice.

Before politics, he worked in finance, law and commerce, also serving as an elected member in Norwood, Payneham and St Peters Council.