Embattled SA Lib leader Vincent Tarzia resigns, likely to be replaced by Ashton Hurn
The sudden resignation of Vincent Tarzia marks the loss of a third Liberal Party leader in as many weeks and caps a dismal run for the South Australian opposition, facing popular Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas.
The Liberal Party has lost its third leader in as many weeks with the sudden resignation of South Australian Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia just 15 weeks from the looming state election.
The embattled Mr Tarzia fell on his sword on Friday and is likely to be replaced by Barossa Valley MP Ashton Hurn – who, if elected, will join Victoria’s Jess Wilson and NSW’s Kellie Sloane as a potential female saviour for the state opposition.
But Ms Hurn has barely three months to turn things around for the SA Liberals, with public and internal polling showing the party commanding a paltry primary vote in the 20s and expected to hold as few as four of the state’s 47 seats at the March 21 poll.
Ms Hurn is yet to confirm her candidacy but Liberal sources are hopeful she will be elected unopposed at a partyroom meeting scheduled for Monday, with former leadership candidate Josh Teague declaring he will not nominate.
Ms Hurn issued a brief statement to The Australian saying she would spend this weekend considering her position ahead of Monday’s meeting.
“I want to sincerely thank Vincent for his dedicated service over the past 16 months as our leader,” she said.
“His decision leaves the leadership vacant, and over the coming days I’ll be speaking with my colleagues ahead of a partyroom meeting.”
The departure of Mr Tarzia caps a dismal and often embarrassing run for the SA Liberals, who have failed to make any inroads against the huge popularity of Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas.
Steven Marshall quit as leader upon losing power in 2022 after just one term in office, replaced by David Speirs who himself quit the leadership last year after being caught snorting cocaine, for which he now has a drug supply conviction.
In his 16 months in the job, Mr Tarzia failed to make any inroads and presided over policy chaos, which reached its nadir this week with the party’s confusion over whether it would scrap or retain SA’s Indigenous voice to parliament.
The SA division has also endured internal battles over its position on net zero, with the parliamentary party retaining the policy despite it being abandoned by the federal Liberals last month and the SA Liberal State Council voting in June to ditch net zero.
Despite his troubles, the departure of Mr Tarzia was sudden and unexpected as only last week both he and Ms Hurn had said he would be remaining in the job and would not be challenged, with Liberal MPs saying privately that it was too close to the election to change leaders anyway.
Ms Hurn is in no way an agitator in the leadership change and has been totally loyal to all three of her leaders – and as a first-term MP aged just 34 and with a baby son is seen as a reluctant early conscript to the leadership cause.
She is regarded as the opposition’s best performer who as health spokeswoman has done a strong job hammering the Malinauskas government over its broken promise to fix the ambulance ramping crisis, which is now worse than it was at any stage during the life of the Liberal government.
Ms Hurn is aligned with the party’s moderate faction and was a close ally of Mr Marshall, heading his communications team throughout the Covid pandemic.
She is married to Adam Howard, a successful lobbyist who was also a long-serving senior adviser and chief of staff to former defence minister and moderate faction heavyweight Christopher Pyne.
Despite her moderate ties Ms Hurn is well-regarded across the party, holds the conservative rural electorate of Schubert in the Barossa, and works well with party conservatives.
Her ability to transcend the factional divide is expected to be boosted with her likely running mate for the deputy leadership being Upper House MLC Ben Hood, a Mount Gambier-based conservative who has pushed for the winding back of abortion laws and opposes the Indigenous voice to parliament and net zero.
Liberals believe Ms Hurn will do a much more effective job than Mr Tarzia in prosecuting the government’s failures, particularly in her portfolio area of health, and will also do an effective job targeting Mr Malinauskas’ love of golf, AFL and V8 supercars as a sign of wayward priorities.
While Labor is also wary of Ms Hurn’s potential appeal, the party has been buoyed by the repeated statements of support Ms Hurn offered to Mr Tarzia when leadership speculation surged last week.
“We are focused on March and Vincent will be our leader,” Ms Hurn said at a joint press conference last week as Mr Tarzia looked on.
“Vincent is our leader. I’m focused on working with Vincent towards the next election. I’ve said that I would not challenge Vincent. He’s got my support.”
One senior Labor source said: “Expect to see those comments on high rotation in the coming weeks.”
Mr Tarzia’s office issued a statement early on Friday offering no insight into his decision to quit and saying he simply wanted to spend more time with his family.
He will still run as the Liberal candidate for his eastern suburbs seat of Hartley at the March 21 poll but it is unclear whether he will remain on the frontbench.
“SA Liberal Leader Vincent Tarzia today announced he will step down from the leadership to focus on his young family and his local community taking effect at 5pm today,” a party spokesperson said.
“Mr Tarzia said the decision was made after careful reflection on the balance between leading the party, serving the people of Hartley, and being present for his young children aged four and five months with his wife Charissa during these formative years.”
The departure of Mr Tarzia is the sixth Liberal leadership change this year.
Aside from Victoria and NSW, Peter Dutton was replaced by Sussan Ley as federal leader, WA leader Libby Mettam was replaced by Basil Zempilas and ACT leader Leanne Castle quit after just 13 months in the role to be replaced by Mark Parton.
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