SA shadow treasurer Iain Evans has stepped down from the frontbench and announced he will be quitting politics in next 12 months.
The former Liberal Party leader made the announcement this afternoon, one week after senior Liberal Martin Hamilton-Smith shocked the party by defecting to Labor’s cabinet.
Evans said he didn’t think he could face another 10 years in the role of politician.
“I think the time has come for me to move on to the next stage of my life,” he told a press conference today, flanked by his family.
He said he had decided before the election to go, if the Liberal Party failed to win government.
“If I’d been treasurer then no-doubt I would have stayed,” he said.
He said he took responsibility for his part in the election loss but believed that, with “an ounce of luck”, there was a good chance that the Liberals would win the 2018 election.
Evans said he would leave Parliament within the next 12 months, forcing a by-election in his seat of Davenport.
“I want to go out and spend the next 10 years of my life constructing another career that doesn’t necessarily involve day-to-day politics,” he said.
“I think the time has come for me to move on to the next stage of my life, somewhere in the private sector or not-for-profit or some other form of employment.”
He said Martin Hamilton-Smith’s defection from the Liberal Party to Labor’s Cabinet had forced leader Stephen Marshall to reshuffle his Shadow Cabinet, and he wouldn’t be standing for a position.
Evans thanked former Premier John Olsen for allowing him to serve in his Cabinet, and paid tribute to his family.
“Politics is a partnership and families make a big sacrifice,” he said.
“I’d like to thank my wife Fiona and children Staten, Alexander, Fraser and Alison for their love and support.
“I’d also like to thank my father Stan and mother Barb, as well as my siblings for their ongoing support over my Parliamentary journey.”
Evans entered the Terrace Room of state parliament for his press conference to applause from his Liberal Party colleagues.
Liberal leader Steven Marshall said no-one could begrudge Evans his decision.
“He’s worked seven days a week for 21 years,” he said.
“It’s the right decision for him. I asked him again this morning: ‘are you sure Iain? Is there anything I can do to keep you here?’ He said no. He’d made up his mind.”
“We will sorely miss him.”
Marshall said he didn’t believe there would be further departures from Liberal ranks, however he said: “This does offer us the opportunity for renewal in the Liberal Party”.
“I think that everybody would accept, and certainly Iain accepted, that the new batch of parliamentarians that came in at (the last) election were outstanding; probably the best we’ve ever seen,” he said.
Marshall said he would outline a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet “in the next few days”.
– with reporting by Bension Siebert
