Tarzia gave his first press conference this morning after convincingly winning a ballot of Liberal Party MPs for the party leadership earlier in the day.

Tarzia, a moderate, defeated factional colleague Josh Teague, the shadow Attorney-General, 18 votes to four.

Deputy Liberal leader and fellow moderate John Gardner decided not to run for the top job after canvassing support over the weekend, following the shock resignation of former leader David Speirs on Thursday.

Tarzia, 37, said that his election as leader is the “greatest privilege of my professional life”.

“I’m going to work hard every day with a strong team behind me to take up the fight to Labor and to make sure that the Liberal Party wins the state election in 2026,” he told reporters.

“The Liberal Party will win the state election in 2026.”

Vincent Tarzia addressing the media for the first time as Opposition leader today. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

Tarzia entered parliament in 2014 after defeating Labor MP and former minister Grace Portolesi in Hartley.

His stock rose in 2018 after holding onto his seat in a three-way contest against Portolesi and Nick Xenophon, before he went on to serve as Speaker of the House of Assembly and then Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Corrections.

Tarzia referenced the 2018 election result at his press conference today.

“I know that there’s many of you that thought that I wouldn’t win around seven years ago, but what I’m here to tell Peter Malinauskas and the Labor Party and Tom Koutsantonis and everyone else is that no one thought I would win back then, and I won.

Vincent Tarzia celebrating the Liberal Party’s 2018 election victory alongside former Premier Steven Marshall. Photo: Tracey Nearmy/AAP

“I’m willing to fight day and night, each and every day, with a strong team behind me to hold the government to account, to put forward an alternative policy platform to make sure that we earn the trust of South Australians, to win those hearts and those minds right across the state, whether they be in the regions, whether they be in the cities.

“And we will be successful in 2026.”

After Speirs resigned last week, he threatened to move to the crossbench if he thought the leadership ballot rewarded “bad behaviour”, accusing a small number of Liberal MPs of undermining his leadership.

Tarzia denied that he undermined Speirs after facing repeated questions about it today.

“I absolutely did not undermine David, and I consider David a friend,” he said.

Asked who undermined Speirs if he did not, Tarzia said: “I can categorically rule out any of that, it certainly wasn’t me.”

“I just don’t know what specifically you’re referring to, I consider David Speirs a friend, a support, a confidant. David Speirs is a warrior of the Liberal Party.

“I’m going to do everything possible to make sure that we continue to honour all our former leaders.”

Asked about Speirs potentially moving to the crossbench, Tarzia said: “I don’t think that is the case, but that’s a matter for David in terms of what he wants to do.”

“But he is welcome in the Liberal family, and I want him to stay in the Liberal family.

Former Opposition leader David Speirs speaking to the media last week after announcing his resignation. Photo: Abe Maddison/AAP

“My case is very clear: I’d like David to stay in the Liberal family, we are a family, we are a broad church.”

Tarzia has not revealed who will be part of his shadow cabinet but said those discussions will take place “in the days and weeks ahead”.

He also denied promising MPs positions in his shadow cabinet in exchange for their vote to become leader.

Tarzia did confirm, however, that Gardner will remain his deputy leader.

He also said his first piece of correspondence as Opposition leader will be to reach out to the Ambulance Employees Association, which ran a concerted campaign against the Marshall Liberal Government in 2022 over ramping.

The union has also recently highlighted issues with ambulance response times under the Malinauskas Labor Government.

“We know, by their own admission, we’ve seen that we have a Labor Party here in South Australia that is letting paramedics down, that is letting the health sector down,” Tarzia said.

“So I’m putting the olive branch out right now to the ambulance union, to sit down and have a chat, and make sure that we can do everything possible to work together to help fix that ramping crisis, but also hold the government to account.”

The Liberal Party faces an uphill battle to win back government in 2026 and only holds 14 Lower House seats compared to Labor’s 27.

Indeed, Speirs said last week he thought the next election will be “very difficult” for the Liberal Party and called the Malinauskas Government “a formidable operation”.

Asked about his approach to Liberal Party policy, Tarzia indicated he would draw on Speirs’ work, saying: “We’re certainly not going back to the drawing board.”

He also pointed to ambulance ramping, housing, cost of living and government debt as key battlegrounds.

“We’re not just here to sit by and hold the government to account, we actually are going to present an alternative suite of policies as well,” he said.

“So there’s going to be no small target strategy – we’re going to have a crack.

(L-R) Liberal MPs John Gardner, Jing Lee, Vincent Tarzia, Terry Stephens and Jack Batty at this morning’s partyroom meeting, where Tarzia was elected party leader. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

“You’re going to start to see some fights between Labor and Liberal in terms of values.

“You’re going to see some clear lines in the sand, there are going to be battle lines drawn, there’s going to be a clear choice between Labor and Liberal at the next state election.”

Tarzia also declared that he is “here to front up” and “I’m not going to pull out of anything”.

“My door is always open, whether that’s to the media, whether that’s to the business community, whether that’s to other communities as well, I’d like to get as much information as possible and of course, I’m willing to have those discussions with each of every one of my colleagues,” he said.

Liberal MPs presented a united front after the ballot today and played down internal divisions within the party.

Liberal MP for Hammond Adrian Pederick told reporters after the ballot that Tarzia “would do a great job as leader”.

“He showed what he could do against Nick Xenophon… and he’ll keep the team united, as David Speirs did,” he said.

Gardner, the deputy leader, today confirmed that he canvassed support over the weekend for his own tilt at the leadership but “only in the context of what is in the best interest of the Liberal Party”.

Liberal deputy leader John Gardner speaking to the media today. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

“Because here’s the thing, it’s not about us, it’s about the community, and how the Liberal Party can best serve the community,” Gardner said.

“The Liberal parliamentary team has thought about this long and hard, and all of the members have thought about this long and hard.

“We’re very happy, and I’m very happy, that Vincent Tarzia is our leader, and we unite behind him and he’ll have the whole team’s support.”

Asked whether he voted for Tarzia, Gardner said: “We don’t talk about that, but the vote was 18-4 so draw your own conclusions.”

Labor Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis, who has sparred with Tarzia in the infrastructure portfolio, accused the new Liberal leader of “destabilising his own party”.

“He hasn’t announced a single policy, and he arrogantly has taken all South Australians for granted and said he’s going to win,” he said.