Fledgling Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia must stand up to the Hard Right factional takeover of his party, after yet another departing senior moderate, Jing Lee, poured cold water on his claims she had left the party due to burnout.
In the latest chapter in the ongoing tale of SA Liberal dysfunction and division, the Opposition's Upper House deputy leader Jing Lee has quit the party, just weeks after revealing she was bullied into reneging on a pairing arrangement with colleague Michelle Lensink, telling parliament she felt "unsafe and not supported" amid threats to her Liberal preselection.
Vincent Tarzia on the weekend claimed Ms Lee had left due to the "emotional toll" of her 15 year tenure in a "relentless job", telling media she would not contest next year's election.
But on Saturday night, Ms Lee declared at a public event: "I resigned from the Liberal Party [and] I'll be running as an independent."
"I always put community first and I continue to advocate for our multicultural community, for the business sector, for all of us who want a more prosperous and more dynamic South Australia," she said.
Ms Lee is the latest Liberal departee, following a recent epidemic of evacuees, including:
- Dan Cregan and Nick McBride quitting the party to sit as independents
- Steven Marshall quitting parliament and moving to New York
- David Speirs quitting the leadership, before being arrested and charged with drug offences
- John Gardner quitting the Liberal deputy leadership and not recontesting his seat
- And all these followed the resignations from the Liberal Party of Troy Bell, Fraser Ellis and Sam Duluk in recent years as they contested legal proceedings.
Extraordinarily, there are now almost as many ex-Liberals as there are female Liberal parliamentarians, and almost half as many ex-Liberals as there are Lower House Liberal MPs.
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
Vincent Tarzia should stop gaslighting Jing Lee and stand up to the Hard Right element that is clearly now running his party - and running it into the ground.
He has now been Liberal leader for five months, having replaced David Speirs, who is facing serious drugs charges. Five months is long enough to stamp his authority on the party – but instead, he's let the Hard Right factional takeover led by Ben Hood and Alex Antic continue unabated.
It's crystal clear there is now no room in the SA Liberal Party for members who do not sign up to the extreme views of the Antic/Hood-led Hard Right.
The fact that Jing Lee felt so intimidated and threatened during a vote on Ben Hood's abortion Bill that she ultimately couldn't remain in the party she's represented in parliament for 15 years is bad enough – but to have Vincent Tarzia claim she's burnt out and sick of the job is quite another.
Ms Lee's own public comments prove she's not sick of the job – she's sick of the Liberal Party.
After all, why would an MP who isn't planning to recontest their seat care if their preselection was under threat?
The fact is, Ms Lee's own public statement demonstrates her resolve to continue to work hard for the community and to run as an independent.
Just when we thought the Liberals couldn't get any more dysfunctional and divided, they always manage to stoop to a new low.
