Senior Liberals had flagged waiting for the final election result of the Legislative Council, which won’t be known until the last week of April, before proceeding with a full party-room ballot to elect their next leader after Steven Marshall stood down following last month’s election rout.

But Labor’s decision today to recommence parliamentary sittings just days later, with both houses recalled from May 3, will put the new Liberal leader under significant pressure to be able to appoint a shadow ministerial team in time to hit the ground running when Question Time returns.

The Government is also pushing ahead with an early budget – breaking a recent tradition of delaying the economic statement until September in an election year.

Instead, new Treasurer Stephen Mullighan will hand down this year’s statement on Thursday June 2, with estimates hearings to be held later the same month.

Premier Peter Malinauskas was elected party leader just over three weeks after Labor’s 2018 election loss – but approaching three weeks since last month’s poll, only one member of the Liberal party-room, rebel backbencher Nick McBride, has thus far even confirmed their candidacy for the forthcoming ballot.

Marshall is expected to confirm the date for the ballot later today – with the pressure on to bring it forward to as early as next week.

Leader of Government Business Tom Koutsantonis told InDaily the Opposition was “taking extended leave and deciding the state doesn’t need an Opposition any more – but that’s not our problem”.

“It’s been almost three weeks and there’s still no leader, still no deputy leader, still no shadow ministry,” he said.

“We’re pressing ahead – my message to the Opposition is: the holiday’s over, get back to work.”

Tom Koutsantonis. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily

Mullighan said in a statement the Government was “very keen to get on with our agenda and delaying the budget into the next financial year risks departments being left in a state of paralysis”.

“We did the work in Opposition, we released detailed costings for our policies, which were independently verified – so we are in a position to hand down our budget in June,” he said.

“This will be the economic blueprint for the Malinauskas Labor Government over the next four years.”

An Opposition spokesman, however, noted there were fewer sitting days scheduled this year – 38 including estimates hearings – than the 54 held in 2018 after the Marshall Government’s election.

“The new Labor Government has inexplicably slashed the number of parliament sitting days by 30 per cent compared to 2018,” they said in a statement.

“This is classic old SA Labor trying to avoid scrutiny and a stunning admission by Peter Malinauskas that his government has no agenda to deliver.

“If this is a sign of what’s to come over the next four years, South Australians should be very worried.”

The House of Assembly last sat in early December, while the Legislative Council sat for a week in February.

The same month, Labor and crossbench MPs converged on the Lower House to demand the then-Liberal Government recalled parliament to debate the state’s COVID response – a move branded a “stunt” by Marshall at the time.