Dawesville MP Zak Kirkup steps up to support opposition leader Mike Nahan

There was speculation before Mr Nahan announced his shadow cabinet on Saturday that Mr Kirkup would be tasked with a shadow portfolio responsibility, but the Dawesville MP had already ruled himself out of contention, preferring to instead focus on his electorate.

At the election which swept Labor to power the Liberal opposition were reduced to only 13 seats in the lower house, leaving the opposition leader struggling to find capable shadow ministers.

But Mr Kirkup said he was pleased to not have a specific shadow portfolio.

“The role of parliamentary secretary to the opposition leader means I can spend my time devoted to our community and to serving our community which is exactly what I wanted,” he said.

“Then while parliament sits I can spend time working for the leader of the opposition on the issues of the day and then making sure when parliament isn’t sitting I’m working hard on issues important here locally.

“I’m very keen that the first phase of a being a newly elected parliamentarian is that the focus absolutely needs to be on local issues and being parliamentary secretary to the opposition leader means that can happen. When parliament isn’t sitting, I can be entirely focused in the district.”

Although the Liberal party had suffered a punishing loss at the election, Mr Kirkup said the mood inside the party room was positive.

“I think it’s important we stop trying to take apart why we lost and what happened and stop talking about ourselves and starting holding the government to account and start serving our community,” he said.

“We were sent a message at the last election and we’ll work hard to restore the confidence in the party so we can govern in four years time.”

Follow Nathan Hondros on Facebook