In his first sortie as Opposition Leader, Labor's Peter Malinauskas has pointed to an encounter with tradies to explain how he'll handle the pressure of his new role.

"As I left home, there was some paving going up [outside] the front of my house that the council's doing and I acknowledged the guys who were doing the paving," Mr Malinauskas said.

"It's a hot day today, it's hard yakka for them, and spontaneously, I was quite taken aback, this person connected the dots and worked out that I was a candidate for the Labor leadership and he just said to me, he said listen, mate, just do your best, be yourself and just remember us and fight for us."

It's the kind of folksy anecdote that set the tone for Mr Malinauskas' first press conference as leader, one where he pledged to lead an Opposition that won't be "destructive" and won't "oppose absolutely everything for opposition's sake".

As his party comes to terms with life in Opposition after 16 years in office, he could easily have gone down the recrimination road, blaming an electoral boundary redistribution that handed several Labor seats to the Liberal Party.

He didn't go there, instead saying it's time to "reconnect" with the South Australian people.

"Over the coming months, I'm going to be spending a lot of time listening, listening to what it is people actually want, not telling them what's good for them or what policies can or can't be done, but just listening and better understanding what they value and expect."

A seasoned political operator

He might be giving an appearance of being a lover, not a fighter, but it belies what lurks underneath — a seasoned political operator.

Before entering Parliament, Mr Malinauskas was the state secretary of the powerful 'shoppies' union, or Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association.

In that role, he was a right faction powerbroker, and was alongside Jack Snelling when the pair told former premier Mike Rann it was time to go.

He's long been thought of as a future leader, and his rise through the ranks has been meteoric.

He entered the Upper House in December 2015 to fill a vacancy, and a month later he was Police Minister.

Peter Malinauskas' meteoric rise through Labor's ranks saw him become a minister after just one month in Parliament. ( ABC: Angelique Donnellan )

Late last year he was promoted to Health Minister, and was preselected for the Labor safe seat of Croydon, paving the way for a Lower House seat and party leadership.

He's no stranger to the kind of backroom political dealings that can be ruthless.

But it looks like that's not the kind of politics the public will see from Mr Malinauskas.

Who will do Labor's dirty work?

He wants to be seen as a kind, caring, community-focused politician, using another anecdote, this time of his family's migrant history, to highlight those Labor values.

His grandparents were refugees, fleeing war-torn Europe.

"When I was quite young, I distinctly remember being in my grandfather's old fish and chip shop and what he wanted to tell me about was how genuinely grateful he was that a compassionate country welcomed him with open arms and he felt he owed something back to the community," he said.

By his side at the press conference was the newly minted deputy leader Susan Close, who is perhaps less likely to go on the attack than the party's leader.

But for those who enjoy a bit of heat to their politics, don't despair — there are still a few attack dogs in Labor's ranks who might be called on to do that kind of dirty work.

Tom Koutsantonis is likely to take on a senior role and remain an attack dog. ( ABC News: Tony Hill )

Most notably, former treasurer Tom Koutsantonis, who stepped aside to allow Mr Malinauskas to take the top job.

Mr Koutsantonis has been appointed the Leader of Opposition Business in the Lower House, and is likely to take on a senior role in the shadow cabinet.