Paul Starick: Opposition Leader David Speirs’ strange attack on Labor’s Tom Koutsantonis over concerned Liberals’ emails

Fledgling Opposition Leader David Speirs had a cunning plan to attack Tom Koutsantonis that blew up in his face, writes Paul Starick.

Fledgling Opposition Leader David Speirs has picked a curious issue to stake his credibility on – linking Liberal nemesis Tom Koutsantonis to a “fake email” account.

In one of his first acts since returning from a few weeks of leave, Mr Speirs on Friday morning issued a press release headlined: “Tom Koutsantonis faces serious questions over fake ‘Concerned Liberals’ email”.

Instead, it’s Mr Speirs who looks like the dope who has been roped in by his own cunning plan and is facing questions about his judgment.

Mr Speirs’ statement described the sending of a separate Liberal media release on Thursday to a journalist, who then forwarded it to Mr Koutsantonis’s office for comment. The release was then sent from a “Concerned Liberals” email address to various Adelaide newsrooms.

This email account has been leaking internal Liberal documents and information for more than a year. Some journalists have speculated the account is run by a Labor operative.

SA Liberal leader David Speirs at Parliament House in Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Mr Speirs chose to elevate this insider issue and raised the stakes further by implying Cabinet-in-confidence statements had been leaked under Steven Marshall’s government.

“We‘re saying this should be looked into given the level of activity and the number of classified documents that have washed through this email address over recent years, and it’s a major concern if a senior Labor government figure is running it,” Mr Speirs told ABC Radio on Friday morning.

Importantly, Mr Koutsantonis promptly branded the allegation “an outrageous slur”, demanded Mr Speirs provide evidence and issued an implied threat of legal action by calling for the Opposition Leader to “cease making these defamatory allegations”.

“The minister categorically denies that either he or anyone from his office is responsible for this leak,” Mr Koutsantonis’s spokesman said.

Labor minister Tom Koutsantonis in parliament. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Most voters don’t care who is running an anonymous email account. The identity is a guessing game that occupies journalists and politicians.

Therefore, Mr Speirs’ decision to escalate it, ahead of cost-of-living or child protection, is bizarre. Why stake your credibility as Opposition Leader on an inconsequential issue, with a claim backed by amateur detective work?

It’s more than likely that Liberal MPs, disaffected with Steven Marshall’s government, were among those who leaked documents last year that were distributed through the Concerned Liberals account.

This suggests Mr Speirs was so keen to damage Mr Koutsantonis that he did not think of the inevitable internal consequences of firing off a press release to link the Labor veteran with anonymous emails.

Mr Speirs is the alternative premier. Using the power of his office, his statement transformed a parlour game into a serious political issue. Now there are questions about his judgment and potential legal action awaiting him.