Listed: Outgoing Liberal leader David Speirs’ nine greatest moments in public life

From abandoning parliament for Scotland to taking meetings in bed and owning more houses than a Monopoly set, the outgoing leader has certainly left a legacy.

• Inside Speirs’ demise – and who will step up

As everyone knows, outgoing Liberal leader David Speirs loves reading a list in The Advertiser.

He is himself about to join a pretty non-exclusive list – people who have led the South Australian Liberal Party — but here is another he can read on the plane to Scotland this weekend.

Here are David Speirs’ nine greatest moments in public life

1. The 50 grand payout

Speirs has always denied wrongdoing, but the facts are the facts.

Taxpayers forked out $50,000 to settle a bullying and harassment claim filed by a woman called Helen Dwyer who was his former office manager while he was still a humble backbencher.

But politics being politics, bullying allegations are no barrier to high office. Speirs soon found himself on the Liberal frontbench.

2. Oh, Flower of Scotland

You can take the boy out of Scotland … but not for long it seems.

Speirs incurred the wrath of his Australia-bound colleagues when he fled the country during budget week to attend a cousin’s wedding.

Proud Scotsman Speirs was no stranger to a kilt – spotted here wearing the tartan alongside Governor Hieu Van Le. Picture: Facebook

Perhaps a visit to Edinburgh’s famed castle was on the cards? Picture: iStock

If it’s not quite like missing the Grand Final to go to a 21st, (election day being the actual political equivalent of a Grand Final), it’s at least comparable to giving the prelim a skip

3. D’Oh!

 Then he did it again. Another wedding. Another reason to give parliament the heave-ho.

This time he was apparently talked out of jetting to Scotland for another cousin’s wedding (how many cousins can one man have?) and missing the first week of parliament. Still, presumably he is free to do as he pleases now.

This lovely Airbnb property at Newell Ave, Middleton, earned Speirs an almost five-star rating. At least one set of numbers was in his favour. Picture: Airbnb

4. What housing crisis?

David Speirs owns more property than the Housing Trust. There is a rumour Premier Peter Malinauskas is now considering making Speirs an offer to become housing tsar so effective is he in finding more houses. At last count, Speirs had 13 properties, with three of them listed on Airbnb at up to $500 a night. But at least at 4.81 stars, his Airbnb rating was higher than his leadership approval numbers.

5. Giving colleagues the sheets

The Liberals’ campaign which saw it lose the seat of Dunstan to Labor after former premier Steven Marshall retired was pretty disastrous. It required an all-hands-to-the-wheel approach to uncover what had gone wrong.

But for Speirs it was more undercover than uncover. It was reported Speirs had dialled into a state executive meeting from his bed. At least he turned the video off.

6. Ken it be real?

It was a picture of David Speirs, but … not?

At 39, Speirs is far from an old man, but even so one picture posted by his Liberal colleague Jing Lee had many wondering what had happened to Speirs’ face.

Liberal MP Jing Lee shaved decades off Speirs’ 39-year-old complexion with a Photoshop effort giving a Kardashian run-for-money. Picture: Instagram

Ryan Gosling as the definitive Ken in Barbie. Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures

Who was this smooth-skinned, white-toothed, chiselled individual? There was more than a touch of Barbie’s plastic friend Ken about the image. Lee would later confess to a filter being used.

Still, it would have made a good corflute picture hanging off a Stobie pole – if he hadn’t backed legislation to ban them

7. Kentucky Fried leader

The great and the good of the Liberal Party were gathered in Mount Gambier for what is always euphemistically termed a love-in.

Imagine going on holiday with all the people you hated most at school.

Anyway, the story was that Speirs had been unhappy with the quality of the food served at the event and promptly left the premises in search of some decent grub.

A search which allegedly took him all the way to the local KFC.

8. Secret Labor voter?

One of the great gaffes in SA political history happened in 2014 when on election eve, aspiring Liberal premier Steven Marshall urged South Australians to “vote Labor’’.

Similarly, Speirs may also have an underlying fondness for his supposed political enemies. 

After the loss of Dunstan, Speirs gave a range of reasons why the Liberals loss. Including that they weren’t Labor.

“I look at the discipline of Peter Malinauskas’ party and the way it binds different groups together and I envy that.

9. Still, he was colourful

There will be some in the media world who will miss Speirs. He may have hated all of us, but at least he gave good copy. What other Liberal would have said this when assessing his party’s 2022 election campaign? 

“I described myself as being a kid strapped in the back seat of a car and dad’s passed out. But the car’s still moving forward and there’s a corner coming and a big drop. I can’t get out. The seat belt’s on too tight. I was a cabinet minister, a reasonably influential one, and I couldn’t get my hands on that steering wheel.”

But the good news is, this column can say anything it likes — as Speirs has previously said that he doesn’t read the paper.