David Speirs warns about party chaos as Liberal frontbencher backs embattled Vincent Tarzia

Former Liberal leader David Speirs has weighed in on his former party’s leadership chaos, as he again refused to rule out an independent campaign in March.

• Tarzia: ‘I’m not going anywhere’

Disgraced former Liberal leader David Speirs has weighed in on the Liberal Party’s leadership struggles as he again refused to rule out a campaign as an independent at the next state election.

When asked if he had given any further thought to a political comeback in his old seat of Black, the one-time opposition leader said he was “working through that with the community”, and had been watching “a lot of things”, including the government’s response to the algal bloom.

“I do feel I’ve got a lot of support and obviously I’m watching the situation with my colleagues in the Liberal Party unfold at the moment,” he told FIVEaa.

David Speirs has again refused to rule out a political comeback. Picture 7NEWS

“Some days I would love to get back into public life, other days maybe I feel a little less enthusiastic about it.”

Mr Speirs said he loves “serving the community”. On the Liberal Party’s struggles under leader Vincent Tarzia, he said it looked like “history is repeating itself”.

“I’ve had speculation about my leadership during my two and a bit years in the job, and Mr Tarzia is suffering from the same speculation,” he said.

“I think what the community hates more than anything is a sense that a party is shambolic because if you can’t run yourselves, you can’t run the state.

“They better resolve this situation pretty quickly and move on one way or the other, otherwise the outcome could be even worse.”

Meanwhile, the Liberals have refused to rule out preferencing Mr Speirs in the seat of Black at next March’s state election.

State director Alex Hyde said there was no preference deal with the party’s former leader.

Asked if he could rule out any such deal, he replied: “Mr Speirs has not said he is running and, there are still outstanding legal considerations around his eligibility to nominate in any event.

“Those considerations surround other candidates too.”

But Manager of government business, Labor MP Tom Koutsantonis, condemned the Opposition as “immoral”.

“It is beyond belief that the Liberals continue to refuse to rule out a preference deal with their former Leader and convicted drug supplier David Speirs,” he said.

This week Labor ruled out preferencing independent South East MP Nick McBride in MacKillop, who is facing domestic violence charges against his former wife. Mr Hyde, who also ruled out such a deal, added: “The Labor Party are just upset that even a convicted former MP can show up their catastrophically slow and grossly mismanaged response to the algal bloom.”

It comes as The Advertiser exclusively revealed on Tuesday that the shadow cabinet had been briefed on disastrous polling that showed them holding just three of their current 13 seats.

On Wednesday, Liberal frontbencher Ashton Hurn rebuffed colleagues wanting her to replace Mr Tarzia as leader before the next election, as the pair appeared together in a bid to douse speculation.

Pressed as to whether she had conversations with colleagues about leadership aspirations in the past month, Ms Hurn said she had not and declared: “We are focused on March and Vincent will be our leader”.

Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia and health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn at a Parliament House press conference on Tuesday. Picture: Paul Starick

But senior Liberals insisted they would keep pressing Ms Hurn to be drafted in to replace Mr Tarzia, with conservative upper house frontbencher Ben Hood touted her deputy in a move that multiple sources said could happen next week.

The Advertiser asked Ms Hurn for her message to colleagues who want to draft her into the leadership, and whether there was any way whatsoever that she would become leader before next March’s election.

She replied: “No. Vincent is our leader. I’m focused on working with Vincent towards the next election.”

Ms Hurn said the Liberals needed to be a united team, because they had a “really bid task ahead of us”.

Asked if she was committed to supporting Mr Tarzia through to next March’s state election, Ms Hurn replied: “Absolutely … I’ve said that I would not challenge Vincent. He’s got my support.”

Asked if she would step in if the leadership became vacant, Ms Hurn said: “It’s not vacant. Vincent is the leader and that’s exactly what we’re focused on as we’re heading towards the next election.”

Ms Hurn and Ms Tarzia staged a joint press conference at a Beverley health care practice in a bid to douse speculation about Ms Hurn being drafted in to replace Mr Tarzia.

Mr Tarzia argued federal Liberal turmoil was causing distractions for his team but insisted he would remain leader until the election.

“She (Ms Hurn) said that she’s not challenging. I’m not resigning. I’m here to fight for my community and this state and this party, and I’ll be the leader for the election in March next year. It’s as simple as that,” he said.