Peter Malinauskas defends silence on David Speirs arrest as first court date revealed

The Premier has defended his decision to remain quiet about David Speirs’s arrest. But he says it’s time to Opposition leader broke his silence.

Former opposition leader David Speirs will face court on drugs charges for the first time at Christies Beach Magistrates Court next month, it can be revealed, as the Premier explains why he didn’t go public when told of his arrest.

Mr Speirs’ first appearance date of November 15 – which falls on the day before a possible by-election date – was released by SA Police on Tuesday.

Mr Speirs was arrested at Berri on September 26 and has been charged with two counts of supplying a controlled substance between August 2 and 3 and on August 9.

It came after The Advertiser in September published a video of Mr Speirs appearing to snort a white powder off the kitchen bench of his Kingston Park home.

He has announced he will quit parliament but vowed he will fight to clear his name of all allegations.

David Speirs in a video statement he posted to social media. Picture: Facebook

Premier Peter Malinauskas defended his decision not to reveal Mr Speirs had been arrested, saying be believed it would have been made public eventually, either by Mr Speirs making a statement himself or by his appearance in court.

“It’s not my information to disclose. I wasn’t going to start using this type of information to give the Labor Party a political advantage,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas also said it was appropriate that he and Police Minister Dan Cregan were informed about Mr Speirs’ arrest but Mr Tarzia was not because he was “not a public officer in the way that an elected government official is”.

Meanwhile, Mr Malinauskas called on Mr Tarzia to address Mr Speirs’ claims about the use of “state government power” against him.

“Notwithstanding the fact that we have no interest in kicking a man while he’s down, I think it’s important that Mr Tarzia rule out the fact that there’s been any sort of impropriety on behalf of South Australian police,” he said.

In a video posted to social media on Saturday, Mr Speirs said he believed there’s “someone pretty sinister behind this” and he stated he was “equally concerned about what is actually the use of state government power against someone who is a political opponent”.

Mr Tarzia on Saturday declared his support for the actions of police – and said he did not know what Mr Speirs meant by the claims.

“I know how professional (police) are, so I’m sure they don’t come to these things lightly,” he said.

The by-election will be triggered by Mr Speirs’ resignation – in his video statement he said he intended “to step down formally from parliament in the next sitting week”, starting next Tuesday.

University of Adelaide Professor John Williams, a constitutional law expert, said MPs resigned “by writing under his or her hand”, according to section 30 of the state constitution, and this included an effective resignation date.

Former Liberal deputy premier Vickie Chapman triggered a Constitutional stand-off in 2022 when she wrote to the-then Speaker Dan Cregan in early May declaring her intention to resign at the month’s end.

It is likely, though, that Mr Speirs has set foot in parliament for the final time.

Speaker Leon Bignell told The Advertiser his advice was the resignation was “effective at the time of receipt by the Speaker” and the letter could be either be “personally delivered or transmitted by other means”.

Mr Bignell said he had yet to receive Mr Speirs’ resignation but understood from his video statement this would sent be next week.

He said outgoing MPs were able to personally pack up their offices or get someone else to do it for them.

Originally published as Peter Malinauskas defends silence on David Speirs arrest as first court date revealed