Former Liberal leader David Speirs expected to seek preselection in state seat of Black

Former Liberal leader David Speirs is expected to seek pre-selection to confirm his future in the party, The Advertiser has been told.

Former Liberal leader David Speirs is expected to confirm his future in the party by seeking pre-selection in his marginal southwestern Adelaide seat of Black, The Advertiser has been told.

Senior Liberals are expecting Mr Speirs to return to parliament on October 15, ending a leave of absence for mental health reasons in the wake of explosive footage appearing to show him snorting a white powder.

Mr Speirs, who says the footage is a deepfake, on September 11 issued a statement about his future, in which he said he “must take some time to focus on my own health and wellbeing as any other person should”.

David Speirs with lines of white powder.

Liberal powerbrokers have told The Advertiser they expect Mr Speirs will put his hand up for preselection as part of a nomination process involving Liberal-held seats, which closes on October 8.

Mr Speirs did not respond to questions from The Advertiser about whether he intended to seek preselection to contest the next state election, in March, 2026, as a Liberal and whether, if elected, he committed to serving a full term.

But one senior Liberal told The Advertiser: “David has always said that he will come back to work and I’m sure that he will. The question as to whether or not he runs again is one for him”.

Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia said there was “a strong field of prospective candidates” for the preselection process but said details would “remain confidential until the candidate review committee is complete”.

Acting Liberal Party state director Alexander Hyde said the candidate review process had been “overhauled and strengthened” to create “ rigour and greater certainty for our grassroots members and the public”, in a process including oversight from Simon Ower, KC.

Mr Speirs faces the margin in Black being slashed from 3.8 per cent to 1 per cent by a proposed electoral redistribution, which would make the southwestern Adelaide electorate the state’s equal second-most marginal.

Under the state constitution, Mr Speirs can be absent for 11 sitting days without seeking parliamentary approval and Liberal powerbrokers have calculated this expires on October 15.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, responding on September 11 to Mr Speirs’ statement announcing his leave of absence, called for Mr Speirs to report the footage to authorities if he believed it to be a deepfake.

“As Vincent Tarzia himself has said, if this is a deepfake it’s really got to be reported to South Australian Police,” Mr Malinauskas said at the time.

“And if it’s not reported to South Australian Police, that probably tells you everything you need to know.”

Originally published as Former Liberal leader David Speirs expected to seek preselection in state seat of Black