Former Liberal leader David Speirs to take leave of absence from parliament amid ‘deepfake’ powder scandal

David Speirs is seeking a leave of absence from parliament in the wake of explosive footage appearing to show him snorting a white powder. Read his statement in full.

• Analysis: Tarzia’s put up or shut up test
• See the footage that sparked the scandal

Former opposition leader David Speirs will take leave of absence from parliament 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, has issued a statement about his future, in which he says he “must take some time to focus on my own health and wellbeing as any other person should”.

Mr Speirs says the past few days have been “exceptionally distressing for me and my loved ones” and follow a long period in the public eye, including four years as a minister and two years as Opposition Leader – a job he quit on August 8.

“I left the leadership of the party as I had run out of energy and the feeling of burnout has been compounded in recent days,” Mr Speirs says, in a statement issued by Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia’s office.

“As a consequence, my emotional health and wellbeing has been significantly impacted, leaving me feeling exceptionally vulnerable and at risk.

“I have always put South Australians first, but now I must take some time to focus on my own health and wellbeing as any other person should.

“I have consulted with medical professionals in the last 24 hours and have been advised that I should take time away from work to concentrate on my health.

David Speirs with lines of white powder.

The white powder was in lines on a plate.

“I intend to follow that advice and am now on medical leave, but will be regularly consulting medical professionals.”

Mr Speirs says he is “deeply grateful for the overwhelming support” from his colleagues, Liberal members and the community.

“I do not plan to make any further statements regarding this matter and I have engaged legal counsel to assist me to navigate this difficult matter,” he says.

Premier Peter Malinauskas, responding outside parliament, echoed Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia’s call 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,” he said.

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

Mr Malinauskas accused the Liberals of leaking against their own, saying he did “feel for someone who’s a victim of that”.

“Whether the images of Mr Speirs are fake or real, clearly it’s pretty obvious that someone from the Liberal Party has leaked it against him,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone really wants to find themselves in those circumstances.”

Prior to the release of the statement, manager of government business Tom Koutsantonis had called on Mr Speirs to return to work given his insistence that the video is fake.

“If he’s done nothing wrong and he’s innocent, he should come to work,” he said.

“If there’s another reason for him not to come to work, what is it?

“And look, if the video is real and Mr Speirs does need some help, we’d all understand that, we’re all human. But you can’t have it both ways.”

He said Mr Speirs had not been at parliament for more than 76 days due to the winter break and an overseas trip to attend a family wedding.

Mr Koutsantonis again urged Mr Speirs and Mr Tarzia to refer the video, which Mr Speirs has said he believed to be fake, to the police for investigation.

“This is probably one of the most serious cases of a set-up that I’ve ever known of in Australian political history,” he said.

“Yet the Leader of the Opposition Mr Tarzia and Mr Speirs have not referred it on to police.

“There’s no private members’ bill in the parliament from the opposition demanding that deepfakes be outlawed, there’s no calls on the steps of Parliament House every day for there to be a major inquiry. They’ve all gone quiet.”

The video taken at 4.12am on June 30 this year showed Mr Speirs in his Kingston Park home loudly sniffing the unidentified substance on a grey plate through a rolled up $5 note he is holding up to his nostril.

Later, at 6.32am according to metadata on a still image of the scene inside the kitchen, Mr Speirs is at the same bench and this time the plate has seven lines of white powder in neat rows. A powder-covered card sits on the plate’s edge.

Shortly after the video and images were published by The Advertiser on Monday night, Mr Tarzia said he called on Mr Speirs to report the footage to police if it was fake.

Mr Speirs arrived back in Adelaide from Scotland last week.

He has said the footage is fake.

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said on Tuesday afternoon that no report had been made to police.

The Advertiser is not suggesting any wrongdoing on Mr Speirs’ behalf, nor is it asserting the substance was illicit. The video and images were taken during Mr Speirs’ last weeks as opposition leader before he stepped down on August 8.

Originally published as Former Liberal leader David Speirs to take leave of absence from parliament amid ‘deepfake’ powder scandal