David Speirs resigns as leader of the South Australian Liberal Party

A political earthquake has rocked one state with the sudden resignation of its Opposition leader.

A political earthquake has hit South Australia, with Opposition Leader and Liberal titan David Speirs announcing his resignation as leader of the embattled party.

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Mr Speirs said he would step down from his role fronting up against Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas, citing a desire to spend more time with family as a key factor in his decision.

“Ultimately, I want to spend more quality time with them and the demands of the role as leader makes this difficult,” he said.

“With just over 18 months until the next State election, I feel now is the right time to depart from the role and give the next leader the best possible opportunity to succeed in 2026.”

Labor, led by Mr Malinauskas, turfed the Liberals out of government in the March 2022 election, winning 27 lower house seats, with the Liberals securing 16 and independent candidates securing four.

Mr Speirs struggled to gain traction against Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas during his more than two-year reign as Opposition leader. Picture: NewsWire / Morgan Sette

And Mr Malinauskas has continued to rack up wins, with Labor snatching the Liberal seat of Dunstan in a by-election from March this year.

Labor candidate Cressida O’Hanlon took the seat, which was held by former Liberal premier Steven Marshall, with 50.8 per cent of the vote after preferences, beating out Dr Anna Finizio.

Mr Speirs apologised to the Party faithful for the result, but refused to step down from his position as leader at the time.

In a press conference from Thursday afternoon, Mr Speirs took aim at factionalism within his Party.

“The party has got particular challenges associated with it being a grassroots, membership-based organisation,” he said.

“The Party has got different groupings within it … one of my strengths, one of my offerings was, that I wasn’t part of those groupings.”

He also said he had grown weary of the leadership speculation that shadowed his leadership in recent months.

“Speculation based on speculation based on nothing,” he said.

“I’ve just had a gutful.”

He suggested the next Liberal leader would not likely diverge from the path he had set down ahead of 2026.

“It’s extremely easy to throw rocks at the leader of the Opposition,” he said.

“It’s extremely easy to have different ideas as to how you might do it better.

“It will be interesting to see if those ideas are forthcoming in the coming days and if a new leader is able to take the party in a new direction.

“I suspect not because I suspect the foundation that I’ve put in place, in terms of the Party’s values, and the policy platform that we are starting to unroll, will leave the Party in reasonably good stead heading into the future.”

Mr Speirs was born in Scotland and speaks with a Scottish accent.

He said he was “immensely proud” of his migrant background.

“To be able to go from an overseas migrant who settled in the southern suburbs of Adelaide as a teenager, to become the Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party, is something I am immensely proud of and highlights the incredible opportunities available to all South Australians in this remarkable state,” he said.

Mr Speirs, who represents the electorate of Black in Adelaide’s south, took over the leadership job from Mr Marshall after the 2022 loss.

He will remain in the parliament.