South Australian Liberal leader David Speirs steps down

The embattled SA Liberals are searching for a new leader after the ineffectual David Speirs fell on his sword amid continuing questions about whether his heart was in the job.

David Speirs has quit as leader of the South Australian Liberals. Picture: NewsWire / David Mariuz

The embattled South Australian Liberals are searching for a new leader after the ineffectual David Speirs fell on his sword on Thursday amid continuing questions about whether his heart was in the job.

Faced with the unenviable task of leading the party in the wake of their dismal 2022 one-term defeat, and pitted against a popular premier in Labor’s Peter Malinauskas, Mr Speirs was the subject of growing internal disquiet and faced damaging leaks about his holidays.

Key party figures were stunned when he chose not to attend this year’s state budget so he could head to a family wedding in his native Scotland.

Last month there were rumours he was planning to visit Scotland again during a parliamentary sitting week for another family wedding, a trip he hotly denied, despite it later emerging that he had also gone to Queensland for a holiday while the rumours were running hot.

Mr Speirs had privately admitted that the job of leading the party right now was a poisoned chalice but said in a statement on Thursday that he simply felt it was time to give someone else a chance.

“Today I have advised my parliamentary colleagues that I have decided to step down as the leader of the South Australian Liberal Party. This has not been an easy decision, however I believe it is in my best interests and that of my family,” Mr Speirs said in the statement.

“I have used the midwinter break to reflect on my priorities and to speak with family and friends at length about my future. Ultimately, I want to spend more quality time with them and the demands of the role as leader makes this difficult.

“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.”

Several names have been touted for the leadership including former Marshall government education minister John Gardner and opposition transport spokesman Vincent Tarzia.

SA Liberal leadership contender Ashton Hurn is on maternity leave. Picture: Facebook

The pair may end up as leader and deputy respectively in what the party hopes will be a unity ticket, sparing the SA Liberals a repeat of its many ugly past factional wars.

The most fancied candidate, health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn, has done a strong job prosecuting the Malinauskas government over its failure to honour its ambulance ramping promise.

Ms Hurn however is on maternity leave with her first child and as a first-term MP has no interest yet in entering the leadership fray so early in her career.