Stakes high for Liberals as David Speirs in court before Black by-election

The weirdest by-election in the history of South Australia takes place on Saturday, just 24 hours after the man who caused it ­appeared in court on drug charges.

Former South Australian Liberal MP David Speirs outside court. Picture: Dean Martin/NewsWire

The weirdest by-election in the history of South Australia takes place on Saturday, just 24 hours after the man who caused it ­appeared in court on drug charges.

The battle focuses on the southern suburbs seat of Black where former Liberal leader David Speirs was forced to quit politics last month after photos and video emerged of him appearing to snort an unidentified white powder.

The stakes could not be higher for the state Liberals – a win would show the party has a pulse; a loss will drag it to a historic low.

Speirs departure followed a chaotic three months for the party that began with him quitting the leadership in August saying he’d “had a gutful” of internal leaking and sniping, some of which he suggested was coming from his successor, Vincent Tarzia.

In September, when multiple images emerged of Speirs snorting a white powder at 4am in the kitchen of his beachside home, the then-backbencher insisted he had never taken drugs in his life and was the victim of a “deep fake”.

However, Speirs resisted calls from the government and opposition to report his claim to South Australia police.

Instead it was SAPOL that moved against Speirs, arresting him in the Riverland town of Berri in late September and charging him with two counts of supplying a controlled substance, downgraded this week to one count, ­attracting a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail.

The charges related to a separate alleged incident unconnected to the images taken inside his home.

When news of his arrest broke on October 5, Speirs issued a video statement saying he would be quitting politics for good.

“Since allegations of illicit substance use at my home became public, my home has been raided by armed police, and I was ­arrested and I was questioned,” he confirmed, vowing to fight the charges and clear his name.

Attempts by the SA Liberals to move beyond the Speirs dramas were not helped any when it was announced that his first court ­appearance would be on Friday, the day before the by-election to replace him in his 2.7 per cent marginal seat.

Predicting a result in Saturday’s battle is made harder by the fact that, despite his recent troubles, Speirs remains highly regarded in his suburban beachside seat, which is home to young mortgagees, tradies and retirees.

Many voters in Black have ­expressed support for Speirs over the past three months, even backing his claim that the images were deepfakes.

He was regarded as a hardworking local member and a passionate environment minister in the Marshall government, weathering the worst of the anti-Liberal swing in which the party was ousted after one term in 2022 by Labor’s Peter Malinauskas.

While there are no suggestions the white powder images were leaked by the Liberals – rumour has it they were distributed by an acquaintance after a falling out – the loss of Speirs’ personal vote and the baseless sense that his own party might have stitched him up threaten to drive down the Liberal vote.

If that were to occur, the Liberals would be reduced to their equal-lowest level of parliamentary representation in history, and Labor would notch its second shock victory of the year after snaring ex-premier Steven Marshall’s seat of Dunstan at the March by-election, the first time a sitting government had taken a seat off an opposition at a by-election in SA since the 1910s.

Under new state director Alex Hyde the Liberals have at least been trying and have changed tactics from the Dunstan by-election, which they billed narrowly and unsuccessfully as a referendum on hospital ramping, the unfulfilled key promise of Mr Malinauskas in his 2022 campaign.

The Liberals are instead targeting Labor in Black over its failure to address spiralling prices, letterboxing homes with fake ALP pamphlets saying “Labor’s plan to fix our cost of living crisis” with two blank pages on the inside.

Labor in contrast has targeted Liberal candidate Amanda Wilson as a blow-in who as mayor of Glenelg lives outside Black, whereas two-time Black candidate schoolteacher Alex Dighton is a local based in Hallet Cove.

Mr Malinauskas told The Weekend Australian voters had a clear choice to make.

“This by-election offers a choice between Labor’s Alex Dighton, who is a local committed to this community, and the Liberal’s Amanda Wilson, who lives outside of it,” he said.

“It offers them a clear choice between an organised disciplined Labor team focused on the future of the state, versus the shambolic Liberal Party.”

Holdfast mayor Amanda Wilson is the new Liberal candidate for seat of Black, pictured with David Speirs during his time as an MP. Picture: Instagram

Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia told The Weekend Australian Labor deserved to be punished for its failure to address cost-of-living concerns.

“We have an incredibly hard working Liberal candidate, Amanda Wilson, who has been outstanding,” he said.

“Labor have trailed us in a number of local announcements speaking to Amanda’s deeper connection to the community and knowledge of the issues faced by residents.

“We are fighting hard to retain the seat of Black in challenging circumstances.”

Those challenging circumstances were played out when Tarzia’s predecessor arrived at Christies Magistrate Court on Friday morning.

“I didn’t realise that there were so many journalists in South Australia,” Speirs said outside court.

“I’ve missed all of you guys in the last three months since leaving the role of leader of the opposition.”

There were no developments in the case and it is not known how Speirs will plead when it goes to trial. Magistrate Todd Grant remanded Speirs on bail and also granted his request for permission to travel overseas after lodging a $15,000 cash surety with the court.