David James Speirs (born 15 December 1984) is a Scottish-Australian former politician and convicted drug dealer, who was the Leader of the Opposition in South Australia and Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party from April 2022 until August 2024. He was a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly (also known as the lower house) is one of two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia, the other being the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assem ...

from the 2014 state election, representing the electorate of Bright from 2014 to 2018, and its successor, the electorate of

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, from 2018 to 2024. Speirs served as the Minister for Environment and Water in the Marshall Ministry between March 2018 and March 2022. On 8 August 2024 Speirs resigned as State Liberal Party leader, triggering a contest for his position, which was won by

Vincent Tarzia Vincent Anthony Tarzia (born 24 September 1986) is an Australian politician who is currently serving as the South Australian Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party, representing the House of Assembly seat of ...

. On 5 October, Speirs announced he would resign from the SA Parliament after he was charged with drug-supply offences.

Background and early career

Speirs was born in

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and was schooled at Kirkcolm Primary School and Stranraer Academy. He emigrated to Australia with his parents and two younger brothers at the age of 17 in 2002. In 2008, Speirs graduated from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours). He was elected as a councillor and deputy mayor for the Marion City Council, serving between 2010 and 2014. He worked in senior and principal policy development positions within the state Cabinet Office, in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, between 2008 and 2014. Speirs was a national director of the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

in Australia between 2010 and 2014. In 2012, Speirs received the Community Leadership Award at the Channel 9 Young Achievers Awards.

Parliamentary career

Speirs entered the South Australian Parliament in March 2014, defeating

Chloë Fox Chloë Catienne Fox (born 22 February 1971) is an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bright from 2006 to 2014 for the Labor Party. Personal life Fox is the daughter of Australian children's au ...

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's Minister for Transport Services. In October 2014, Speirs was appointed to the Parliament's Economic and Finance Committee following the resignation of

Iain Evans Iain Frederick Evans (born 18 April 1959) is a former Australian politician. He was leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2006 to 2007. Early life Evans attended Heathfield Primary and subsequently He ...

. In January 2016, he was elevated to

Steven Marshall Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...

's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Cabinet Secretary. In January 2017, Speirs ascended to the front bench as Shadow Minister for the Environment. In March 2018, following the election of the

Marshall Government Steven Spence Marshall (born 21 January 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 46th premier of South Australia between 2018 and 2022. He was a member of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in the ...

at the South Australian Election, Speirs was sworn in as Minister for Environment and Water. During his time as Minister, Speirs oversaw the establishment of Green Adelaide and regional landscape boards, significant reduction of water bills and an increase in the land protected as national parks including the creation of Glenthorne National Park in Adelaide's southern suburbs and Australia's biggest national park at the

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The Wangka ...

. In March 2021, legislation introduced by Speirs meant South Australia became the first state in Australia to ban single-use plastics. The first items to be banned were single-use plastic straws, cutlery and drink stirrers with other items such as polystyrene containers phased out in March 2022. In November 2021, Speirs contested the deputy party leader and Deputy Premier ballot, but lost to Dan van Holst Pellekaan. After outgoing

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

resigned as leader of the Liberal Party, Speirs was elected leader on 19 April 2022, becoming South Australia's 44th Opposition Leader. On 8 August 2024, Speirs stood down as Opposition leader, saying he had had a "gutful" of the job and wanted to give the party the best chance in the next election. The subsequent Liberal leadership election was won by

. Speirs stated he intended to remain in parliament as the member for the electoral district of Black. Following his resignation from Opposition leadership, Speirs was embroiled in a scandal over a video that appeared to show him using illicit substances. Speirs claimed the video was a

deepfake ''Deepfakes'' (a portmanteau of and ) are images, videos, or audio that have been edited or generated using artificial intelligence, AI-based tools or AV editing software. They may depict real or fictional people and are considered a form of ...

but, on 5 October 2024, he announced that he would resign from South Australia's parliament, revealing that his house had been raided and he had been arrested as a result of the video.

Political views

Speirs has been described as

socially conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

. He voted against abortion and euthanasia reforms, but said he was "not going to die on ideological mountains." Speirs supported

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy, the pot ...

, a position that was backed by South Australian uranium miners. He opposed the state and federal

Indigenous Voice to Parliament The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, the First Nations Voice or simply the Voice, was a proposed Australian federal advisory body to comprise Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal a ...

proposals, but supported

constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians refers to various proposals for changes to the Australian constitution, Australian Constitution to recognise Indigenous Australians in the document. Various proposals have been suggested to sym ...

Personal life

Speirs was previously married. In his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

, he called himself a "believing practising Christian" and pledged to conduct himself "within the moral constraints of the Christian faith". He faced criticism in 2021 when he spoke at a church and encouraged those in attendance to join the Liberal Party, but later said the issue had been taken out of context. Speirs is an active lifesaver at the Brighton Surf Lifesaving Club and has a strong interest in health and fitness. He is a founding member of the Hallett Cove-based environmental group, Friends of the Lower Field River, a Landcare group established by Hallett Cove residents in 2006 to protect and care for the lower portion of the Field River and its environs. Speirs completed all three levels of

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and ...

. He also reportedly owned 13 properties by 39 years of age. In March 2025, Speirs appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court, where the Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed that two charges of supplying a controlled substance would proceed. The alleged offences occurred in August 2024, and Speirs was arrested in September after a video reportedly showed him snorting from a plate. At a hearing on 27 March 2025 he pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced on 24 April 2025 to a $9,000 fine and 37.5 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. Speirs received two convictions, one for each charge.Bermingham, Kathryn (27 March 2025)
Former SA opposition leader David Speirs pleads guilty to drug charges in Adelaide Magistrates Court
''

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

'', Retrieved 27 March 2025.

References

External links