David Speirs has gone from alternative SA premier to convicted drug supplier

Australia Broadcast Center

24-04-2025

Less than nine months ago, David Speirs held one of South Australia's most prominent and important jobs: the state's alternative premier and leader of the Liberal Party.
Now, those titles have been replaced by "convicted drug supplier".
In a busy Adelaide Magistrates Court as
Magistrate Brian Nitschke highlighted a "distinguished parliamentary career" in the decade after his election in 2014, serving as environment and water minister in the former Marshall government before
David Speirs leaves court after being convicted and fined over drug supply charges.
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ABC News: Guido Salazar
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But amid the stress and fatigue of this top political role, he
It was only months later in September
These drug charges are unrelated to the video but instead relate to two separate instances, between August 1 and August 10 last year, where Speirs admitted to supplying a controlled drug.
It was on
David Speirs resigned from parliament after the charges were laid.
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ABC News: Carl Saville
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During sentencing, the court heard it was the stress and chronic exhaustion of the role that first led Speirs to be curious to try cocaine when it was offered to him by a friend.
"You believe [when taking cocaine] you experienced a significant change from your chronic state of tiredness, fatigue and frustration that you'd become accustomed to since you became leader of the opposition," Magistrate Nitschke said.
A career lost
In sentencing, Magistrate Nitschke recognised that Speirs had "effectively lost the parliamentary and political career which [he] sought to build up".
David Speirs represented the southern suburbs seat of Black before his resignation.
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ABC News: Carl Saville
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"I accept that in many walks of life, such devastating consequences may not always be the consequences of such offending," he said.
But Magistrate Nitschke also said that Speirs would have had an appreciation of the "criminality and public mischief" of his offending because of his job.
Photo shows
A man adjusts his tie as he looks at a journalist who sits opposite him
At this time last year, David Speirs was adamant his position as SA Liberal leader was "100 per cent secure" and that he would not be challenged — but a great deal has changed in 12 months.
He agreed media scrutiny on Speirs had been intense, but it was unsurprising given his prominent position and community expectations of his role.
But he said that it didn't amount to extra-curial punishment, or something that punishes an offender beyond what a court imposes.
For the two counts of supply a controlled drug, which he previously pleaded guilty to,
His lawyer had argued for a conviction not to be recorded against him, to spare the Scottish national from problems travelling.
But Magistrate Nitschke said the offending was too serious and there was a need for denunciation and deterrence, so Speirs now has two convictions recorded against him.
Awkward timing
Speirs's sentence is an unwanted headline for a Liberal Party that has endured a brutal three years in South Australia — from the
Having it come just over a week before voters head to the polls for a
David Speirs's lawyer William Mickan (left) outside court after sentencing submissions in April.
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ABC News: Che Chorley
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And a state election is just around the corner too, with Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia's team already facing a mammoth battle to topple a Labor government led by a popular premier in Peter Malinauskas.
While that isn't a challenge Speirs will have to tackle, he will have to pay a price of $9,000 and 37.5 hours of his time for his actions.
And both he and his former colleagues will likely spend plenty of time reflecting on the remarkable fall from grace of someone who went from "alternative premier" to "convicted criminal" in a matter of months.