A former state opposition leader has been fined $9,000 and handed 37.5 hours of community service after being convicted for supplying cocaine to two men.
David Speirs was the leader of the South Australian Liberal Party when he used cocaine as a ‘means of escapism’ and introduced it to his friends around August 2024.
The 40-year-old was sentenced in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday after pleading guilty in March to two counts of drug supply.
The offences involved Speirs giving cocaine to two friends in early August about the time he stepped down as opposition leader.
Speirs has been embroiled in controversy since he quit the leadership on August 8, declaring he had ‘just had a gutful’ of leadership speculation and did not have the energy to keep fighting.
He resigned from parliament in October after his arrest.
The saga erupted after footage shared online appeared to show Mr Speirs bending over a plate in the kitchen of his Kingston Park home in Adelaide’s south.
Despite the footage being from inside his home and the pictured person bearing a strong resemblance to Mr Speirs, the former Liberal leader insisted it was not him, and suggested at the time the footage could be a ‘deepfake’.
David Speirs (right) was the leader of the South Australian Liberal Party when he used cocaine as a ‘means of escapism’ and introduced it to his friends around August 2024
When confronted by a reporter at his home about the images, Mr Speirs insisted they were ‘certainly not me’ and that he was horrified by the ‘troubling’ photos.
‘That is very strange. No, no way,’ Mr Speirs said.
‘No, no way… no, definitely not. I would never have done that. Never, never, never.
‘I’m quite horrified by that. I’m really troubled by that. I’m very, very sorry about that.’
In a follow-up text sent to The Advertiser, Mr Speirs said he ‘strongly disputed’ the authenticity of any video as described.
‘I believe this is a deep fake or an elaborate hoax,’ he said.
He late stated he had been overseas for two weeks in June.
‘During that time other persons had access to my home, giving rise to the opportunity for someone to obtain footage of my premises,’ he said.
Footage appeared to show the former opposition leader bending over a plate in the kitchen of his Kingston Park home in Adelaide’s south (pictured)
‘I am extremely disappointed by this and assure South Australians that I would never take illicit substances, I never have and I never will.’
At the time the images were purportedly taken, Mr Speirs was the state’s Liberal opposition leader and hoped to defeat Premier Peter Malinauskas at the next election.
He became state opposition leader after the Liberals lost the state election in 2022 and former premier Steve Marshall stepped aside.
