David Speirs denies misusing email list to promote charity fundraiser
In one of the emails seen by the ABC, he wrote: "If you're getting this update it means you were subscribed to a mailing list I personally put together where I was a local councillor or Member of Parliament and would have received correspondence from me before".
The emails included details to a ticketed community fundraiser on Thursday night to raise money for men's mental health.
The former member for Black resigned from parliament in October after being charged by police with supplying a controlled substance. In April he was convicted and fined after pleading guilty to the offence.
Leader of Government Business, Tom Koutsantonis, said his electorate office received a complaint, which was also sent to the parliament's Privacy Committee, raising a concern that Mr Speirs may have breached the Privacy Act.
"People are receiving emails from Mr Speirs from information that was gathered while he was either Liberal leader or the member for Black and that information is privileged," he said.
"It's not his to take once he leaves office, it belongs to the people of South Australia.
"He shouldn't be doing that and he should stop."
Mr Speirs told ABC Radio Adelaide he did not believe he had misused private data when he emailed updates to a mailing list of people who had signed up to a database via his website over the years.
"I did communicate with them to tell people that I was back in terms of doing some public stuff around Kokoda and mental health fundraising," he said.
"There is lots of opportunity for people to unsubscribe from that, I've gone over the top with those opportunities because I was conscious of making sure that I used that information carefully.
"People signed up for a newsletter and that there is continuity of purpose around what that was used for and that was raising awareness about activities and what I was up to in the community."
He added he was "a private citizen now" and did not want to "buy into political sort of mudraking".
The former opposition leader said he was not running for election but did not rule out returning to some form of public service in the future.
"That is not on my radar. It's not something that I feel today I have the resilience and the strength to rise to that challenge," he said.
"I'm not here advocating for them to vote for me today because I'm not running for election.
"I am not seeking their vote on your show today. I'm a long, long way from that, if ever."
He has previously posted on social media that he planned a journey of the "iconic hike" to raise funds for men's mental health.
Mr Speirs said he struggled with his mental health but added that "many of my challenges were self-inflicted".
He said he had grappled with "circumstantial depression and a darkness wondering, what the future holds and how to move forward".
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