Latest news with #DavidSpeirs
AU Financial Review
14-05-2025
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
Gina Rinehart's benefits leave Basil Zempilas gibbering
Various arms of the Liberal Party are in a race to see who can wash off the clown make-up first. The South Australian Liberals had their former leader, David Speirs, fined for supplying cocaine last month. The Victorians want to run the country's second-largest economy when it's unclear if they can run a bath. Peter Dutton just handed Anthony Albanese the biggest Labor electoral victory since John Curtin. The well-worn joke about the WA Liberals is that they can all fit in a Tarago (this has run through a second electoral cycle after the party was pasted by Roger Cook last month, leaving them with seven members in the lower house). They're now led by Basil Zempilas, the former AFL caller who is the Wario to Bruce McAvaney 's Mario.
Perth Now
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
The humble corflute causes flutters in the electorate
Political candidate corflutes have been facing the frontline of dirty campaigning ahead of the federal election. Corflute disputes have sparked controversies during the campaign, with signs taken down and stolen by opposing candidates and parties. The relatively innocuous plastic posters have also been defaced and vandalised across multiple electorates. But this hasn't been a problem everywhere - South Australia banned them in February 2024. The ban was in place for the state's last two by-elections, but Saturday's federal election is the first major poll where it has been in effect. Corflutes and other election advertising are banned on public roads, power poles (also known as stobies in SA) and trees, with a maximum penalty of $5000 for breaches. Former SA opposition leader David Speirs, who introduced the legislation in 2023, pushed for the ban to reduce visual pollution and cut waste from single-use plastic. Special Minister of State Kyam Maher says the ban appears to be working well. "South Australians are telling us they are glad to no longer have corflutes filling every stobie pole. Our environment will benefit from having significantly less plastic waste after Saturday's election day". Flinders University political commentator Rob Manwaring agreed that the absence of corflutes had made the election campaign invisible on the streets of Adelaide. "But there's been very little research on the impact of corflutes, particularly in terms of their importance to smaller or minor party candidates," he said. A massive spike in early voting pointed to people wanting to tune out of the election as quickly as possible, he said. "There is disengagement from politics." Australian voters may not be fired up, but corflutes have been repeatedly targeted as candidates fight for prime position and try to handicap their political opponents. There have been moments of levity during the campaign, such as when three women in the affluent Sydney suburb of Mosman defaced a corflute before one realised she'd used her expensive lipstick. "Oh shit, it was Chanel, why'd you let me do that?" one was caught on video saying while drawing a pig's nose on Zali Steggall's corflute. The husband of independent Monique Ryan was also caught walking down the street after stealing a large Liberals poster, which the Kooyong MP has apologised for. Fights have ended up in court and even invoked the constitution after a local council removed Liberal Party A-frame signs from outside an early voting centre under a rule that limits candidates to having one sign on public land. The Liberals are fighting the rule in court after the City of Boroondara argued the signs were a risk to pedestrians and road users while the party argues they were crucial for candidate recognition.
ABC News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
David Speirs has gone from alternative SA premier to convicted drug supplier
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. ( ABC News: Guido Salazar ) 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. ( ABC News: Carl Saville ) 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. ( ABC News: Carl Saville ) "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. ( ABC News: Che Chorley ) 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.
Roya News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Roya News
Australian politician fined after admitting to supplying cocaine
David Speirs, the former leader of South Australia's Liberal Party, has been convicted of supplying cocaine, months after denying involvement and claiming a viral video of him snorting a white substance was fabricated. The Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday imposed a fine of USD 5,720 and sentenced Speirs to 37.5 hours of community service. The sentence follows a guilty plea last month, where Speirs admitted to supplying cocaine to two individuals in August. Speirs was initially arrested in September after News Corp released footage showing him using what appeared to be cocaine. At the time, he insisted the video was a "deepfake" and maintained he had never used the drug. He later retracted those statements and confessed, triggering his resignation from parliament. During sentencing, his legal team described his drug use as 'a form of escapism' from the demands of his political role, though they emphasized the offences were committed outside his official capacity. Magistrate Brian Nitschke, however, rejected calls for leniency, including a request not to record a conviction to allow international travel. "The need for public denunciation for this type of offending and the need for general deterrence is too great to refrain from recording a conviction," he said, noting that personal stress 'is certainly no excuse.'
ABC News
24-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
VIDEO: Former SA opposition leader David Speirs convicted and fined over drug supply charges
Former South Australian opposition leader David Speirs has lost a bid to avoid being convicted over drug supply charges. The Adelaide Magistrates Court fined the former Liberal leader $9,000 and recorded two convictions.
