Dear oh dear … he’s dead meat.
https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/david-speirs-says-hes-staying-as-sa-liberal-leader-but-wants-to-make-big-change-to-party/news-story/cf56f2f3694c4e18681e113702ca369cDavid Speirs says he’s staying as SA Liberal leader but wants to make big change to partyAs pressure mounts on David Speirs’ leadership after a lacklustre campaign in the Dunstan by-election, the Liberal leader insists he’s not quitting – but he will take a leaf out of Labor’s book.
As the battle for South Australia’s most marginal of Dunstan lies within Labor’s grasp and with the Liberals in turmoil, David Speirs insists he’s not going anywhere.
Liberal recriminations flew Sunday night as internal anger erupted over a lacklustre campaign, with David Speirs going to ground.
On Monday morning the Liberal leader revealed he had “canvassed” the possibility of his resignation before deciding to stay in order to pursue reforms within the party.
“I’ll be staying in this job,” Mr Speirs told ABC Radio Adelaide
“I’ve canvassed many of my colleagues over the last 48 hours – since what is clearly not a good result in the Dunstan by-election for our party – and my colleagues were firmly in support of me continuing in this role.”
Mr Speirs said he raised this matter with numerous people over the weekend, including members of parliament and those external to the institution and “everyone encouraged” him to stay.
But ultimately, Mr Speirs said he believed he was the best person for the position.
“If I didn’t think I was the best person in the team at the moment to do this job and to lead the party with a level of unity … if I didn’t think I was the right person I would walk away,” he said.
However, since making the decision to stay, Mr Speirs said he thinks this is the perfect opportunity to take a leaf out of Labor’s book and consider a factionalised party.
“I know the Labor Party have a much more structured approach and I think we should look at that … I think formalised factions should be looked at,” he said.
“I’ll probably have the same overall approach in terms of the way I lead the party and bring my colleagues together but I can use this as a reason to take control within the party, drive a different approach to perhaps the party is run.”
No official changes have been made yet.
At the end of counting on Saturday, Greens candidate Katie McCusker had polled 22.4 per cent of first preference votes – a rise of about nine per cent from the party’s Dunstan result at the 2022 state election.
In contrast, the Liberal primary in the seat, which had been held by former premier Steven Marshall, had dropped from 46.7 per cent to 40 per cent.
The Labor vote had dropped about three per cent to 32.3 per cent, but candidate Cressida O’Hanlon had polled 53.8 per cent over the Liberals’ Anna Finizio in the two-party preferred count – a swing of 4.4 per cent.