Former Liberal Leader David Speirs, who resigned from parliament before being convicted of serious drugs charges, is facing scrutiny over potential privacy breaches after admitting to using personal contact information compiled in his public duties to solicit for a private fundraiser.
Mr Speirs, who has admitted supplying cocaine to young men, appears to have retained a database containing potentially thousands of email addresses collected during his time as an elected representative.
He is now using this data to send unsolicited bulk emails, promoting his personal activities.
The former Liberal leader and Marshall government minister is now keeping his options open about running for parliament again, with his electorate database potentially doubling as a campaign mailing list.
In one email to voters in his former electorate of Black, dated July 25, 2025, Mr Speirs admits: "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."
"If you don't wish to receive occasional updates from me, that's no problem, just unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this email," he continues.
Mr Speirs told media last night he was keeping his options open about a potential return to State Parliament, saying he would never rule the option out.
The emails were raised directly with the State Government by a concerned recipient, who suggested the use of the constituent database contravened privacy principles, and requested an urgent investigation into whether any privacy laws have been breached.
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
Only months ago, the State Liberals were telling South Australians to elect David Speirs as the next Premier – they must now make it clear what they think of his potential return to public life.
Vincent Tarzia must condemn this private use of constituent data gathered when David Speirs was his Liberal leader.
Even worse, with Mr Speirs refusing to rule out a political comeback, will this private contact information be used for personal political purposes in the future?
When constituents lodge their contact details with their local MP, they don't expect to be contacted for fundraising purposes after that MP leaves office – especially when the MP in question resigned in disgrace only a few months ago.
The use of a disclaimer in one of the emails suggests this is calculated misuse of data by a former Leader of the SA Liberal Party, who should know better.
Mr Speirs has the right to rebuild his life – but that doesn't entitle him to potentially misuse the private data of his former constituents.
We will refer this matter to the parliament, as requested – and we call on Mr Speirs' former Liberal colleagues to treat it with due gravity, instead of forming a protection racket for their former leader.
