A video has emerged showing former South Australian Liberal Party leader David Speirs snorting a white powder from a plate.
The images, obtained by the Adelaide AdvertiserIt appears to show the former South Australian opposition leader hunched over a plate in the kitchen of his Kingston Park home south of Adelaide.
Using what appears to be a rolled-up $5 bill, Mr. Speirs, 39, appeared to loudly sniff the substance on the plate.
The video’s metadata reveals it was taken at 4.12am on June 30.
A second still image, time-stamped two hours later, appeared to show Mr Speirs at the same kitchen counter, with the same grey plate, with seven neat lines of white powder and a plastic bank card visible.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Mr Speirs has done anything illegal.
When questioned by a journalist at his home about the footage, Speirs insisted that it was “certainly not mine” and suggested the video might have been faked.
He added that he was horrified by the “disturbing” photos.
A video has emerged appearing to show former Liberal leader David Speirs using a $5 note to sniff a white substance from a plate.
“That’s very strange. No, not at all,” 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 very concerned about that. I’m so sorry.”
In a follow-up text sent to the Advertiser, Mr Speirs said he “strongly disputed” the authenticity of any video such as the one described.
“I was abroad for much of June… I believe this is a deep fake or an elaborate hoax,” he said.
Mr Speirs has strongly denied that the images are his and has raised the possibility that they are “deepfakes”.
On Sunday he sent a text message saying he would be abroad for two weeks in June.
“During that time other people had access to my home, which resulted in someone obtaining images of my premises,” he wrote.
“I am very disappointed by this and I assure South Australians that I would never use illicit substances, I never have and I never will.”
At the time the images were allegedly taken, Speirs was the leader of the state’s liberal opposition and was hoping to defeat Premier Peter Malinauskas in the upcoming election.
Later that day, he attended a press conference at 11 a.m. at Arkaba Medical Center in Parkside.
Mr Speirs was elected as an MP and previously served as state environment minister.
He became leader of the state opposition after the Liberals lost the state election in 2022.
David Speirs said he was horrified by the “disturbing” photos
Mr Speirs announced his surprise resignation last month, saying he had “had a nervous breakdown”.
“I don’t have the energy to fight for a leadership that, frankly, in the current circumstances, I no longer want to maintain,” he said.
‘I was probably a different kind of leader for the Liberal Party, coming from a different background… the party had never been led by someone from the southern suburbs before.
‘I think I brought something different… was it too early for me to lead the party or was the party just not ready for me to lead it?’
Mr Speirs, who remains a rank-and-file MP representing black voters, has since called for federal intervention in the South Australian Liberals.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Speirs for comment.
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