David Speirs has announced he will step down from being South Australia’s opposition leader.
In a press conference today Speirs said he wanted to “explain the situation” before he “sets sail off into the sunset”, then declined to take questions.
“On Monday at a joint party room meeting…the leadership will be declared vacant and the party will have the opportunity to elect my successor,” he told reporters.
“I took on the leadership of this party when it was at the depths of despair in March 2022, following the election. I think I’ve made a fairly good attempt at consolidating the party, uniting the party and moving it to the future.”
Speirs said the demands of his role as a leader made spending quality time with family more difficult and he had neither the energy nor want to take the party to the next election.
“To be honest, I’ve had a gutful,” he said.
Speirs said he was confident the policy he had left in place would lead the party to success in 2026.
“It’s not easy being leader of the opposition – and doing it for two years and four months has certainly taken its toll on me and it’s taken its toll on my family and my friends,” he said.
“It’s extremely easy to throw rocks at the leader of the opposition…It’s extremely easy to have different ideas as to how you might do it better.”
Speirs served as environment and water minister in the former Marshall government.
He confirmed he would remain in parliament as the Member for Black.
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