David Speirs: SA politician is seen appearing to snort a white powder off a plate in the early hours of the morning - before offering an extraordinary explanation
Shocking video has emerged of former South Australian Liberal Party leader David Speirs appearing to snort white powder from a plate.
Shocking video has emerged of former South Australian Liberal Party leader David Speirs appearing to snort white powder from a plate.
The footage, obtained by the Adelaide Advertiser, appears to show the former South Australian opposition leader bending over a plate in the kitchen of his Kingston Park home in Adelaides south.
Using what looks like a rolled up $5 note, Mr Speirs, 39, appeared to loudly sniff the substance off the plate.
The videos metadata reveals it was taken at 4.12am on June 30.
A second still image timestamped two hours later appeared to show Mr Speirs at the same kitchen bench with the same grey plate, with seven neat lines of white powder and a plastic bank card on show.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Mr Speirs has done anything illegal.
When confronted by a reporter at his home about the images, Mr Speirs insisted they were certainly not me and suggested the video could have been faked.
He added that he was horrified by the troubling photos.
Video has emerged appearing to show former Liberal leader David Speirs using a $5 note to sniff a white substance off a plate
That is very strange. No, no way, Mr Speirs said.
No, no way … no, definitely not. I would never have done that. Never, never, never.
Im quite horrified by that.
Im really troubled by that. Im very, very sorry about that.
In a follow-up text sent to the Advertiser Mr Speirs said he strongly disputed the authenticity of any video as described.
I was overseas for a chunk of June … I believe this is a deep fake or an elaborate hoax, he said.
Mr Speirs has strongly denied that it is him the images and raised the possibility they may be deep fakes
On Sunday, he texted that he was overseas for two weeks in June.
During that time other persons had access to my home, giving rise to the opportunity for someone to obtain footage of my premises, he wrote.
I am extremely disappointed by this and assure South Australians that I would never take illicit substances, I never have and I never will.
At the time the images were purportedly taken, Mr Speirs was the states Liberal opposition leader and hoped to defeat Premier Peter Malinauskas at the next election.
Later that day, he attended an 11am press conference at Arkaba Medical Centre in Parkside.
The Advertiser reported on Monday that it had passed the footage to an internationally recognised forensic analyst of digital evidence.
Dr Matthew Sorell, who is principal consultant of Digital Forensic Sciences and often works on high-profile criminal cases, said he could find no evidence the images had been synthetically generated or modified.
Mr Speirs was elected as an MP and previously served as the states environment minister.
He became state opposition leader after the Liberals lost the state election in 2022.
David Speirs insisted the video images were certainly not me and suggested the video could have been faked
Mr Speirs announced his shock resignation last month, declaring hed had a gutful.
I dont have the energy to fight for a leadership that, quite frankly, in the current circumstances, I just dont want to pursue anymore, he said.
I was probably a different type of leader for the Liberal Party, a different background … the partys never been led by someone from the southern suburbs before.
I think I brought something different … was it too soon for me to lead the party, or was the party simply not ready for me to lead it?
Mr Speirs, who remains a backbench MP representing the electorate of Black, has since called for federal intervention in the South Australian Liberals.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Mr Speirs for comment.