Speirs revealed on ABC Radio Adelaide this morning that when he was party leader, he pitched the idea of the Liberal federal executive taking over the SA branch because he thought his party’s administrative wing was making decisions that “weren’t necessarily in the best interest of the party”.

“So, a federal intervention and putting the party into administration, appointing a group of perhaps elder states people who’ve served in senior roles within the party to actually make decisions that are in the best interest of the party… I have sympathy with that approach,” Speirs said.

The now-backbench MP, who was Opposition leader from April 2022 to August 2024, argued that the SA branch’s problems are “as bad, if not worse” than the Liberal Party’s New South Wales division, which the federal executive is now forcibly taking over after an administrative bungle saw the party fail to nominate 140 candidates for upcoming council elections.

The takeover will see a temporary committee of three senior Liberals running the NSW party’s administrative wing.

Former Opposition leader David Speirs speaking with ABC Radio Adelaide presenter David Bevan this morning. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

But Tarzia, who was elected Opposition leader nearly four weeks ago, rejected that a federal takeover is warranted.

“No, absolutely not,” he told reporters this afternoon.

“We’ve got a very functional division here in South Australia. I’m in regular contact with the executive, the president and the director. I don’t think we’ve got any problems there.”

Tarzia then added: “I don’t know where that suggestion has come from. I find that a laughable suggestion.

“It’s obviously very unfortunate what’s happened interstate, but here in South Australia we’ve got a very functional division.”

Asked if he was specifically calling Speirs’s suggestion laughable, Tarzia said: “No, I think we’ve got a very functional division here in South Australia, and it’s just not the case.”

Opposition leader Vincent Tarzia at the Royal Adelaide Show today. Photo: Thomas Kelsall/InDaily

Tarzia’s fledgling leadership has been dogged by questions over Speirs, who was left off the Liberal Party’s new look frontbench unveiled last month.

The former Opposition leader returned from a holiday in Scotland on Tuesday and immediately told reporters that he was concerned the Liberal Party could “go backwards” at the 2026 state election.

He also penned an opinion piece for InDaily while overseas claiming Tarzia “owes his position” to the party’s Right faction but must resist taking the party in that direction.

Today, Speirs told ABC Radio that he backed his deputy leader, John Gardner, to succeed him and did not expect Tarzia to win the leadership.

He also cited State Council’s vote in March to elevate right-wing senator Alex Antic over Liberal frontbencher Anne Ruston on the federal senate ticket – amid the Dunstan by-election – as one party decision that “frustrated me in the most incredible way”.

“For me, this isn’t about Vincent Tarzia – it’s much bigger than that,” Speirs said.

“It’s about making sure there is a coherent opposition, an effective Liberal Party that can be part of the battle of ideas for pushing forward Liberal Party values and getting on with campaigning and representing South Australians.

“And I don’t think with the current settings that are in place that we’re able to do that.”

Speirs and Tarzia are understood to have spoken earlier this week.

“David’s a really good guy,” Tarzia said when asked today whether Speirs’s ongoing comments were helpful.

“He’s a smart guy, and… we had a really good chat through the week.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him in the next few days and having a chat directly.

“There’s certainty a role for David in the Liberal Party moving forward.”

This week, the SA Liberal Party opened candidate expressions of interest for all state seats not held by incumbents.

This includes the marginal seats of Adelaide, Elder, Davenport, Dunstan, Gibson, King, Newland, Stuart and Waite.

Asked whether the leadership change has discouraged people from running, Tarzia said: “I don’t accept that at all.

“I know firsthand that people have contacted me saying they can’t wait to nominate.

“I think that’s a good thing, I think there’s a competitive tension for all those roles which is also a good thing – that’s when you get the best results.”

Liberal Party state director Alex Hyde, who has been appointed to the role pending a permanent appointment, declined to comment on the prospect of a federal takeover.