Liberal leader David Speirs is openly contradicting himself as he enters damage control over the Liberal Party’s poor result in the Dunstan by-election.

During the by-election campaign, Speirs moved into the electorate of Dunstan so he could campaign on the ground more often and was frequently posting to social media about his campaigning efforts.

Yet today, he suggested on ABC Radio Adelaide he was merely a bit player in the party’s campaign:

• “I would’ve liked to have been more central to the way that campaign went, I like to think I’m a pretty good campaigner and win lots of support down in the southern suburbs and I would’ve liked to have been a little bit more central.”
  • ABC Radio Adelaide, 25 March 2024

In January this year, he was boasting of his successful efforts over the past two years to modernise the Liberal Party and how it is run:

• “I’ve reenergised the party, modernised it, unified it. I reckon we’re doing a lot better than many pundits would have thought in the aftermath of the 2022 state election so I think we’re doing alright and I think my leadership has provided that level of continuity and support for my colleagues and presented a fresh approach to the Liberal Party.”
  • ABC Radio Adelaide, 22 January 2024

Yet today he suggested the party was in need of significant internal change:

• “I can use this as a reason to take control of some things within the party, drive a different approach to perhaps the way the party is run, and this should be a go to action for me and my team. There’s got to be a few things that have to change internally.”
  • ABC Radio Adelaide, 25 March 2024

Speirs added his “envy” of the government’s discipline:

• “I look at the discipline of Peter Malinauskas’ party and the way it binds different groups together and I envy that.”
  • ABC Radio Adelaide, 25 March 2024

In January this year, Speirs said the party had plenty of options for leader:

• “I’ve got a great team, and there’s lots of people in the team who could step up to leader if I was hit by a bus.”
  • ABC Radio Adelaide, 22 January 2024

Yet today he said the only reason he was staying as leader is because there is nobody else:

• “If I thought there was someone better to lead the Liberal Party at this point in time, in this season in the party’s history, I would step aside.
  • Media conference, 25 March 2024

Quotes

Attributable to Tom Koutsantonis

David Speirs is now openly contradicting himself, with his leadership of the Liberal Party in crisis following the weekend’s by-election.

Before Saturday, he was portraying an image of a leader who had single-handedly overhauled and modernised the Liberal Party and was a central figure in their by-election campaign.

Now he’s saying the party needs significant internal reform and he was merely a bit player on the sidelines during the by-election campaign.

If David Speirs, as leader of the party, wasn’t leading the party’s by-election campaign. Who was?

If the Liberal Party needs internal reform, what has David Speirs been doing for the past two years?