South Australia's former liberal leader David Speirs is expected to formally quit parliament this week
South Australia's former liberal leader David Speirs is expected to formally quit parliament this week - after he was arrested and charged with drug offences.
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00:00Well, we know that the former Liberal leader David Spears will be able to formally resign
00:06from South Australia's Parliament as soon as today, after he previously flagged his
00:11intention to do so earlier this month.
00:13Now, the 39-year-old announced that he planned to quit Parliament and suspend his Liberal
00:18Party membership in a video he posted to his social media on the 5th of October.
00:23In that same video, he also revealed that police had raided his home and arrested him,
00:28when police later confirmed that he had been charged with two counts of supplying a controlled
00:33substance.
00:34And this all came to light after a video was published by News Corp last month, which was
00:39reportedly filmed inside Mr Spears' home.
00:42He has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and is set to go before a magistrate in a month's
00:47time.
00:48According to South Australia's Constitution Act, a member of Parliament must formally
00:52resign to the Speaker of the House in order for their seat to then become vacant.
00:58Parliament resumes sitting this morning, which means today is the first day that Mr
01:02Spears can resign formally since making his announcement.
01:06Now, we don't know if that will happen in person or through a letter, but he has previously
01:11said that he intends to do so in the next sitting week.
01:14And the Opposition Leader, Vincent Tarsier, also said on Saturday that he expects this
01:18to happen in the coming days.
01:20Now, Mr Spears' resignation will trigger a by-election in his southern suburb seat of
01:25Black.
01:26Once he has officially left Parliament, the Speaker must issue a writ for a by-election,
01:31which must be issued 28 days before the date fixed for polling.
01:35So that by-election is unlikely to happen until mid-November at the earliest.