A Liberal Party state executive meeting this evening will kickstart the process of replacing Wade in the Legislative Council.

Wade, who served as health minister between 2018 and 2022 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced late Friday that he would quit politics before parliament resumes on February 7, saying it was the “right time for a change for the Liberal Party”.

His departure comes three years before his eight-year term expires in 2026, meaning whoever replaces him will be tasked with defending the upper house seat at the next state election.

Within the right faction, which holds a slight sway over the Liberal Party’s state executive, former candidate for the state seat of Mount Gambier, Ben Hood, is a potential contender.

InDaily understands Hood, whose sister Lucy is the Labor MP for Adelaide, is considering nominating.

His potential nomination could cause headaches for Speirs, who has set a goal of bolstering the number of women Liberal MPs in state parliament and whose preference for a woman candidate during last year’s Bragg by-election was thwarted by the party’s preselection of now MP Jack Batty.

“Of course, I am on the public record very strongly desiring to modernise the Liberal Party, to reinvigorate it and to see female representation increase,” Speirs told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning.

“I could try and defend this situation and say: ‘We’ve got 60 per cent of our members in the upper house (are women).

“That story doesn’t get told too often, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse.

“I still want to see women across both houses of parliament, particularly in the lower house, but I’ll always be encouraging women to put their hand up for opportunities in this party.”

Speirs said he would get himself into “all sorts of strife” if he publicly backed a particular candidate, but he praised former Elder MP Carolyn Power, who he described as a potential contender.

“I’d love Carolyn back in parliament – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“We’ve been friends from before we were in politics and she was a great MP for Elder.”

Power did not respond to InDaily’s request for comment this morning.

One confirmed candidate is moderate spear-carrier Hannah March – a former Crown prosecutor and staffer to ex-federal minister Christopher Pyne.

March, who is currently a campaign coordinator for the Justice Reform Initiative, has been an outspoken critic of the party, tweeting earlier this month that the Liberals have a “toxic men protected by weak men & women problem”.

https://twitter.com/hannahcmarch/status/1612370768624750592

She told InDaily this morning that the party needed to become “electable again”.

“I would like state council to seriously consider what would make us electable to the South Australian community after our losses in the state and federal elections,” she said.

“That’s entirely a matter for them.”

InDaily understands right-aligned Leah Blyth and moderate-backed Kathleen Bourne are also considering running.

Jockeying for the upper house spot comes after Wade last year warned about the growing influence of religious groups in politics, saying pluralism was “under challenge in Australia from a number of fronts”.

During a speech to parliament, he said Christians should “season the body politic; we should not control it”, citing abortion as a “key focus of Christian political activism and a clear challenge to pluralism”.

His speech followed a concerted effort within conservative ranks of the Liberal Party to recruit Pentecostal Christians.

“Candidate review processes need to ensure that parliamentary candidates respect the pluralist values of the main parties,” Wade said.

“Religious groups who want to see less pluralism and a more theocratic approach would be better suited to pursue their goals through dedicated political parties such as Family First.

“I affirm that I look forward to the Kingdom of God, but I am not going to rely on politicians to achieve it.”