In another scathing assessment about the state of his party after arriving back in Adelaide on Tuesday, Speirs went on ABC Radio Adelaide this morning to canvass the possibility of federal intervention in the South Australian Liberal branch, arguing it should be “seriously considered”.

It comes after the federal Liberal executive decided to forcibly take over the New South Wales branch this month after an administrative error saw the local party fail to nominate 140 council candidates for upcoming elections.

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

Speirs, who was SA Liberal Party leader from April 2022 until August 2024, said a federal takeover was something “I had canvassed prior to resigning as leader”.

“We’ve seen the federal party step into the New South Wales branch,” Speirs said.

“Now that had been triggered for a broad range of reasons, but it was really crystallised when the party failed administratively to put in nominations for council elections.

“But I think the problem in South Australia is as bad, if not worse.

“Because what I was seeing in the party’s executive and in the administrative wing of the party – not undertaken by staff like (former state director) Alex May or (current state director) Alex Hyde, both are people who I rate – but by the state executive, were decisions being made that weren’t necessarily in the best interest of the party.

“And so, a federal intervention and putting the party into administration, appointing a group of perhaps elder statespeople 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.”

Hyde, who was appointed state director this week pending a permanent appointment, declined to comment on the prospect of a federal takeover.

Speirs said he pitched the idea of a federal takeover “to some of my colleagues” while leader but declined to reveal who.

“I didn’t push it that hard, but I said: is this possible?” he said.

“Because I was seeing… the party sort of stuck in a decision making swamp, really, where it couldn’t make decisions that were in the best interest, not just of my leadership… but in the party’s interest.”

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

Speirs said the 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 – was a decision that “frustrated me in the most incredible way”.

“I find that an incredulous decision and one that to me made me think… are the people running the administrative part of the party… do they have the best interests of the party… at heart?” he said.

“Or are they trying to advance the interest of a particular line of thinking within the party or of individuals.

“And my worry was that would be played out in preselections and the scheduling of certain timings for the party well into the future, and I didn’t have the stomach for that.”

Speirs resigned as leader last month, saying at the time he “had a gutful” of leaks and undermining. He said today that he did not expect Tarzia to win the leadership, adding that he supported his deputy, John Gardner, in the leadership contest.

InDaily contacted Tarzia’s office for comment. The Opposition leader is expected to hold a press conference this afternoon about health policy and ambulance ramping.

Speirs warned today that if the Liberal Party “doesn’t get its house in order internally now, it will be a disaster in 2026”.

He also doubled down on his federal takeover comments in a press conference shortly after his ABC interview, telling reporters that it is still “something that ought to be seriously considered”.

“If you have a very tight (federal) election and a dysfunctional South Australian branch, it could actually cost the Liberal Party government because this will be a tight federal election,” he said.

“If the branch here in South Australia has a level of dysfunction associated with it, and we fall short by a seat, and that seat is in South Australia, that could have devastating consequences for our nation.”

Speirs’s comments cap off what has been a tumultuous week for the Liberal Party since the former leader arrived home from Scotland on Tuesday and told reporters he feared the party could “go backwards” at the next state election.

On Thursday, former Prime Minister John Howard came to Adelaide to give a speech to the Liberal faithful at the Arkaba Hotel supporting federal Sturt MP James Stevens and Liberal candidate for Boothby Nicolle Flint.

Howard later told a press conference that “there’s too much factionalism” in the Liberal Party.

“And it’s true of the South Australian division, it’s true of the New South Wales division,” the former prime minister said.

“Factionalism around policy difference is one thing, but factionalism which is no more than the competition between different preferment cooperatives is bad.”

Former Prime Minister John Howard with Liberal Party leader Vincent Tarzia at Thursday’s event. Photo: Facebook

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.

One Liberal source said the prospect of a Liberal Party takeover was “nil” and claimed there are “simply no grounds for a federal intervention”.

“In New South Wales we saw a critical administrative failing, a catastrophic administrative failing on a critical element of their business,” they said.

“That just hasn’t occurred here.”