Speirs is another who falls into the galactic ego category. But he is even more of a political arsonist than either Rudd or Abbott.

Over the last couple of decades there have been few egos in politics that could match either Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott. Rudd was your basic megalomaniac who believed he was not only the smartest person in any room, but also the smartest chap in the entire country. Maybe the world.

Abbott, on the other hand, was weighed down by delusions of adequacy. Abbott’s reintroduction of knighthoods, and then awarding one to old Prince Philip, was possibly the funniest moment in Australian political history. And that includes the time Malcolm Fraser lost his trousers.

But still both these massive egos knew enough when finally topped by their parties to at least pay lip service to the concept of party loyalty on their way out the door.

At his last press conference Abbott promised “no wrecking, no sniping, no undermining’’ after being replaced by Malcolm Turnbull.  After being deposed by Julia Gillard, Rudd managed: “I will be dedicating my every effort to assure the re-election of this Labor Government. They are a good team led by a good Prime Minister.”

Now, did either bloke mean what they said? Did either live up to those noble sentiments? As we know, the answer to both is no. But the point is at least they had the self-awareness, and maybe even the humility, to have a stab at it.

Which brings me to David Speirs.

Speirs is another who falls into the galactic ego category. But he is even more of a political arsonist than either Rudd or Abbott. A few weeks ago I wrote in The Advertiser that journalists would miss the departed Liberal leader as he was always good for a decent quote. I made that assumption on the fact that, for a little while at least, Speirs would shut up and keep his head down.

Happily, I was wrong. Speirs wants to burn the place down around him. And that always makes good copy.

On his new leader Vincent Tarzia he said on his return from another jaunt to Scotland: “I’ve been watching from afar, it seems that things have gotten off to a shaky start.” He went on. “There are leaks, there is a lack of team, there is a lack of vision, plan, momentum.

“It seems to be coming apart at the seams.”

Which is a bit rich coming from a bloke who quit because he essentially said he couldn’t be bothered doing the job anymore.

But it all adds to the impression that the Liberal Party are just not a serious outfit. Its arguable they haven’t been for several decades, with a brief outbreak of sense at times under Steven Marshall, but again they are seemingly obsessed with internal warfare.

The Libs are obsessed with fighting over the internal baubles of validation at the expense of looking after the best interests of South Australians. They are increasingly hostage to the extreme views within their party, which will be another step on the road to electoral oblivion.

 But why does any of this matter? Can’t we just leave the Libs to drown in the waters of their own incompetence?

It does because a decent opposition is always handy to keep a government on its toes. The last Labor government that lasted 16 years as the Libs watched from the sidelines eventually combusted under its own arrogance and carelessness.

The current mob contains plenty of figures from the dying days of the last Labor government and there is always a feeling hubris is just around the corner. Hubris that leads to ridiculous promises such as “Labor will fix the ramping crisis.’’

There are also other policy worries. With the Libs absent from the field since the 2022 election, the Malinauskas government has had a free rein to do what it wants with little pushback.

The Libs have had a go at ramping, but there are other issues that seem to be just sliding by. What’s happening with the alleged $600 million hydrogen plant? How is that uni merger going? Education is going backwards. Is anyone still interested in the Tarrkarri indigenous gallery? Tarrkarri was put on hold on October 2022 and a review commissioned. Malinauskas forecast a decision before the end of 2023. Still, nothing.

There is plenty for Tarzia to work with. If only he had a party that had the sense to occasionally lift its eyes and look to the horizon instead of its constant navel-gazing.