Kellie Sloane elected NSW Liberal leader unopposed, replacing Mark Speakman | New South Wales politics
Kellie Sloane has become the third woman to lead the NSW Liberal Party after deciding to make herself leader of the opposition at a party room meeting on Friday morning.
Alister Henskens, the shadow attorney general on the right, did not resist.
Sloane, 52, a former journalist and first-term MP, won the safe seat of Vaucluse in 2023 after previously failing to stand in preselection for the seat of Willoughby following the resignation of premier Gladys Berejiklian.
Sloane replaces lawyer Mark Speakman, who was dismissed by his colleagues due to his inability to cut ties with the media and lack of profile.
Meanwhile, Sloane, the party’s health spokesperson, is seen as an accomplished communicator and is leading the fight against Labor over the state of NSW hospital emergency departments.
However, like Speakman, Sloane will struggle to overcome the brand damage caused by ideological infighting within the Liberal party in Canberra. Support for the Liberals in Canberra has fallen to well below 30% of the primary vote at the federal level and in many states; This level makes winning the government nearly impossible.
Sloane is part of NSW’s powerful moderate caucus and has the support of many of the party’s elder statesmen, including Nick Greiner and John Howard, as well as powerful caucus figures such as Matt Kean, who is now chairman of the Climate Change Authority.
He faces particular challenges in directing the party’s housing policy. Speakman had largely embraced the Minns government’s transportation-oriented development policy, which aims to encourage medium to high density around train stations.
He described himself as an ADIMBY – “appropriate development in my backyard” – and under his leadership the Coalition supported recent changes to planning laws.
But Sloane has been more cautious, particularly when it comes to the development of his own headquarters at Vaucluse in Sydney’s east.
On the contrary Opponents of Rose Bay housing make headlines With the suburb lacking a “decent supermarket”, Sloane told the Australian Financial Review he was being proactive about where density made sense, including more homes in Edgecliff and Bondi Junction.
Of plans for a new Woollahra station and up to 10,000 homes in nearby high-rise buildings, he said: “Yes it’s in my back garden, but that comes with the challenge of getting it right.”
