Kellie Sloane appointed NSW Liberal leader
Kellie Sloane is the new opposition leader following the dramatic resignation of Mark Speakman after her only rival for the top job, Alister Henskens, pulled out of the race.
Kellie Sloane is the NSW Liberal Party’s new leader, following the dramatic resignation of Mark Speakman.
Ms Sloane, the MP for Vaucluse, was formally appointed at a party room meeting on Friday morning.
The Daily Telegraph had revealed Ms Sloane’s only rival for the top job, Alister Henskens, would not contest the position, after falling short of the numbers required.
A furious Mr Henskens has also denied contributing to Mr Speakman’s demise, instead accusing Mr Speakman’s closest factional allies of “undermining his leadership”.
Mr Speakman fell on his sword on Thursday afternoon, conceding the party needed “clear air” after months of speculation about his position, which he had held since the 2023 state election.
After not holding a press conference for more than a week, the opposition leader suddenly locked in 10 different media interviews across the day and appeared on morning breakfast radio and Sky News.
“Reports of my death are grossly exaggerated, and I’m here to fight” Mr Speakman told 2GB.
However, his remaining media opportunities, including with this masthead, were suddenly cancelled at 2pm.
“Mark was told for the first time today that he had to go. Wednesday night was a heads up that it might be coming. Today was the tap on the shoulder” one MP said.
Multiple Liberal sources claimed after months of being reluctant to challenge her factional ally, Ms Sloane was finally convinced earlier this week that a leadership change was necessary, and told Mr Speakman of her intentions to challenge.
Mr Speakman called a snap press conference at 5pm where he confirmed he would be standing aside.
“No matter what policy announcements I make, no matter how ambitious I am to make sure that the Liberal Party engages with Gen Z, engages with the multicultural community, engages with women, there is just too much white noise that interferes with that message,” he said.
He described the opportunity to serve as opposition leader as an “extraordinary privilege”, and hinted the Liberal Party “brand damage from the federal election” had contributed to his demise.
He then gave his “full endorsement” to Ms Sloane as his replacement, describing her as “someone of enormous talent”.
Ms Sloane, a former journalist and charity CEO, won the seat of Vaucluse at the 2023 election.
Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Mr Henskens revealed he would not be running, stating he had “come up short” in terms of support, and it was “in the best interest of the Liberal Party if we do not have a contest”.
“There were people across the party willing to support me. I had to get only a small number of colleagues to change their support for me, and I was just unable to do that,” he said.
“If Kellie is going to be the leader she should have clear air and have the best opportunity possible to succeed. Because if Kellie succeeds, NSW should succeed” Mr Henskens said.
He also slapped down claims that he had been actively undermining Mr Speakman’s leadership, insisting he had played “absolutely no role” in a range of critical stories about the opposition leader.
A media report on Thursday alleged Mr Speakman’s allies had turned on him after he failed to act on reports Mr Henskens had been actively gathering support to challenge his leadership.
“The forces that were closest to Mark have been undermining him for many months,” Mr Henskens said. “They have been orchestrating this.
“The reason that I am being accused of this is because of the poor way this whole thing has been executed by those forces.
“I think they are realising that their credibility has been tarnished and they want to deflect attention onto someone else.”
Mr Henskens said: “At the end of the day, I have not brought on this leadership change.
“The moderate faction wanted me to bring it on, they were backgrounding the media that I was going to bring it on. A senior moderate suggested to me last night that I should be the one to bring it on,” Mr Henskens claimed.
The Telegraph confirmed on Tuesday that Ms Sloane would comfortably have the numbers in any leadership contest.
Who her deputy will be is unclear, and Mr Henskens said he had not been approached for the role.
Multiple Liberal MPs expressed significant frustration about the saga, which has derailed their attacks on the Minns government during what is meant to be the final parliamentary sitting week of the year.
“We struggled to lay a glove on Labor” one MP said. “We’ve been infighting instead of going after the real enemy”.
Another MP said the execution of the plan against Mr Speakman had been “amateur hour” and resembled “something that would normally belong in the Young Liberals”.
“It was sloppy university politics” the Liberal said.
“If we can’t deliver on a leadership change, what chance are we of ever forming government?”
Former Coalition Minister David Elliott put it another way when he was approached by this masthead out the front of NSW Parliament on Thursday: “There is no clinical way to commit an assassination, and politics is no different” Mr Elliott said.
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Originally published as Kellie Sloane appointed NSW Liberal leader
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