Kellie Sloane on her move into politics, time as a journo and plans for the future
A rising star of a shambolic opposition, meet former TV reporter Kellie Sloane who allies say has always been destined for the state’s top job.
Three months ago Kellie Sloane sat down with The Sunday Telegraph to talk about her move into politics and her future plans.
Here is what the next NSW Premier had to say.
Kellie Sloane says she doesn’t want the top job, but even her close friends can’t resist calling her “premier”.
And it didn’t take long for me to witness it for myself, in the opening seconds of a sit-down High Steaks lunch with the NSW Opposition health spokeswoman.
Just after we sat down at Luke’s Kitchen at the Kimpton Margot Hotel last Friday, restaurant owner and Sloane’s long-time friend Luke Mangan strode over to our table.
“It’s good to see you’re interviewing the next premier of our state,” Mangan declared. “How did you know she’s going to be the next premier?”
Sloane laughed nervously. The elephant in the room had been tackled head on.
“Hey that’s naughty, you’re going to get me in trouble,” the Vaucluse MP replied.
“I said it, you didn’t say it … I can say what I want,” Mangan quipped back, which was true, but not necessarily helpful for Sloane, who has been eager to downplay any leadership aspirations.
Sloane, a former journalist turned politician, has been named one of the main contenders to take the leadership from the NSW Liberals’ struggling captain Mark Speakman, should a rumoured spill eventuate by the end of the year.
In the public eye Sloane has shut down the idea, describing the endorsement from fellow party members as “flattering” yet “embarrassing”.
However, behind the closed doors of Macquarie St there are whispers Sloane has had a change of heart.
But no one, according to backroom talks, has the numbers to roll Speakman just yet.
After setting the tone for our lunch, Mangan left and the food was served, with Sloane ordering the Ora King Salmon Wellington with Yarra Valley salmon caviar, while I had the butternut pumpkin ravioli with yuzu, shiitake and pecorino.
Once our side of truffle parmesan fries was placed on the table, I asked Sloane who she thought was steering the ship at Liberal HQ.
“It’s a team sport. We have extraordinary minds around the shadow cabinet table, led by Mark Speakman, who is one of the most impressive, intelligent, humble leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with,” she said.
“I think he would make an extraordinary premier.”
Conversation turned to the mounting pressure Speakman is facing from inside and outside the party to prove he can take the Liberals to the next state election in 2027, but Sloane doubled down on her support for the MP, who has led the Opposition tepidly for the past two years.
“I’m really supportive of Mark Speakman as our leader,” Sloane said.
“I think that we are seeing so much social upheaval at the moment… We’re seeing a lot of very strong personalities and leaders around the globe, and I think there’s a resistance to that now.
“I think he’s probably a leader of our times – but we do have a job to make sure that the voters get to know him better and understand what we as a team stand for, and that’s incumbent on the whole team, not just Mark.”
When I asked how the party planned to endear voters to Speakman, who is not a new kid on the block, Sloane said the question was “probably something” I should ask the Cronulla MP.
Sloane was sincere in her defence of Speakman but failed to allay the doubts that have been raised about his leadership, which have not been helped by a tough spell for the Liberals between a resounding defeat in the federal election and the botched council nominations debacle last year.
Amid this turmoil in the party, the former broadcaster, not-for-profit boss and mum-of-three has emerged as a natural leader.
Sloane has impressed both her colleagues and rivals with her commitment to improving the state’s healthcare, including leading reform on illegal tobacco and the under-16s social media ban.
It didn’t take long for me to realise what all the fuss was about.
Seated across the table from me was a woman who grew up in a small fishing town, who marched into the ABC office in the first week of her cadetship and asked to be sent to cover the Gulf War that had just broken out. She had just turned 18 and was fresh out of school.
Sloane quickly forged a career at the helm of the top programs in Australia, including the Today Show and Nightline, until one day she “didn’t want to just report” on the issues any more.
She wanted to fix these issues, particularly in the health sector, and switched careers to be the chief executive officer of Life Education Australia.
Becoming a mum of three boys also inspired her move away from reporting.
Politics was the next step, but, according to Sloane, the bear pit has been “water off a duck’s back” compared to her time on TV.
“The early days of Channel 9 were pretty cutthroat, I have to say,” she said.
“(It was) the best time of my life, but really tough, and I guess that helped harden me up for the day-to-day battles in politics.
“So Macquarie St? Yeah, no, it’s fine, it’s nothing.”
Sloane doesn’t have “strategies” to cope with the non-stop job of being a politician, but she enjoys a break from the spotlight by walking her “loving” golden retriever Teddy and spending time with her family.
“It helps that my kids are a bit older, and that I’ve got a husband (Adam Connolly) who’s very hands on and carries most of the load at home,” she said.
“But I don’t think any working mum feels there’s balance in their life, and so for me it’s just taking time… to fit in bits and pieces (of quiet time) when I can, but I don’t have any real tricks and solutions.”
Sloane said “nothing was personal” in parliament, and her assessment of the competition was blunt.
“You know, Chris Minns is a premier who performs very well in the media, and he’s very well liked, and he’s doing a great job of covering up for a very mediocre team that falls in behind him,” she said.
“This government’s all shop, no front … we had cranes in the skyline under Coalition governments, people still remember that we built the metros in spite of resistance from Labor when they were in opposition.”
Even though Sloane is in her first term, this political zeal has quickly earned her a reputation as one of the most promising members of the Liberal pack.
The unspoken fear is that her potential as leader would be ruined on an election that has already been deemed unwinnable 18 months out from the polls.
“I want to be the health minister one day, and I’d like it to be sooner rather than later,” she said.
“(So) I’m not going to feed into that speculation (about Speakman’s leadership), because I think part of our problem has been that there is too much navel gazing in the Liberal Party, particularly federally.”
Sloane said she “didn’t enter politics for the power of it” and I believe her.
She even warned me that “anyone who goes into politics for power and position and status will be quickly undone. So that’s not my motivation”.
But as we all know, motivations are easily changed – especially if the numbers go in your favour.
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