The New South Wales Liberals will choose a new leader tomorrow after the late afternoon resignation of Mark Speakman, who has thrown his support behind Kellie Sloane, factional moderate (UPDATE: Alexandra Smith of the Sydney Morning Herald rates that Sloane is both moderate and unaligned) and Shadow Health Minister, who entered parliament at the March 2023 election as the member for Vaucluse. Recent reports have indicated that Sloane would have had the numbers to depose Speakman, but that she was choosing for the time being not to proceed. Nonetheless, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Speakman lost decisive moderate support over the past week after failing to act against Alister Henskens after he sought support from a right faction meeting last week for a leadership challenge of his own. It is not yet clear if Henskens, or indeed anyone else other than Sloane, will nominate. Speakman’s late afternoon announcement came just hours after he told 2GB he was “here to fight”, suggestions his resignation might be imminent having been prompted by visits to his office yesterday from MPs Chris Rath, James Wallace and Scott Farlow.
Can we please keep this thread for discussion of NSW state politics. The open thread for general discussion is here.
It was probably inevitable. The polls had the Coalition going backwards from their 2023 result for half a year and Speakman appeared to be doing nothing about it.
Much like John Robertson was performing as Opposition leader after the 2011 election when he was rolled by Luke Foley.
Having only entered parliament in ’23, I wonder if she’s experienced enough to cope with the cut & thrust of the “Bear Pit”. And being the Member for Vaucluse may also be an obstacle, though
Berejiklian represented the up-market seat of Willoughby, and she succeeded until she didn’t.
Mavis I don’t think being from Vaucluse will make any difference. Malcolm Turnbull was from Point piper, former NSW leader Debnam was from Vaucluse and I don’t think voters care or even know the suburb their leaders are from. You’re right she’s not that experienced and the bear pit is a challenge but as a former journalist she’ll be great at fronting the media and may get more news coverage as a charismatic woman than the drab Middle Aged liberal men normally get.
The tricky thing for her is not getting brand damage from the idiots in the federal liberal party.
Housing. Housing. Housing.
Does she want it in her electorate, according to the TOD, or not? Everyone must share the load equally.
“ up-market seat of Willoughby”
GB lived in entry level Northbridge abutting the Woolies car park
For our Melbourne readers, the magnificently named Hagob Levonian, killed as he tried to bomb the Turkish Consulate in Melbourne, hailed from Willoughby.
Seems like we’re all living in one of those once in a lifetime leadership realignments. Hopefully peak chaos is behind us.
shellbell:
Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 8:21 pm
“ up-market seat of Willoughby”
[‘GB lived in entry level Northbridge abutting the Woolies car park’]
Well, upmarket compared to, say, Mount Druitt. And least Gladys is/was close to the shops.
I’m sure Labor will not resurrect this comment:
[‘Sloane told reporters at a press conference in Double Bay in late 2022 that she didn’t want her seat “punished” with more housing.’] – SMH
Ouch! But all make mistakes.
Shellbell:
“Entry level Northbridge”
The median house price of Northbridge is $4.9 million. It stopped being “entry level” back in the early 90s.
Key update:
Definitely True 10
Probably True 0
Probably False 3
Definitely False 1
7 false keys for opposition 2PP win.
If it was today:
Definitely True 10
Probably True 0
Probably False 1
Definitely False 3
I remember the last time they ran with a Member for Vaucluse… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJOr5gnK-kY
As this is only part 2, does that make the Canberra Liberals efforts only an opening short before the main features?
It will be interesting to see if Sloane faces any rivals today.
This is pretty farcical. The situation in NSW for the Libs is not comparable to that in Vic.
The Libs have little prospect of winning back government in NSW for another term or two. Speakman was a safe pair of hands to keep the ship afloat for a while longer.
If Sloane is a genuine talent (and I’m sceptical), the party would have done better to keep her on ice until thr middle of next term.
Playing regular games musical chairs with the leadership has rarely worked out for oppositions. I find the idea of sacking a leader before they’ve even had a chance to lead their party to be strange tactics indeed.
This was inevitable and has been brewing for some time.
Sloane is personable and being a former journo, she presents well.
Not sure how she will cut through with Western Sydney (her seat of Vaucluse is associated with such rank snobbery, the libs want to change the seat name) but at least she will be heard. Speakman is a nice guy but just couldn’t cut through.
MB – I’m not so sure about that. The NSW Labor government is far from entrenched, and currently governs in minority, with 46 MPs in a parliament of 93. Meanwhile, the Coalition currently holds 35 seats, meaning that they need to win 12 seats to gain a majority, although an exchange of about half a dozen seats would be enough to deal them into the conversation for minority government.
Minns has broadly done a solid job, and I suspect that Labor will indeed get re-elected. But the government has taken on a couple of needless fights (eg workers’ comp reform) which might eat away at their support, and overall, I think most voters still regard the previous Coalition government as decent enough. It’s not like when Labor lost in 2011, and the stench of that dying ALP government clung to Labor for the next couple of terms.
The bigger question is whether Sloane is up to the task of being NSW OL. She’s only been in parliament for less than three years, and that runs the risk that she may trip up through inexperience. That said, she’s a pretty good media performer, and if there is enough of a groundswell to give Labor a kick in 2027, she might yet drag her party into government.
For all that, Labor remains the favourite. NSW hasn’t had a one-term government since the 1930s, and Minns has run a competent, if uninspiring, administration. The infighting in the federal Coalition will probably also help Labor, and my guess is that the government will get returned with a narrow majority (ie they’ll net a few extra seats).
Hugoaugogo: I can’t agree with much of what you have to say. Sloane is an unknown quantity. Sure, bring an ex TV host, she is presumably a good communicator, but communication is far from being the main issue for the NSW Libs ATM, the main issue being the remaining stench from their last time in government.
I simply don’t agree with you that the voters retain fond memories of the previous Lib government. I suspect that a widespread attitude would be that they really liked the cut of Gladys’s jib until her dim, dark secrets were revealed, and after that they felt confused and somewhat betrayed.
Perottet was a good communicator and generally quite impressive, but he copped the electoral backlash arising from Gladys’s misdeeds. I think it is extremely unlikely that the voters have forgiven the NSW Libs yet and that fact, combined with the usual tendency to give governments at least two terms in office, should see Minns romp home at the next election by a considerable margin.
Which won’t make Sloan look much good and will jeopardise her leadership. And perhaps that’s the point: the forces of darkness within the Liberal party (which is a superficially odd, but IMO totally apt term to use in relation to a bunch of devout Christians) are plotting to replace her with one of their own prior to the next election that the Coalition will have any chance of winning.
@Henry. I seem to recall back in the 90s residents living around Bondi campaigned to get the seat’s name changed from Vaucluse as they objected to the connotations it evoked.
So who plays Tonto to the Sloane Ranger?
Delta: so what possible objection could these Bondi-dwellers have with being associated with the fair lands of Provence?
Meher Baba I think it was back when there were still some working class people living there.
GB – or St. Gladys of Northbridge as I prefer to call her – once, after asking where he lived, told a Labor candidate for Willoughby that he lived in the well off part of Northbridge, unlike her…..
Her tin ear for the view of the common person was yet to reveal itself publicly, but that was an early sign. Presuming that she didn’t need to reveal a Conflict of Interest that would have got every Public Servant in the state severely reprimanded, if not sacked, was the full revelation of this personality defect.
How will Kelli Sloan appeal to voters in Sydney’s West and in regional NSW? That’s the big question. Because Western Sydney is where the Liberals need to win seats off Labor if they’ve got a hope of getting back into government in March 2027.
I think her 2 main problems are inexperience, and the right of the NSW Liberal Party conspiring and leaking against her over the next 12 months if there’s no discernable improvement in polling – remember that Alistair Henskens and his mate Damian Tudehope are notorious treacherous power players.
Yep, Minns is a solid Premier, but his government is hardly inspiring, he’ll need to make some more announcements in the first half of 2026. And bring his female ministers more to the fore, to counter Sloan and her deputy Natalie Ward.
Nick Greiner ran and lost to the ALP in Willoughby in 1978.
https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/electionresults18562007//1978/Willoughby.htm
Minns is NSW’s own Gavin Newsom. Pretty boy who handles the media superbly.
He ooozes empathy but is really a bit of a policy lightweight. I’m not a massive fan, like the rest of the them he is a slave to the big donors.
His MO seems to be wait for an event or problem to arise, then introduce legislation after the fact to counter it.
The Libs have a steep hill to climb if they’re going to have enough to win back government, the key of which are marginal Western suburb seats.
If they get back to 50-50 in 2027 then they could pick up Penrith, East Hills, Camden and Riverstone, but from there the pickings are slim. Liverpool, Parramatta, Leppington and Prospect are on margins of 58-42 to Labor or better. Plus most of them would have a sophomore surge effect from Labor MP’s only elected in 2023.
Still though, Sloan might have better luck winning back Pittwater and Wollondilly from Teals.
I mean… it’s pretty obvious what’s happening here.
Both NSW and Victoria – partly to try to shed the stench of the Federal Liberals and partly to appeal to teal-friendly/suburban women – have both promoted “moderate” women to the leadership.
I don’t think the Eastern Suburbsness (in both cases) is a fundamental flaw – I think the issue is someone placed into the leadership, let’s be real, because of who they are, over what they want to do – they’re both extremely inexperienced. I don’t think it hurts Minns… Allan? The issues with the Victorian Government have been able to be avoided to a degree due to the Liberals being a pack of nutcases – now? If the Liberals can get a stable and MODERATE message out there in the first 6 months of 2026 … who knows.
The media response to all these LNP spills is wildly different to what happens when Labor does it. Not a surprise, and pointing it out will do nothing but it still makes me angry and how the LNP get treated with kid gloves and “business as usual” vs “sky is falling” when it’s the other side.
Ghost Of Whitlam @ #29 Friday, November 21st, 2025 – 8:31 pm
Yeah, it really sucked back in the 2010’s, but I think they’ve been so obvious about it in the 2020’s that people are catching onto their game now, especially in the younger generations.
We’ve latched onto their propaganda tricks, we see them for what they are, a bunch of millionaires paid by billionaires to suck Trump’s dick. And when they don’t get their way they throw tantrums like “Fine! We’ll be full Nazis then!” and since most of the electorate in Australia is like “Yeah… no thanks…” then all they look like is a screaming lunatic in the corner that most would prefer to ignore.
All Labor has to do is act like sensible adults and they win, while the Liberals continue with this asinine battle between themselves. Thank cripes most of them are in opposition, although I reckon it’s more likely than not to have a major flare-up in Queensland since they’re in Government and the MAGA forces will probably stake a battle at some point.
Interesting developments in Victoria and New South Wales with the sudden elevation of Jess Wilson and Kellie Sloane. In SA, Ashton Hurn is pretty much seen as the next Liberal leader (but not until after the March 2026 election), and in Tasmania Bridget Archer could be considered a future leader too.
All together, it does look like Sussan Ley’s faction is picking up leadership positions across a few states. And given Wilson’s connection to Josh Frydenberg, it also suggests his network is back in play, which makes his return feel a bit more realistic.
As for Ley, surely the party keeps her in place until February 2026 so she doesn’t go down as the shortest-serving Liberal leader (passing Downer), and ideally until April so she gets past Brendan Nelson lol. How all this plays out will be interesting.
Sloane can read a autocue but can she read the electorate let alone sell policies.
More chance than the other two recent lib Dei hires to be competitive.Not premier material.
Cannot see the Liberals under Sloane winning in 2027, especially against Minns who is one of the most moderate (least extreme) Labor premiers.
The real prize is the Federal government. I would rather have a Hastie federal government and all Labor state governments than have a third term Albanese federal Government and a Sloane “Liberal-in-name-only” Government in NSW.
I’m not a fan of Minns, if Sloane keeps net zero, introduces mandatory cashless gaming and does nothing stupid I could preference the Liberals for the first time ever
Depending who is on the ballot
I liked that Kellie Sloane’s regional tour started in Western Sydney. Nothing says eastern suburbs more than calling the area west of Parramatta as “Regional”.
If my mother had wheels and an engine she’d be a motorbike but she doesn’t so she isn’t.
She’ll do better than Speako in ‘27, problem is that she won’t win and 5 and a half years is an awfully long time to be LOTO before she’d have a realistic crack.
I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen so far, I suspect Labor will be more concerned than they were this time last week.
Minns is an excellent front for a do nothing government with no talent. Thankfully for him this is enough as the limited bandwidth people have for politics is taken up Federally.
Q: I would rather have a Hastie federal government
What a frightening thought. Even his colleagues recoiled from his remarks in the party room last week (re coal)….
@Desie at 10:58am
It’s not unheard of. Bob Carr had to wait 7 years as Opposition Leader before he became Premier in 1995. He came quite close in 1991 too after the drubbing Labor got in 1988, reducing Greiner to a minority government.
Indeed, but it was a long time ago when the media cycle was very different.
What’s in her favour is that there’s no one else remotely feasible.
Heaven help them if Henskens ever gets the job.
Desire,
[I’ve been impressed by what I’ve seen so far, I suspect Labor will be more concerned than they were this time last week.]
Kellie Sloane’s first visit to the Western Sydney expanse was an absolute disaster.
The amount “makeup” needed to make Sloane a Western Sydney ranger is not encouraging.
Sloane will need something more than what was on show at her practice round.