3 months ago
15
New NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane has vowed to pursue a pro-housing agenda and put families at the centre of all her policies as she takes on the leadership after a torrid week for the party.
In her first public comments as leader, Sloane said she was “ready for the fight” and had switched from “reluctant recruit” to being focused and driven to do the job.
New NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane says she is “100 per cent” ready to take on the job.Credit: Steven Siewert
Sloane, with her deputy Natalie Ward by her side, spoke just hours after the Liberal party room unanimously installed her as leader, ending a damaging 24 hours for the Liberals as they stumbled over how to convince Mark Speakman to stand down.
“We need to look forward,” Sloane said. “We can’t think about what’s happened. It has been a bumpy week, there’s no doubt about that.”
Sloane said that fresh faces in the party, including her own, would bring new ideas and stressed that, with six MPs under the age of 40, the party can bring a “positive, ambitious vision” for NSW.
“I’m a country-raised, public-school educated working mum who has built a career listening to people, telling their stories and advocating for them,” she said.
“I’ve been a CEO of a big not-for-profit based out in western Sydney that gave me the ability to connect with families right around the state and learn firsthand what their problems are, what they care about for their families.
“I’ve been a journalist … most importantly, I am a mum, and I’m a wife, and my husband, Adam, and I are raising three teenage boys, and they are my purpose.”
However, Sloane avoided addressing policy issues that could plague her leadership, including navigating net zero targets with the Nationals, workers’ compensation reforms and privatisation.
“The next election is just over 15 months away, and I say that I don’t underestimate the challenge ahead of us, but I am ready for the fight and, as a team, we are ready for the fight,” she said.
Sloane said she supported reopening the railway station at Woollahra in her electorate and is “pro-housing” but not at the expense of “sloppy planning”.
“I think people are willing to accept housing anywhere, provided that it’s done well, and my concern is that Labor is drawing circles on maps and they’re building blocks,” she said.
“We need to build homes, and we need to build communities.”
Sloane said that representing the affluent seat of Vaucluse and images of her eating caviar on a super yacht, which were taken 10 years ago but resurfaced recently, would not detract from winning over voters in western Sydney.
“I grew up in the country, went to a public school. I’ve worked in western Sydney. I’ve lived in many parts of Sydney, actually, and I’m very fortunate that the jobs I’ve had have connected me with communities everywhere.”
Sloane will also have to make significant decisions about her frontbench, but said she had not yet turned her mind to its make-up, or who would be included.
However, Speakman would be assured a spot on the frontbench if he wanted one and Sloane left the door ajar for senior MP Alister Henskens, who decided against running for the leadership.
Senior Liberal MPs said that Sloane commanded an authority that would enable her to shake up the party’s frontbench and policy platform.
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