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Nestled in the rolling hills of the Barossa Valley is a little wine country town called Nuriootpa, population 6500. In the 1980s, its public high school was the destination of choice for local families living among Australia’s oldest vineyards.
Just down the road is Tanunda, where Nuriootpa High’s most famous alumna, Kellie Sloane, grew up. The Liberal MP’s parents, former Barossa Valley mayor Bob Sloane and Robyn, still live in the family home. Sloane, who also spent some of her early years in the South Australian west coast tuna-fishing town of Port Lincoln, describes herself as “a country girl at heart”.
Sloane’s adopted hometown of Sydney is a far cry from the Barossa. The electorate she represents is the affluent and high-density Vaucluse, population 80,036. It has been held by the Liberal Party since 1945 and has had two state opposition leaders (Murray Robson between 1954 and 1955 and Peter Debnam 2005 to 2007). If some Liberals have their way, Sloane will be the next.
Former Liberal treasurer-turned-US ambassador Joe Hockey saw a party leader in Sloane when she was launching her political career just four years ago. “Kellie represents the future of the party,” Hockey wrote to Liberal members in 2021 when he was urging them to support her preselection bid.
“She will be there for the highs of government and the deep lows of opposition.”
Vaucluse MP and possible future Liberal leadership contender Kellie Sloane at a Davis Cup match on Sunday.Credit: Janie Barrett
Sloane, 52, has not experienced government, after being elected as MP for Vaucluse in 2023 when the Coalition’s 12-year run in NSW ended, but she is, to borrow Hockey’s words, in the deep lows of opposition, with the NSW Liberals looking further from power than ever.
As the party’s primary vote this week slumped to an election-wipeout low of 28 per cent, and it battles significant brand damage after the federal poll, many within NSW are looking for a saviour. Some think it is Sloane.
Sloane declined to be interviewed. As a former journalist and not-for-profit chief executive, her communication skills are seen as her best asset, especially for an opposition leader where gaining airtime is the top KPI. At the same time, however, Labor loyalists with long memories are quick to point out that a journalism background is not always enough.
Former newsreader Jodi McKay led NSW Labor after the party’s disappointing 2019 election loss. She struggled against premier Gladys Berejiklian, who rose to prominence and popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. McKay was no match, despite having been a minister in the former Labor government, and eventually the unions came for her.
Sloane is aligned loosely with the moderates, who remain dominant in the NSW Liberals, but colleagues say she is deliberately non-factional, which could be a help or a hindrance when it comes to securing the support of powerbrokers.
Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane is being touted as the next Liberal leader. Credit: James Alcock
Several Liberal colleagues were keen to speak in support of Sloane, although none were willing to do so on the record, concerned it would be interpreted as undermining Liberal Leader Mark Speakman. Speakman is fighting to retain the top job amid diabolical polling and last weekend’s byelection loss in Kiama, which saw the seat return to Labor for the first time in 14 years.
One senior party member who has known Sloane for several years said: “Kellie is a very normal, regular, down-to-earth person who relates well to people. She is empathetic, emotionally intelligent and not a political hack. She is also representative of the main voting demographic she needs to target. She is a mum with teenage kids.
“She is also not a plaything of the factions. She is not beholden to them which means she can take decisions based on her own judgments.”
Asked whether Sloane wanted to replace Speakman, the source said: “She doesn’t want to be the beneficiary of a wrecking operation because that would taint whatever comes next for her. She is not a Lady Macbeth type character.”
Sloane is married to Adam Connolly, a former John Howard staffer who now runs Apollo Communications. They live in Centennial Park and have three teenage boys. As a senior frontbencher in a party that is trying to be pro-housing in electorates which are notoriously NIMBY, Sloane’s challenge is to balance the overdevelopment concerns of her well-heeled constituents with the broader housing needs of NSW.
NSW Labor is making sure comments she made as the Liberal candidate come back to haunt her. Sloane told reporters at a press conference in Double Bay in late 2022 that she didn’t want her seat “punished” with more housing. Labor strategists see Sloane as an electoral threat, and hope to capitalise on the housing tightrope she must walk.
Kellie Sloane on the campaign trail in 2023 in Double Bay with former premier Dominic Perrottet.Credit: Edwina Pickles
When the government announced it would open the long-abandoned Woollahra train station to pave the way for 10,000 new homes, some cynical Liberals were convinced it was a cunning Labor tactic to damage Sloane rather than deliver extra housing. NSW Labor strongly denies this.
When it comes to her leadership chances, Sloane’s biggest hurdle is inexperience. When Hockey wrote a reference for Sloane, she was seeking preselection for the north shore seat of Willoughby, which had been vacated after the shock resignation of Berejiklian amid a corruption inquiry.
The former premier was backing ex-Willoughby mayor Gail Giles-Gidney, while the right-wing candidate was Tim James. Sloane, seen as moderate candidate, was urged to pull out to give Giles-Gidney a clear run. Sloane stuck to her guns and ignored the urgings of moderate powerbrokers.
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Ultimately, Sloane was eliminated in the first round of voting and James, to the surprise of many, won preselection and later the byelection. Sloane then tried her hand at preselection for Vaucluse in 2022 and won. One of her main backers was Dave Sharma, a former MP for Wentworth and now a senator. Another was long-term eastern suburbs powerbroker Sally Betts.
Sloane has described herself as “proudly public school educated” and studied an arts degree, before accepting a cadetship at the ABC in Adelaide.
She moved to Sydney in 1997 to work for the Nine Network, where she stayed for 14 years. “I interviewed prime ministers, plenty of movie stars, business leaders and sporting heroes,” Sloane told parliament in 2023. “I got to see inside submarines and fly in Black Hawk helicopters. I covered the Oscars and danced with John Travolta in his private jet.” Connolly, she said, was sick of hearing that story.
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman visits the ABC studios in Sydney on Monday after the byelection loss.Credit: AAP
Sloane later went on to work as chief executive of Life Education, home of Healthy Harold, the yellow giraffe who has been teaching school students about the dangers of drug-taking for almost half a century. In 2023, she not only became MP for Vaucluse but went straight to the frontbench, and was then elevated to the senior shadow portfolio of health months later when ex-NSW treasurer Matt Kean quit parliament.
If Sloane is eager to continue her political climb, she is not showing her hand. On Sunday, after the byelection loss, Sloane was quick to rule out any challenge to Speakman and expressed her full support of his leadership. Speakman, meanwhile, pointed to his promotion of Sloane as proof that he has always seen her potential and wants her to be leader. One day.
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Speaking to ABC Sydney on Monday, Speakman said: “I think Kellie Sloane has absolutely outstanding potential. That’s why I put her on the front bench immediately upon her election, and then when Matt Kean left the parliament, why I promoted her to a senior position. So she absolutely has great talent, and I think she has great potential to be the leader one day.”
But how soon is too soon? A senior Liberal operative said she does not have obvious enemies. “The bigger issue is, how do you go from the golden girl to the person who has to say no to people who think they are wiser and have more experience in politics?”
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