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Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane has declared she won’t call for a leadership spill after the state Liberal Party’s disastrous loss in Saturday’s Kiama byelection.
Despite the drubbing, in which Labor’s Katelin McInerney won the seat vacated by convicted rapist Gareth Ward, senior Liberal MPs are closing ranks around Mark Speakman, who declared he will stay as leader when the party meets on Tuesday.
Vaucluse MP and possible future Liberal leadership contender Kellie Sloane at a Davis Cup match on Sunday.Credit: Janie Barrett
Approached by the Herald while arriving at Sunday’s Davis Cup match at Sydney Olympic Park, Sloane, whom many Liberals see as the next leader of the party and whom many would like to see topple Speakman, said he had her full support.
“On Tuesday, I will not challenge Mark. He has my support, and I’m not even sure anything’s going to happen on Tuesday,” she said.
In Kiama, it was a combination of local issues and the Ward factor that clinched the seat for Labor, Sloane said, rather than a referendum on Speakman’s leadership.
In a defiant press conference on Sunday, Speakman declared he would still be the man to take on Premier Chris Minns at the state election in 18 months’ time.
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman reflecting on Liberal’s loss in the Kiama byelection.Credit: Janie Barrett
Speakman said recent disunity in the federal Liberal Party, including Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments about Indian Australians, had hurt the party’s chances in Kiama.
“That public airing of differences does not help. The Liberal Party has to present itself as united, focused and disciplined, addressing the reality of modern Australia,” he said.
Speakman’s leadership team certainly presented a united front on Sunday. Deputy leader Natalie Ward said Speakman had the “intellect, the character and the energy” to continue in the top job.
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Planning spokesman Scott Farlow also backed Speakman and called on his colleagues to “unite” despite Saturday’s disastrous result.
“I think it’s fair to say the last couple of weeks haven’t been the best for the Liberal Party, and having a byelection in the middle of them is a difficult task, but we as a party room need to be in to be able to take the fight to Labor,” he said.
Even if Speakman survives Tuesday’s party room, there are strings attached to his leadership, including a potential refresh of his office. He said he stood by his chief of staff and denied he had been presented with ultimatums.
On Sunday, Minns wasn’t celebrating Labor’s Kiama win as an overwhelming victory.
Labor’s Katelin McInerney appears to have won comfortably, but a significant portion of voters chose to support independent and minor party candidates.
“Obviously, the circumstances were very grave and serious that led to the byelection ... it was very advantageous to the Labor Party that a byelection fell due,” Minns said.
“The incumbent member of Parliament is sitting in jail, and I think it’s important that I know that those circumstances will not be repeated in another byelection, or certainly in the next general election, and we need to be aware of that and approach this result in a humble way.”
McInerney’s victory is a first since 1996 – a byelection that went for rather than against the sitting government.
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