Kellie Sloane | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sloane in 2023 | |
| Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales | |
| Assumed office 21 November 2025 | |
| Premier | Chris Minns |
| Deputy | Natalie Ward |
| Preceded by | Mark Speakman |
| Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party | |
| Assumed office 21 November 2025 | |
| Deputy | Natalie Ward |
| Preceded by | Mark Speakman |
| Member of the New South Wales Parliament forVaucluse | |
| Assumed office 25 March 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Gabrielle Upton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Kellie Anne Sloane January 1973 (age 53) Barossa Valley, South Australia, Australia[1] |
| Party | Liberal |
| Spouse | [2] |
| Children | 3[2] |
| Alma mater | University of South Australia[3] |
| Profession | Television journalist |
| Signature | .png) |
| Website | kelliesloane |
Kellie Anne Sloane (born January 1973) is an Australian politician who has served asleader of the opposition in New South Wales andleader of the New South Wales Liberal Party since 2025. She has been a member of theNew South Wales Legislative Assembly forVaucluse since 2023.
Sloane was a member of theshadow ministry ofMark Speakman, first serving as the ShadowMinister for the Environment until July 2024, before serving as the ShadowMinister for Health. On21 November 2025, she replaced Speakman as party leader unopposed and became Leader of the Opposition. Sloane is the third woman, afterKerry Chikarovski andGladys Berejiklian, to lead the Liberals and theCoalition in New South Wales.
Before entering politics, Sloane was a charity CEO and television journalist. She was a presenter on theNine Network'sNightline, and was also briefly an interim co-host ofToday in 2007.
Sloane grew up in the South Australian town ofTanunda, and also spent some time inPort Lincoln. She attendedNuriootpa High School, and completed a Bachelor of Arts at theUniversity of South Australia in 1996. Her father Bob Sloane was mayor ofBarossa Council from 2014 to 2018.[4][5]
Sloane started her career at theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).[6]
Sloane joined theNine Network in 1997 as a lifestyle series reporter for bothA Current Affair andMoney. She moved fromA Current Affair in 2005, during a revamp of the programme to combat a ratings slump against rivalSeven Network'sToday Tonight.[7]
In April 2007, Sloane moved to co-hostingToday withKarl Stefanovic, replacingJessica Rowe, who was on maternity leave at the time. The replacement became permanent after Rowe announced that she was leaving the Nine Network a month later.[8]
In October 2009, the Nine Network announced that Sloane would be shifted to the late night news programmeNightline, withWendy Kingston moving to presentNine's Morning News Hour. She was also a fill in presenter forNine News in Sydney.[9] In July 2010, Sloane left the Nine Network after a 13 year tenure.[10]
In August 2015, Sloane was appointed CEO of Life Education NSW.[6][11][10] She served in the position until 2019.[3]
In 2020, she was appointed CEO of Life Education Australia. She served in the position for two years.[3]
In October 2021, Sloane announced she was seeking preselection for the seat ofWilloughby due to the resignation of PremierGladys Berejiklian.[2]
In November 2022, she was selected as the Liberal Party candidate for theelectorate of Vaucluse at the2023 New South Wales state election.[12] She was comfortably elected.[13] After election, she was appointed Shadow Minister for the Environment in theShadow ministry of Mark Speakman. Upon the resignation ofMatt Kean in 2024, Sloane was appointed Shadow Minister for Health.
Sloane was seen as a likely successor toNew South Wales Liberal Party leaderMark Speakman, who resigned from leadership on 20 November 2025.[14]The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the two MPs met before his resignation, with Speakman supporting Sloane's move to take over the party.[15] In a press conference on 20 November, Sloane confirmed she had nominated herself for the leadership position.[15]
On 21 November 2025,ABC News confirmed that Sloane was elected as leader unopposed afterAlister Henskens withdrew from the race.[16]
In January 2026, Sloane announced a cabinet reshuffle, removing factional opponents from her shadow ministry in preparation for the2027 New South Wales state election.Monica Tudehope, representing the northern SydneyEpping electorate and daughter ofNew South Wales Legislative Council memberDamien Tudehope was installed as Shadow Minister for Finance as well as Shadow Minister for Western Sydney, replacingEleni Petinos.Adam Crouch, the Member forTerrigal on the Central Coast was dumped as Shadow Minister for the Central Coast and replaced by Sydney based Legislative Council memberJacqui Munro.Gurmesh Singh, nuclear power advocate,New South Wales National Party Leader and Member forCoffs Habour was made the Shadow Minister for theSmall Business, Regional NSW and Trade portfolios.[17][18]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: information on other political views. You can help byadding missing information.(November 2025) |
In response to the2025 Bondi Beach shooting, Sloane publicly supported aroyal commission into the incident, arguing that a national inquiry would have stronger powers to investigate security agency failures than the proposed state-based commission.[19] Sloan wrote anopinion piece for theThe Daily Telegraph after the attack, saying that antisemitism had been "allowed to grow through complacency, institutional drift, and a failure of leadership over several years".[20]
In September 2023, Sloane opposed a plan to turn a derelict service station inRose Bay into aWoolworths supermarket and apartment block, arguing that the development would be "an unprecedented extension of a corporate and commercial site into a residential area".[21]
In June 2025, Sloane opposed a Rose Bay housing development plan proposed byLaborpremierChris Minns, arguing that the suburb was lacking critical services such as a major supermarket or transport links like a train line to support an increased population.[22] Her position has been criticised by members of theSydney YIMBY movement.[23]
In September 2025, Sloane publicly opposed the completion of theWoollahra railway station along with rezoning that would allow higher density development to be built around the new station.[24] Two months later, she stated she supported development of the railway station but criticized the plan, telling reporters that the area lacked community infrastructure.[25]
In her first speech as party leader, Sloane said that she was "pro-housing" and called for the development of newmetro lines, a policy championed by her predecessorMark Speakman.[5]
Sloane is married to Adam Connolly, with whom she has three sons.[26] Her husband was an advisor to Prime MinisterJohn Howard.[2] Sloane used her married name Connolly professionally from 2003, before reverting to her maiden name in 2013.[27]
On 14 December 2025, Sloane was present at theBondi Beach shooting, where terrorists targeted aHanukkah celebration. She assisted lifeguards in giving first aid to victims.[28]
| New South Wales Legislative Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member for Vaucluse 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Media offices | ||
| Preceded byas Nine's Late News | Nightline Presenter November 2009 – July 2010 | Program cancelled |
| Preceded by | Nine's Morning News Hour Presenter 2007–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | National Nine News Afternoon Edition Presenter 2006–2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Today News presenter January 2007 – March 2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Today Co-host withKarl Stefanovic 1 April 2007 – 25 May 2007 | Succeeded by |