Kellie Sloane and Alister Henskens are set to vie for the leadership of the NSW opposition after Mark Speakman resigned to end months of disquiet within the party.
WHO IS KELLIE SLOANE?
* A former journalist and TV presenter, Kellie Sloane was comfortably elected the Liberal member for the eastern Sydney electorate of Vaucluse at the 2023 state election
* Mr Speakman appointed her to the opposition frontbench as environment spokeswoman
* She became health spokeswoman in 2024 after Matt Kean's resignation
* Ms Sloane and Mr Speakman are both members of the Liberals' moderate faction
* Mr Speakman formally endorsed Ms Sloane to take his role
WHO IS ALISTER HENSKENS?
* MP for Wahroonga Alister Henskens was elected to state parliament in 2015
* The right-faction Liberal was appointed to the cabinet in 2021 as minister for families, communities and disability services under premier Gladys Berejiklian
* He has also been sports minister, science minister and trade minister, and was shadow attorney-general under Mr Speakman
WHAT CONTRIBUTED TO MARK SPEAKMAN'S FALL?
* Questions have been raised about Mark Speakman's leadership since his election
* The federal Liberals' spectacular defeat at the May election tarnished the state party's already unfavourable reputation in NSW and placed immense pressure on Mr Speakman
* Poor polling has continued to plague the state Liberals and its leader
* The NSW Liberals in September lost the electorate of Kiama to Labor in a by-election, which are often harder to win for the party in government
* The state's Nationals party have fractured from its coalition counterpart on issues like a net-zero emissions target, fuelling perceptions of a divided opposition
* The NSW Nationals elected Gurmesh Singh as the party's new leader on Tuesday after former leader Dugald Saunders resigned for family reasons
KEY QUOTES
"Reports of my death are grossly exaggerated and I'm here to fight." - Mark Speakman on Sky News on Thursday morning
"A day is a long time in politics ... even a few hours are a long time in politics." - Mark Speakman on Thursday evening after resigning
"I have enormous respect for Mark and thank him for his leadership of our party ... I appreciate his endorsement." - Kellie Sloane
