Mark Speakman will attempt to modernise the New South Wales Liberals and win back young, female, culturally diverse and climate-concerned voters after being elected the party’s leader.
At a ballot of the party room on Friday, the former attorney general and moderate Cronulla MP received 22 votes to secure the top job, while former planning minister Anthony Roberts received 13, almost a month after the Coalition was removed from government.
The party will meet again in a fortnight to vote on proposed changes that would allow their most senior woman, Natalie Ward, to run for the deputy leader position. Ward was on Friday selected to be the party’s deputy leader in the upper house.
Speakman insisted the party had “basically sound principles”, but they needed to be brought into the modern context to regain government in four years.
“The Liberal party of course, federally [and] in NSW has had a number of setbacks in the last 18 months but we remain a party with timeless values,” he said.
“Those timeless principles have to meet modern issues – we have to address youth issues, women’s issues, culturally diverse issues, environmental issues and so on.”
Damien Tudehope, a former finance minister who resigned from cabinet in the lead-up to the election, was elected to lead the party in the upper house and said he would support Ward’s bid for the deputy Liberal leader role.
“She has demonstrated, over the period where she has exercised ministerial responsibility, her capability … in increasing the prestige of our party,” Tudehope said.
Currently, upper house members are not allowed to run for leader or deputy leader. Ward attempted to move to the lower house last year but was blocked by the party in a move that angered many who see her as a rising star.
“That rule change would allow the very best talent across both chambers to be a deputy parliamentary leader,” Speakman said.
“Natalie … is truly outstanding. She is an outstanding individual and she would make a very fine deputy parliamentary leader.”
He pointed out the proportion of women in the parliamentary Liberal party had increased at this election and he would continue to try to improve on that, while dismissing his previous interest in quotas.
When asked about the significance of having a woman be deputy leader, Ward said it was important the party represented the people.
“We have great talent, we have great energy and we’re rearing to go,” she said.
The new leaders have a major task ahead to rebuild support for the party that has been kicked from office in every state on mainland Australia.
The party will shortly undertake a review to better understand its NSW election loss and Speakman will ask those conducting it to consider communication tactics and policies.
The new leader would not comment on the party’s position on the federal voice proposition, nor would he confirm his personal view.
Speakman will meet with the Nationals leader, Paul Toole, in the coming days to decide on a new Coalition agreement and form a shadow cabinet.
Terrigal MP Adam Crouch was appointed party whip in the lower house and Chris Rath was chosen as party whip for the upper house.
“It was a very strong result for leader Mark Speakman,” Crouch said after the vote.
Ahead of the state election, Tudehope resigned from the cabinet, saying he did not want revelations that he held shares in the major toll road owner Transurban to be a distraction for the party.
Then premier Dominic Perrottet said legal advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet had cleared Tudehope of “knowingly” breaching the ministerial code of conduct.
