# Kellie Sloane: NSW Opposition Leader's Pitch to New South Wales

An episode of [Straight Talk with Mark Bouris](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1572546872), 3 Jun 2026, 52 min.

Audio: https://p.podderapp.com/2544644999/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/2fb3740d-3436-44af-8cc0-a91900716aa5/1c4759f0-81fc-4f35-85d1-b305004fc1e8/40934586-0a3d-47cd-864f-b45e001b454f/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=573776d2-4dbd-4f2f-a825-b305004fc1ef

In this conversation with NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane, she explains why she believes New South Wales has gone from the nation's top-performing economy to the bottom of the pack under Labor's watch. Kellie discusses her journey from country journalism to opposition leadership, her experience during the Bondi terror attack, and her strategy for defeating a first-term government. She also addresses federal-state tensions within Labor, the importance of assimilation in modern Australia, and why authenticity matters more than ever in contemporary politics. • New South Wales economic decline under Labor government • Federal-state tensions over GST and infrastructure funding • The Bondi Junction terrorist attack response • Assimilation versus multiculturalism debate • Coalition relationship between Liberals and Nationals • Presidential-style campaigning in state elections • Young people's disillusionment with traditional politics Join my exclusive Mentored+ community: https://mentored.com.au/become-a-member/ Subscribe to the Mentored newsletter here: https://mentored.com.au/newsletter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Kelly's home. Welcome to straight Talk.
[0:01] Speaker 2: It's great to be here.
[0:03] Speaker 1: You're now the New South Wales the leader of the opposition.
[0:06] Speaker 1: That's a pretty big task given the let's call it
[0:09] Speaker 1: the popularity of mens. How do you feel about that?
[0:13] Speaker 1: How does it go like? And do you guys actually
[0:15] Speaker 1: get at each other or I mean that happened in
[0:18] Speaker 1: federal politics. Yeah, it doesn't seem to have that much
[0:20] Speaker 1: to stay politics at least here in New South Wales.
[0:22] Speaker 2: Look, I think we get along pretty well as people,
[0:25] Speaker 2: but we have some pretty big policy differences. So where
[0:29] Speaker 2: we've had probably a gentle write in in terms of
[0:32] Speaker 2: the labor liberal relationship, they'll probably be increasingly more you know,
[0:40] Speaker 2: genuine arguments over policy in the direction of the state.
[0:45] Speaker 2: But yet he's you know, he's a likable premier, he's
[0:49] Speaker 2: a popular premier. But I would argue that behind that
[0:54] Speaker 2: lies a government that is failing New South Wales. So
[0:56] Speaker 2: I've got a big job to do.
[0:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, convincing New South Wales people that that's the case.
[1:02] Speaker 1: The federal politics is like a bear pit. They're at
[1:04] Speaker 1: each other within the party, their own parties, they're at
[1:07] Speaker 1: each other, party against party. We've got one nation sort
[1:13] Speaker 1: of ragging everybody left, right, center and everyone ragging one
[1:16] Speaker 1: nation and then they're calling each other out like you know,
[1:20] Speaker 1: it's like an attack on paul In Hansen, it's attack
[1:22] Speaker 1: on Albanezi, it's attack on not so much attack on
[1:25] Speaker 1: Agus at this stage because he hasn't really put his
[1:28] Speaker 1: head up as the you know, hasn't really been annoysy
[1:30] Speaker 1: yet as a proper leader is a proper leader. But
[1:32] Speaker 1: I mean in a media sense, in a public sense,
[1:35] Speaker 1: what do you think about that level of politics? I mean,
[1:37] Speaker 1: why is it like that and how do you reflect
[1:39] Speaker 1: on that as the leader of the opposition in South Wales.
[1:42] Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting a new South Wales Parliament has been
[1:44] Speaker 2: called the baar pit for a reason, even like one
[1:47] Speaker 2: hundred years ago they actually there were fisticuffs in the
[1:50] Speaker 2: chamber and we see verbal fisting.
[1:52] Speaker 1: I don't mind about that.
[1:53] Speaker 2: Look, you know, I can be really strong, but I
[1:58] Speaker 2: do it in probably a different way because relatively speaking,
[2:01] Speaker 2: compared to many other politicians, I'm new to politics. I've
[2:05] Speaker 2: only been in the game a few years, so I
[2:07] Speaker 2: bring a lot of life experience, leadership experience outside of politics,
[2:12] Speaker 2: and I want to do this differently I can be tough,
[2:15] Speaker 2: ask my boys. I can deliver a line with a
[2:18] Speaker 2: look that will hopefully put people in their place. But
[2:22] Speaker 2: I don't think I need to yell too much. But
[2:26] Speaker 2: I must be strong. And there's a reason for that,
[2:28] Speaker 2: and that is because I've got an election to win
[2:31] Speaker 2: and it is highly unusual to overturn a first term
[2:35] Speaker 2: labor government, but I believe we need to do that.
[2:39] Speaker 2: Our state's economy is going backwards on their watch. Chris
[2:43] Speaker 2: Mins has already said that is leaving next term. So
[2:47] Speaker 2: you might be voting for mister nice guy this term,
[2:49] Speaker 2: but what are you getting afterwards? And I tell you
[2:51] Speaker 2: what you're getting. You're getting a government that has driven
[2:54] Speaker 2: our economy backwards from the top performing economy in the
[2:58] Speaker 2: country the GSP around four point one percent when the
[3:02] Speaker 2: Coalition left government, to an economy in New South Wales
[3:06] Speaker 2: that is the bottom of the pack. Now we've gone
[3:07] Speaker 2: from the top to the bottom. Our GSP is now
[3:10] Speaker 2: zero point nine percent.
[3:11] Speaker 1: Inflation is high GPS.
[3:14] Speaker 2: It's sorry, it's gross state products, so it's really it's
[3:16] Speaker 2: a measure of our productivity in this state. It is
[3:19] Speaker 2: going backwards. Businesses are closing at a record rate, sixty
[3:22] Speaker 2: two hundred closed their doors in New South Wales last year.
[3:26] Speaker 2: Our inflation is high and we're being dutted by the
[3:29] Speaker 2: federal government on the budget. So it's a government that
[3:31] Speaker 2: is getting bigger, that is spending, that can't do a deal,
[3:35] Speaker 2: that is rewarding their union mates who got them in
[3:38] Speaker 2: there in the first place. So I need to in
[3:42] Speaker 2: a very determined way remind the public of what is
[3:45] Speaker 2: at stake if they vote for labor again next year.
[3:48] Speaker 1: You mentioned your son's and let's have a look at
[3:53] Speaker 1: Kelly Sloan as a person. Maybe you could explain we
[3:58] Speaker 1: grow up, what you deal was whereabouts in Australia did
[4:01] Speaker 1: you grow up?
[4:02] Speaker 2: Also, I'm a country girl at heart, so I live
[4:05] Speaker 2: in one of the most highly densely populated parts of
[4:07] Speaker 2: Australia at the moment, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
[4:10] Speaker 2: But I grew up in country towns. Firstly in Port
[4:13] Speaker 2: Lincoln on the west coast of South Australia it's tuna
[4:16] Speaker 2: fishing town. Been there, and then mostly in the Barossa
[4:20] Speaker 2: Valley growing up in South Australia. So daddy ran a
[4:24] Speaker 2: small business. You know, mum who worked at the local
[4:27] Speaker 2: school as the principal's assistant. Brother and sister went to
[4:31] Speaker 2: the local high school and then wanted to be a journalist,
[4:35] Speaker 2: and that was my first big career.
[4:37] Speaker 1: We spend on our ridge around twenty six years of
[4:40] Speaker 1: her lives asleep. So if you're going to spend that
[4:43] Speaker 1: much time doing something, you may as well get good
[4:46] Speaker 1: at it. That's what got me interested in Whoop. It's
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[5:02] Speaker 1: it takes all that information and it turns it into simple,
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[5:09] Speaker 1: how things like travel late nights or even eating too
[5:12] Speaker 1: late to affect the quality of a sleep and how
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[5:18] Speaker 1: is for anyone who wants to feel and perform better.
[5:21] Speaker 1: To learn more, here to join dot whoop dot com,
[5:25] Speaker 1: forward slash Mentored and get one month off your annual
[5:29] Speaker 1: Whoop membership. What does growing up like that inform you
[5:33] Speaker 1: as an individual and what would you take out of
[5:36] Speaker 1: that relative to being the premier of New South Wales
[5:38] Speaker 1: or at least yeah, or leading your party at least
[5:41] Speaker 1: at a minimum.
[5:42] Speaker 2: Yeah. Well it's defined me in ways that I'm only
[5:45] Speaker 2: just realizing now, that freedom but also that resilience you
[5:49] Speaker 2: have in country talents where you don't have access to
[5:53] Speaker 2: the resources in the big city. And that was particularly
[5:57] Speaker 2: pronounced in an era where there was thankfully pads and
[6:00] Speaker 2: no computer connectivity. You know, a dad running a small
[6:04] Speaker 2: business who couldn't take holidays. You know, the resilience of
[6:09] Speaker 2: a community, but also the way a community wraps around itself.
[6:12] Speaker 2: And Mum and Dad were always part of community clubs,
[6:14] Speaker 2: whether it was apex or roa tree or the hospital
[6:17] Speaker 2: board or whatever it was. We were always defined by
[6:21] Speaker 2: a sense of responsibility, you know, to our family members,
[6:24] Speaker 2: but also to the community and all of that above
[6:28] Speaker 2: service to yourself. And that really defined me in many ways.
[6:35] Speaker 2: And you know, from a career and they're not for
[6:37] Speaker 2: profit sector to what I'm doing now, and I see
[6:41] Speaker 2: that sense of service is absolutely critical the spine of
[6:44] Speaker 2: everything I do. That we have to make communities stronger
[6:48] Speaker 2: and we have to support people.
[6:50] Speaker 1: What do you get out of growing up with that?
[6:52] Speaker 1: In terms of values that we can identify with.
[6:54] Speaker 2: The values that aren't always consistent with being a politician.
[6:58] Speaker 2: I have to say that's probably better, and that is
[7:02] Speaker 2: putting others before yourself always. I never liked. We were
[7:07] Speaker 2: taught not to impose ourself upon people, not to ask
[7:11] Speaker 2: too much of others, to always just lead by example,
[7:16] Speaker 2: and that is an important value to me that I
[7:18] Speaker 2: try and teach my children as well. You get so
[7:22] Speaker 2: much joy, so much back if you are always seeking
[7:26] Speaker 2: to lift others around yourselves, and so that's an important
[7:30] Speaker 2: part of leadership. Lifting others. I think it's very true
[7:33] Speaker 2: to liberal values lifting individuals, individual enterprise, you know, small
[7:38] Speaker 2: business from a policy area very aligned with my values
[7:42] Speaker 2: and the upbringing in a small business family. I see
[7:44] Speaker 2: how tough business does it, but I know if you
[7:46] Speaker 2: lift and empower small business, the economy thrives. Spirituality is
[7:51] Speaker 2: important to me as well. I wouldn't say I go
[7:53] Speaker 2: to church every weekend, but now I go to a
[7:55] Speaker 2: whole range of churches, whether it was the Maronites last weekend,
[7:59] Speaker 2: or our little Hole Cross Catholic church, or my upbringing
[8:02] Speaker 2: as an Anglican, or I go to a synagogue a
[8:04] Speaker 2: lot because I represent a big Jewish community, and I
[8:08] Speaker 2: see a return to that value set more broadly in
[8:11] Speaker 2: our community. And I understand it that seeking to belong
[8:16] Speaker 2: somewhere right now, particularly with young people who I think
[8:18] Speaker 2: have lost that sense of community and belonging. They don't
[8:21] Speaker 2: join the clubs that my parents did when I was
[8:23] Speaker 2: growing up. I see a yearning for that, for leadership
[8:28] Speaker 2: that is that is credible and authentic and honest and optimistic.
[8:34] Speaker 1: Wellthough they're right there, authentic and honesty and optimism. There's
[8:39] Speaker 1: there's three good values right there, and they're actually like
[8:42] Speaker 1: noly like virtues because we don't talk about those sorts
[8:45] Speaker 1: of things anymore. You certainly don't get it on Instagram.
[8:48] Speaker 1: It's not discussed in TikTok and other things like that.
[8:51] Speaker 1: I mean, you just mentioned a couple of really good ones,
[8:53] Speaker 1: particularly for the small business community. But what other things
[8:56] Speaker 1: do you think that they're looking for. Their honesty is
[8:58] Speaker 1: a big one.
[9:00] Speaker 2: They are looking for people that can bring us together.
[9:05] Speaker 2: Everything divides our young people. You know, they are grown up.
[9:10] Speaker 2: They're growing up in such a fractured and complicated world
[9:14] Speaker 2: where the algorithm on their phones is forcing them to
[9:17] Speaker 2: go left or right. It's dividing young men and women,
[9:20] Speaker 2: pulling them further apart. I think they object strongly to
[9:26] Speaker 2: that attacking style of politics. The one thing young people
[9:30] Speaker 2: so often is they feel like they can trust me,
[9:32] Speaker 2: and to me, that is the ultimate you know, if
[9:36] Speaker 2: I leave this job, you know, I will leave this
[9:38] Speaker 2: job eventually at some point. I want my integrity intact.
[9:42] Speaker 2: I want people to have felt like they trusted me,
[9:45] Speaker 2: even if they don't believe in my policy platform, that
[9:49] Speaker 2: they know that it is coming from a place that
[9:52] Speaker 2: is good, that is honest, and that's what you know.
[9:56] Speaker 2: I hope that I can deliver that to young people.
[10:00] Speaker 1: That's an interesting point you make, Kelly about the division,
[10:02] Speaker 1: the dividing world we have, because to some extent, I
[10:08] Speaker 1: feel as though politics today is about well some politics,
[10:12] Speaker 1: at least at the federal level, because they really haven't
[10:14] Speaker 1: observed the state level that much. But at the federal
[10:16] Speaker 1: level there's definitely a drive towards divide and conquer. So,
[10:25] Speaker 1: you know, we'll do the polls, We'll find out where
[10:28] Speaker 1: the biggest voting cohort is and let's cleave them off
[10:33] Speaker 1: from the rest of the population, find out what they
[10:36] Speaker 1: want relative to the rest of the population or in
[10:39] Speaker 1: opposition to the rest of the population, and we'll tell
[10:42] Speaker 1: them we're delivering it. I mean. A good example is
[10:44] Speaker 1: the budget we just got. The federal budget we just got,
[10:47] Speaker 1: I mean, that was so directed at the young people.
[10:50] Speaker 1: I mean, and they would have polled. The government would
[10:52] Speaker 1: have pulled that within an inch of its life, irrespective
[10:56] Speaker 1: of what you and I might think about it. And
[10:58] Speaker 1: you know, older people might think about the budget. It
[11:00] Speaker 1: in what two GB might say about the budget, and
[11:02] Speaker 1: even Channel nine and Channel seven and even the ABC
[11:04] Speaker 1: might say about the budget. Those people in that age
[11:08] Speaker 1: group twenty to thirty five begs voting cohort. They don't
[11:13] Speaker 1: watch any of those things. They don't agree with any
[11:14] Speaker 1: of those things they say that don't agree with what
[11:16] Speaker 1: you think or what I think, or what Paul Keating thinks.
[11:21] Speaker 1: That game of division, what do you think about that?
[11:24] Speaker 1: And what do you do about that? As a potential
[11:27] Speaker 1: new government for New South Wales led by yourself, how
[11:30] Speaker 1: do you talk to them?
[11:31] Speaker 2: Therein lies the ultimate riddle for a modern day politician.
[11:35] Speaker 1: It is old on riddle, isn't it.
[11:37] Speaker 2: It is because I don't believe in black and white.
[11:40] Speaker 2: I believe in the gray and the middle. I believe
[11:43] Speaker 2: in pulling people together and seeking compromise, and it's what
[11:46] Speaker 2: I've done from the moment i've been in this job.
[11:48] Speaker 2: So the very first thing I did there was a
[11:50] Speaker 2: big dispute over workers' compensation. It had been dragging out,
[11:53] Speaker 2: it was blocked in our chamber for six months. The
[11:55] Speaker 2: first thing I did was sit down and say to
[11:57] Speaker 2: the treasure how do we work this out and to
[12:00] Speaker 2: a compromise. That's how I literally, yeah, we did.
[12:03] Speaker 1: He walked out, Sorry when I mean you walked out
[12:05] Speaker 1: a mook in your settler's do a deal.
[12:06] Speaker 2: Sat down, look about my sleeves, said let's work this
[12:09] Speaker 2: out right, because you and I are not You're not
[12:12] Speaker 2: going to get what you want. I'm not going to
[12:14] Speaker 2: get what I want. But I think the best place
[12:15] Speaker 2: is for us to find some sort of compromise. And
[12:18] Speaker 2: we did, and we were thanked both of us by
[12:19] Speaker 2: the business community for that, and it reset a relationship
[12:24] Speaker 2: I needed to reset with the business community. That's how
[12:27] Speaker 2: I operate. I was the CEO of a not for
[12:30] Speaker 2: profit that was a federated model, so it worked very
[12:32] Speaker 2: much like the federal and the state system of politics,
[12:36] Speaker 2: and my job was to get a whole bunch of
[12:37] Speaker 2: people around a table to agree on something that might
[12:41] Speaker 2: not be in their best interests. But the job of
[12:43] Speaker 2: a leader in politics is to be black and white
[12:46] Speaker 2: some days, to show a point of difference, and to
[12:49] Speaker 2: hammer home that point of difference so people understand, because
[12:53] Speaker 2: people are, let's face it, not going to sit down
[12:55] Speaker 2: and read every detail of your policy. So that's the
[12:57] Speaker 2: tough part of the job, you know that I've find
[13:01] Speaker 2: and already State Labor is seeking to draw us one
[13:06] Speaker 2: way or the other on so many issues, and I'm
[13:08] Speaker 2: saying we actually need to have a sensible and credible
[13:11] Speaker 2: debate about some of these issues that don't lie in
[13:13] Speaker 2: the black or the white, that lies somewhere in the middle.
[13:16] Speaker 2: And it will be my job, in the simplest way,
[13:20] Speaker 2: to remind people of the importance of considered policy while
[13:26] Speaker 2: also finding a way to get their attention. You get
[13:29] Speaker 2: their attention when you say stuff that evokes in emotion.
[13:32] Speaker 2: I mean, that's how the algorithms work on social media.
[13:35] Speaker 2: They play to fear, to contempt, to outrage, and that's
[13:42] Speaker 2: not how I operate. So I'm hoping that people will
[13:46] Speaker 2: listen to me because they like me because they can
[13:50] Speaker 2: see that I'm coming to them with solutions, but also
[13:55] Speaker 2: big picture, I object to the philosophy of labor versus
[13:59] Speaker 2: liberal and what that's how that's playing out in our state.
[14:02] Speaker 1: Yesterday, I don't know when this is going to go
[14:04] Speaker 1: to it, but Chrispin's got up and said something that
[14:07] Speaker 1: I found surprising in terms of his timing. He said
[14:12] Speaker 1: something about the top tax bracket being too high or
[14:18] Speaker 1: kicking in at too lower a salary, one which has
[14:23] Speaker 1: been unusual in terms of timing, given the budget just
[14:25] Speaker 1: came out, federal budgets came out, and as also sort
[14:28] Speaker 1: of looks like it falls straight into the federal Liberal
[14:31] Speaker 1: party's wheelhouse, and it's pretty unusual for a state premiere
[14:39] Speaker 1: to make a comment on something that sort of goes
[14:42] Speaker 1: to the very heart of the federal budget, particularly when
[14:45] Speaker 1: it's his party. What did you think about that? Yesterday?
[14:49] Speaker 2: I saw it coming. I knew he would do that.
[14:52] Speaker 1: Why did you do it at that?
[14:54] Speaker 2: It's highly political? He is trying to distance himself from
[14:57] Speaker 2: alban Easy.
[14:58] Speaker 1: Why what would alboth sorry, what would Albouth think?
[15:02] Speaker 2: First of all, Mins has an election coming in ten months,
[15:05] Speaker 2: not a couple twenty years federally. So yeah, they've got
[15:07] Speaker 2: time to repair that relationship. He's looking squarely at the
[15:13] Speaker 2: election in March and he knows that Labour's federal budget
[15:16] Speaker 2: was bad for our state. I mean on so many levels,
[15:20] Speaker 2: we had the guts ripped out of infrastructure in our state.
[15:23] Speaker 2: What happened?
[15:25] Speaker 1: Explain that?
[15:26] Speaker 2: So compared to every other state, we are billions behind.
[15:29] Speaker 2: We're about seven billion behind Queensland, six billion behind Victoria
[15:33] Speaker 2: in terms of grand chance of the grants for infrastructure,
[15:35] Speaker 2: roads and infrastructure we need in our state exactly why
[15:40] Speaker 2: same with GST. We're getting the lowest deal on GST
[15:43] Speaker 2: revenue on record, about eighty two cents in the dollar.
[15:47] Speaker 1: When you say the lowest, you mean that that's our
[15:49] Speaker 1: lower share or we are getting the lower share in Australia.
[15:52] Speaker 2: We're getting the lower share in Australia, particularly when it
[15:55] Speaker 2: reallys as a proportional population.
[15:57] Speaker 1: So we'd raised the most we raised them.
[16:00] Speaker 2: We have the highest population and we're being punished because
[16:03] Speaker 2: the federal government thinks that we have the ability to
[16:07] Speaker 2: bring in more taxes through land tax as an example.
[16:10] Speaker 2: So Mins has been fighting that. So he's annoyed with
[16:13] Speaker 2: the federal government over GST revenue. He's annoyed with the
[16:16] Speaker 2: federal government over us being absolutely dutted on infrastructure revenue
[16:22] Speaker 2: as well. When it came to negotiations around the health
[16:26] Speaker 2: agreement earlier in the year, the Feds jumped a bucket
[16:28] Speaker 2: on us as well and we didn't get what we
[16:30] Speaker 2: wanted there. So on every level, Premier Mins has not
[16:34] Speaker 2: been able to do a deal for New South Wales
[16:37] Speaker 2: that has worked in our favor on his watch. So
[16:40] Speaker 2: he is picking a fight with Anthony Albanisi purancy.
[16:42] Speaker 1: Do they do deals? Do the actually do deals?
[16:44] Speaker 2: You have to sit at the table with all your
[16:46] Speaker 2: other state colleagues and you have to convince the federal
[16:48] Speaker 2: government to give you your fair share. Really, no, please, sir,
[16:52] Speaker 2: can I have some more?
[16:53] Speaker 1: Really?
[16:53] Speaker 2: And here are the reasons. That's how works, that's how
[16:55] Speaker 2: it works.
[16:55] Speaker 1: But are the reasons normally? Are the reasons normally though,
[16:58] Speaker 1: Kelly political one? In other words, you need to win
[17:03] Speaker 1: New South Wales labor federal labor. You need to win
[17:06] Speaker 1: New South Wales at a labor in a state level
[17:11] Speaker 1: like per for example West Australia, I should say, and therefore,
[17:16] Speaker 1: if you give us more money, I reckon we can
[17:17] Speaker 1: help you win West Australia.
[17:19] Speaker 2: Is that so, now I'll give you an example of
[17:22] Speaker 2: why that's not necessarily the case. So two days ago
[17:24] Speaker 2: there were headlines in the paper the Queensland, the Queensland
[17:28] Speaker 2: State Government, the Liberal government Christophily Goverman, yet managed to
[17:31] Speaker 2: get two billion dollars out of the federal government as
[17:34] Speaker 2: a contribution to building more houses in this state. Yet again,
[17:38] Speaker 2: there's no interest in Alberanesi supporting a Liberal government. But
[17:42] Speaker 2: they came to the government with a proposal, a proposal
[17:45] Speaker 2: that made sense and would help achieve housing of court targets.
[17:49] Speaker 2: Where was our deal in New South Wales. So we're
[17:52] Speaker 2: losing out on every metric and Chris Minz is standing
[17:56] Speaker 2: up and now picking a fight with Alberanesi. I'm not
[17:58] Speaker 2: surprised by that. He's trying to just it's himself from
[18:01] Speaker 2: federal Labor.
[18:02] Speaker 1: And what is the reason why New South Wales Labor
[18:05] Speaker 1: Party has not been able to prosecute their case for
[18:10] Speaker 1: a great show of the GST, or at least a
[18:12] Speaker 1: fair show of the GST and or a fair share
[18:16] Speaker 1: of the grants, Because I mean, I just noticed in
[18:18] Speaker 1: the federal budget that the FEDS gave Victoria a huge
[18:23] Speaker 1: amount of grants for some rail link, a rail circular
[18:27] Speaker 1: rail thing, which.
[18:27] Speaker 2: Has been highly controversial in the middle of the city.
[18:30] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, totally.
[18:31] Speaker 2: But we can't in particularly in Western Sydney. Infrastructure we've suffered.
[18:35] Speaker 2: So I guess I have felt all along the last
[18:39] Speaker 2: few years that this is a government that says all
[18:41] Speaker 2: the right thing and talks the talk, but can't deliver.
[18:44] Speaker 2: And whether it's on our own housing accord targets where
[18:46] Speaker 2: we're forty percent behind, you know, whether it's business, whether
[18:51] Speaker 2: it's our economy that's going backwards. They can't do a deal,
[18:54] Speaker 2: they can't get the job done, they can't deliver. They're
[18:57] Speaker 2: creating bigger government. They've delivered higher wages for the public service,
[19:01] Speaker 2: which is what they came in to do, but they've
[19:05] Speaker 2: said no to future infrastructure projects. They're opening all of
[19:08] Speaker 2: the metros that ral and hospitals that were developed, built
[19:13] Speaker 2: and funded under the former coalition government, but they've said
[19:16] Speaker 2: there will be no more metros under future labor governments,
[19:20] Speaker 2: no vision, bigger government, greater union influence. It's labor DNA
[19:24] Speaker 2: through and through in my opinion, And so of course
[19:28] Speaker 2: while there's a great amount of scrutiny on the lack
[19:31] Speaker 2: of investment in the poor deal we're getting. In New
[19:33] Speaker 2: South Wales, you have a premier who stands up and
[19:35] Speaker 2: picks a fight with Canberra. You know it's in his
[19:38] Speaker 2: interest to do that.
[19:39] Speaker 1: Would you get punished more for that? I mean, if I.
[19:42] Speaker 2: What's Alba going to do pick up the phone and say,
[19:44] Speaker 2: you know, what's the worst that's going to happen to him?
[19:47] Speaker 2: He's got a job to do, which is to win
[19:48] Speaker 2: the next election. And it was an entirely politically motivated,
[19:52] Speaker 2: well thought out strategy, and you know, I could see
[19:55] Speaker 2: it coming and I don't blame him for doing it.
[19:58] Speaker 2: I mean he's agreed with that with angerste Taylor and
[20:00] Speaker 2: so you know.
[20:01] Speaker 1: For that's a big deal full marks.
[20:03] Speaker 2: I agree with Angus Taylor too on this, but it
[20:05] Speaker 2: is it is unusual to see Mins do that because
[20:09] Speaker 2: at every other turn he has Yeah, he is really
[20:15] Speaker 2: not picked up the phone to Canberra that we could see,
[20:17] Speaker 2: or whether it's you know, local mayors that he needs
[20:20] Speaker 2: to pick up the phone who he hasn't done that either.
[20:22] Speaker 2: So it's a change of strategy.
[20:24] Speaker 1: In New South Wales mentioned as economically is going backwards
[20:29] Speaker 1: and we probably were the leading state for most of
[20:33] Speaker 1: the last hundred years as in terms of Australia, probably
[20:37] Speaker 1: largely due to our size, but also resources et cetera.
[20:40] Speaker 1: Like we have a lot of resources, but we don't
[20:42] Speaker 1: see me mining much. Nothing new, particularly in relation to gas.
[20:49] Speaker 1: What is the liberal position in regards to those those
[20:52] Speaker 1: sort of resource sectors in New South Wales.
[20:55] Speaker 2: Well, we want to see more gas in New South Wales.
[20:58] Speaker 2: That's going to be absolutely essential. Former coalition government wanted
[21:02] Speaker 2: to see Narrabry fast tracked as an example, So gas
[21:07] Speaker 2: is going to be essential. When it comes to mineral exploration,
[21:12] Speaker 2: We're going to have to continue to do that as well.
[21:14] Speaker 2: I note that State Labor has recently said there'll be
[21:17] Speaker 2: no new coal in New South Wales, but they will
[21:20] Speaker 2: expand existing licenses. That was interesting it was backed by
[21:24] Speaker 2: the Minerals Council. I think we are a resource rich
[21:29] Speaker 2: state and you know at the moment we're in the
[21:32] Speaker 2: importer of gas. I think that's problematic. The New South
[21:35] Speaker 2: Wales Liberals and Nationals have been looking at a fuel
[21:39] Speaker 2: resilience strategy which would look at some of the buyer
[21:42] Speaker 2: fuels and things that we have the opportunity to start
[21:45] Speaker 2: being manufacturers in this state. We need to reserve more fuel.
[21:49] Speaker 2: We've seen that recently with the fuel crisis. So these
[21:52] Speaker 2: are areas that we're looking at and getting feedback, whether
[21:56] Speaker 2: it's from the chief scientist in our state or whether
[21:59] Speaker 2: it's industry lead, to find out what we need to
[22:01] Speaker 2: be doing and the policies we need to develop to
[22:04] Speaker 2: support that.
[22:05] Speaker 1: It's interesting your earlier career. I thought politics was in journalism.
[22:11] Speaker 1: What like superpowers as Kelly Slim bring to politics, not
[22:18] Speaker 1: being the leader of the state, but just politics generally.
[22:20] Speaker 1: That she gets that she can look back to her
[22:23] Speaker 1: journalistic career. That probably nailed it for her.
[22:26] Speaker 2: I would say it's my ability skills. I'm to triage
[22:29] Speaker 2: large amounts of information very quickly, so as a journalist,
[22:33] Speaker 2: you go into a budget lock up with a pile
[22:35] Speaker 2: of papers this high and you have to find the
[22:37] Speaker 2: story in there. It also has given me the ability
[22:40] Speaker 2: to read people, understand people, and empathize with them. You
[22:45] Speaker 2: end up in situations with everyday Australians at times of crisis,
[22:51] Speaker 2: whether it's bushfires or floods or terrorism, or whether it's
[22:55] Speaker 2: ordinary people with neighborhood disputes or whether it's addressed people
[23:00] Speaker 2: with illness, and they bring you into their lives and
[23:03] Speaker 2: the stories that you produce. You're marked on your ability
[23:07] Speaker 2: to read people every day of the week, and that's
[23:09] Speaker 2: called the ratings. So after almost twenty years in journalism,
[23:14] Speaker 2: I developed a gut instinct for how people feel, how
[23:18] Speaker 2: they react, what they want you to say, what pisces
[23:20] Speaker 2: them off, particularly about politicians, And that is probably the
[23:25] Speaker 2: superpower that I bring into this job. That we can
[23:28] Speaker 2: sit around at table and I have plenty of colleagues
[23:30] Speaker 2: who are lawyers and they can talk about the detail,
[23:32] Speaker 2: but I'll say Mark Boris would say X, or Joe
[23:36] Speaker 2: blowing Betty from Blacktown would say white. And ultimately our
[23:41] Speaker 2: job is to serve them.
[23:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, so you can sort of grab hold of the
[23:47] Speaker 1: thoughts and then turn that into words and then actually
[23:52] Speaker 1: prosecute it.
[23:53] Speaker 2: I think having a finger on the pulse of what
[23:55] Speaker 2: the community expects of you is really important, you know.
[24:00] Speaker 2: I consolidated that with post journalism. I spent almost a
[24:03] Speaker 2: decade in the not for profit space. I ran a
[24:05] Speaker 2: big business. I employed people, I employed seventy teachers. I
[24:08] Speaker 2: got to go to schools and communities across the state
[24:11] Speaker 2: and hear from them without a camera, without the lights
[24:15] Speaker 2: of television, and to find out what they really think,
[24:18] Speaker 2: what they care about, what their values are for their families,
[24:21] Speaker 2: for their kids. And they were pretty consistent themes. And
[24:25] Speaker 2: want their kids to be happy, they want them to
[24:27] Speaker 2: be healthy, and they want them to have opportunity. Do
[24:30] Speaker 2: you see a.
[24:31] Speaker 1: Change, Kelly in politics. I mean we're seeing it at
[24:33] Speaker 1: the federal level. Do you think there's a sense of
[24:35] Speaker 1: or over career politicians and we want to see people
[24:37] Speaker 1: coming out from the real world.
[24:39] Speaker 2: I think the number one value that people rate is authenticity.
[24:45] Speaker 2: They're after authenticity, and I think part of that too
[24:48] Speaker 2: is young people. They hate what AI is doing to
[24:52] Speaker 2: their lives. They see them manufactured content in their social
[24:56] Speaker 2: media feeds. They want people they can trust who will
[25:01] Speaker 2: be a bit real, which means when we do our
[25:03] Speaker 2: videos as politicians, they shouldn't be too polished either. They
[25:07] Speaker 2: reward through likes and follows and engagement. Politicians globally who
[25:14] Speaker 2: tell their stories and who are a bit more grassroots,
[25:18] Speaker 2: who aren't afraid to make mistakes. And that's really hard
[25:20] Speaker 2: because if you make a mistake, as a politician, you
[25:23] Speaker 2: get punished for that and it comes back to you
[25:25] Speaker 2: over and even if it's just a misstep or you're
[25:27] Speaker 2: a bit real, it gets taken out of context. So
[25:30] Speaker 2: I can understand why people have been in this game
[25:32] Speaker 2: a long time are very closed up, you know, repeat,
[25:37] Speaker 2: they're tried and tested talking points and are worried to
[25:41] Speaker 2: go outside of the frame. But people these days reward
[25:47] Speaker 2: you know, honesty, truthfulness, people who are willing to sort
[25:52] Speaker 2: of shake the shine off a little bit.
[25:53] Speaker 1: Yeah, if you look at Pauline, I mean, it seems
[25:57] Speaker 1: to me that she gets rewarded because Asia has been there.
[26:00] Speaker 1: She'd be consistent. She hasn't really changed her tune. After all,
[26:05] Speaker 1: she was a fish and chip shop owner, so she
[26:07] Speaker 1: understands what you know, hard work means. She's definitely not polished,
[26:14] Speaker 1: I know, paulind she's it's on the chest, as you'll
[26:18] Speaker 1: say it. And it seems like the elector is willing
[26:21] Speaker 1: to forgive people if they're like that, Like Pauline has
[26:24] Speaker 1: done some things which you know, like twenty five years ago,
[26:27] Speaker 1: you would never get away with today. What do you
[26:30] Speaker 1: do for that? In terms of your own personal wheelhouse,
[26:34] Speaker 1: how do you manage that. If you're a professional, you
[26:38] Speaker 1: have been a professional in your life, what do you
[26:42] Speaker 1: do there? Like, how do you play that game?
[26:44] Speaker 2: Well, I'm just not going to play any games. I'm
[26:46] Speaker 2: not going to change me. I'm not a career politician.
[26:50] Speaker 2: I'm here to get in here and get things done.
[26:52] Speaker 2: I do not look at the polling. I don't look
[26:55] Speaker 2: at the comments. I don't want to change. I can't change.
[26:58] Speaker 2: If I do change, it's not going to feel real.
[27:00] Speaker 2: And people see through you, especially today, people see through you.
[27:04] Speaker 2: They can see the bullshit, right, they can see the bullshit.
[27:07] Speaker 2: Like John Howard put it more eloquently than that, he
[27:10] Speaker 2: said that the public has an ability to read you.
[27:13] Speaker 2: They'll find you out, they'll know what you stand for.
[27:17] Speaker 2: So I'm not here to change. What you see and
[27:21] Speaker 2: what you hear from me is what you're going to
[27:23] Speaker 2: continue to get. And it may not be the examples
[27:27] Speaker 2: you've cited. It may not be like Pauline. I'm certainly
[27:30] Speaker 2: not going to be Pauline, but I respect the fact
[27:33] Speaker 2: that people are listening to her, and I feel like.
[27:36] Speaker 1: It's well, there's a lesson in that.
[27:38] Speaker 2: Yeah, there is see that things have changed since she
[27:40] Speaker 2: started back then we were a more prosperous country. We
[27:44] Speaker 2: had an opportunity to be rewarded for hard effort and work.
[27:50] Speaker 2: If you worked a couple of jobs and you build
[27:52] Speaker 2: up your savings, you were rewarded for that. You could
[27:57] Speaker 2: buy a house. Could do you know? When I bought
[28:00] Speaker 2: my first unit in the late nineties, it was about
[28:02] Speaker 2: three times the average annual salary. You know these figures
[28:04] Speaker 2: better than anyone now it's about eleven times. A young
[28:07] Speaker 2: Kelly this day would not be able to do what
[28:11] Speaker 2: I did. And so people feel that that promise has
[28:14] Speaker 2: been broken, so they don't care about what Pauline has
[28:18] Speaker 2: said in the past. I mean, I had a dinner
[28:20] Speaker 2: as an example, this week, I was seenior figures in
[28:23] Speaker 2: the Chinese community and the issue of One Nation came up,
[28:26] Speaker 2: and I said, what are your communities telling you? And
[28:29] Speaker 2: they said that they like Pauline really and I was
[28:32] Speaker 2: shown they said many of them were open to voting
[28:36] Speaker 2: for Pauline Hanson and One Nation. And I said, but
[28:40] Speaker 2: don't you remember what she said about your communities And
[28:42] Speaker 2: they said, yeah, they remember it. But the fact is
[28:47] Speaker 2: they understand that, but they agree with her on things
[28:50] Speaker 2: like immigration. They're here. When they arrived, they had an
[28:54] Speaker 2: opportunity to work hard and contribute to our country and
[28:57] Speaker 2: could see a better future for their kids. And these
[29:00] Speaker 2: days that promise has been broken. For their kids to
[29:06] Speaker 2: work just as hard, they won't have the same opportunity
[29:09] Speaker 2: for their next generation. And that is the broken promise
[29:12] Speaker 2: in our country right now that Angus Taylor is identifying
[29:16] Speaker 2: as well that Pauline has done for a long time.
[29:21] Speaker 2: And if we don't listen to that, if we're not
[29:23] Speaker 2: listening to that message, it's incredibly foolish.
[29:26] Speaker 1: Well that's interesting you should say it, because I recently
[29:28] Speaker 1: saw Albo dismissing I think it was a small business community,
[29:34] Speaker 1: or at least a startup community who are putting up actually
[29:38] Speaker 1: sort of semi funny memes of Albo becoming their partner
[29:42] Speaker 1: when they sell their business. And I'm used to know
[29:45] Speaker 1: how you would handle this so or what you would
[29:49] Speaker 1: observe from that. When people aren't happy with something, how
[29:55] Speaker 1: do you think you should address them as potentially as
[29:59] Speaker 1: opposed of the way Prime Minister addressed them recently.
[30:02] Speaker 2: You just got to show up. Showing up is the
[30:05] Speaker 2: most important thing in this job. You know, there was
[30:08] Speaker 2: a situation with a big hospital in the Northern Beaches Hospital,
[30:13] Speaker 2: a lot of community anger about you know, perceived failures there.
[30:17] Speaker 2: There was a huge public forum and I was shadow
[30:19] Speaker 2: Health Minister at that time and I turned up and
[30:22] Speaker 2: as a result, I had, you know, applause from the
[30:26] Speaker 2: people in the room. They I had a number of
[30:29] Speaker 2: emails from people saying thank you for turning up and
[30:31] Speaker 2: for listening to us. And you know, my experience in
[30:34] Speaker 2: this job is you get a lot of angry emails
[30:36] Speaker 2: the first thing I do, right, yeah, I mean, by
[30:39] Speaker 2: and large, I have to say the majority are great,
[30:41] Speaker 2: but you do get angry emails when I get them.
[30:44] Speaker 2: I pick up the phone. People are really surprised to
[30:47] Speaker 2: hear from you, and they soften immediately, and they'll often say, well, look,
[30:51] Speaker 2: I disagree with the position, but I'm so grateful that
[30:54] Speaker 2: you rang and thank you. And I'll you know, tell
[30:58] Speaker 2: my friends that you called me. And so showing up listening.
[31:02] Speaker 2: I mean, for Albow to make it about his picture
[31:04] Speaker 2: and how he looks shows a bit of vanity and
[31:06] Speaker 2: a bit of disconnect.
[31:07] Speaker 1: I think, or definitely disconnect. I think the other I
[31:10] Speaker 1: don't know how he can I don't know how he's
[31:12] Speaker 1: got any vanity he.
[31:13] Speaker 2: Doesn't show about his photo.
[31:15] Speaker 1: Sorry, but it is disconnect for sure.
[31:20] Speaker 2: I think they're telling you something and the people always
[31:22] Speaker 2: get it right. And even if you think, okay, they're
[31:25] Speaker 2: not across the detail because of X, Y and Z,
[31:28] Speaker 2: then it's your job as the communicator to fix that,
[31:32] Speaker 2: not theirs.
[31:33] Speaker 1: You showed that during the Bondo terrorist attack. Literally it
[31:41] Speaker 1: is in your area, but it doesn't really matter. I
[31:43] Speaker 1: mean you got there ahead of the Feds. I think
[31:47] Speaker 1: actually went down there on the night you were attending something.
[31:50] Speaker 2: I was there as I arrived as the last shots
[31:53] Speaker 2: were being fired. I ran in. I was there before
[31:56] Speaker 2: the ambulance has arrived. It's how did you know about it?
[32:00] Speaker 2: At night?
[32:01] Speaker 1: Were a nearby or.
[32:02] Speaker 2: I was at a Hearneker event in the neighboring suburb
[32:06] Speaker 2: well of Dover Heights, not very far at all from
[32:09] Speaker 2: the Bondi shooting. I was on stage. I was about
[32:11] Speaker 2: to deliver a speech, a speech that was going to
[32:14] Speaker 2: be about hope that there'd been a cease far in
[32:17] Speaker 2: the Middle East. It was a sunny day, beautiful day,
[32:20] Speaker 2: talking about the year ahead. Because Hearneke is about light
[32:23] Speaker 2: over darkness, I was standing on stage when the crowd
[32:29] Speaker 2: started running, running towards the stage, and I looked out.
[32:33] Speaker 2: I remember looking out and thinking, I can't see a gun.
[32:35] Speaker 2: I can't see a knife. I can't see danger. So
[32:39] Speaker 2: I jumped off the stage and reassured people and I
[32:42] Speaker 2: said you stay here. And there were kids, and they
[32:44] Speaker 2: were clearly worried, and the communities had been on tenderhooks
[32:46] Speaker 2: for a long time, and so I just wanted them
[32:48] Speaker 2: to feel reassured. I said, sure, it's all fine, and
[32:51] Speaker 2: I casually walked towards where the perceived danger was, just
[32:56] Speaker 2: to show over it was okay. I would go and
[32:58] Speaker 2: I'd find out. And as a guy grabbed me and said, ma'am,
[33:02] Speaker 2: there's a live shooting. You're a potential target as a
[33:07] Speaker 2: as a member of parliament. You need to get to safety.
[33:12] Speaker 2: And the only I hadn't I had walked to that
[33:15] Speaker 2: event from about five blocks away, so I had no
[33:18] Speaker 2: way of getting to safety. So the first thing I
[33:19] Speaker 2: jumped into the closest car, which was an ambulance, a
[33:23] Speaker 2: Hatzola ambulance, which is a local Jewish community ambulance, and
[33:28] Speaker 2: the driver was on the two way radio to his
[33:31] Speaker 2: mate yankee had been shot, and he said, Kelly, I'm
[33:37] Speaker 2: heading to the there's a shooting. There's a live shooting.
[33:40] Speaker 2: I'm heading there. You can get out of the car.
[33:42] Speaker 2: And I said, I'm coming with you. So we sped
[33:45] Speaker 2: down to Bondai and we arrived as the final shots
[33:48] Speaker 2: were being fired. And and we as we drove into Bondai,
[33:56] Speaker 2: just you.
[33:57] Speaker 1: Know, what was the scene?
[34:00] Speaker 2: Like, I mean like we came into that park, yep, that.
[34:06] Speaker 1: Which is behind the surf club or behind the building there.
[34:10] Speaker 2: We were on the road leading to the bridge, the
[34:14] Speaker 2: now infamous bridge, and we were looking at the car
[34:16] Speaker 2: window and we were passing body after body, groups of
[34:21] Speaker 2: people clustered around people, unimaginable scenes. And it was then
[34:28] Speaker 2: we realized the full extent. It was a mass casualty event.
[34:33] Speaker 2: And we headed to the bridge because that's where we
[34:37] Speaker 2: thought the driver's friend was, not knowing the government were
[34:43] Speaker 2: on the bridge. We parked under the bridge. There was
[34:45] Speaker 2: a man and his little boy hiding under the bridge
[34:49] Speaker 2: of the government was still they were still on the bridge,
[34:51] Speaker 2: but they were wrestling with the police. As we parked there,
[34:56] Speaker 2: I yelled out the window of the ambulance to this
[34:58] Speaker 2: man get in the ambulance, get in here to safety
[35:01] Speaker 2: with his kid. With his kid because he had his
[35:03] Speaker 2: kid covered up. They were hiding under there, and he
[35:06] Speaker 2: said is it safe? And I said, I don't know.
[35:08] Speaker 2: I jumped out. I did a rekki. I said I
[35:11] Speaker 2: can't see any danger. And I grabbed them and pulled
[35:13] Speaker 2: them into the car and then I ran in. It
[35:17] Speaker 2: ran into the park. Wow, And people were screaming and
[35:23] Speaker 2: the police were saying. Police were arriving, guns drawn. As
[35:27] Speaker 2: I'm running in, there's police running in with guns. There
[35:30] Speaker 2: was a loud bang. I remember thinking that was another
[35:32] Speaker 2: gun shot. It possibly was, because we'll learn about that
[35:35] Speaker 2: in the in the follow up investigation. But I ran
[35:40] Speaker 2: in and and there were you know, there were just
[35:45] Speaker 2: bodies everywhere. It was like it was like a scene
[35:48] Speaker 2: out of a movie.
[35:49] Speaker 1: It was a bit surreal for you.
[35:50] Speaker 2: It was completely surreal.
[35:52] Speaker 1: I do you think yourself, what the hell? Like?
[35:56] Speaker 2: I thought I would probably get shot. Wow, I thought,
[36:01] Speaker 2: but I can't turn back because.
[36:03] Speaker 1: At that stage you were numbers two or ten shoes.
[36:05] Speaker 1: You don't know that.
[36:05] Speaker 2: I had no idea. The cops were yelling at me,
[36:08] Speaker 2: there's another shooter, get out of here, and I ignored
[36:13] Speaker 2: them and kept going. There were people coming out of
[36:17] Speaker 2: the surf club. One guy had a big tray of bandages,
[36:20] Speaker 2: and I just had give me a job. And he said,
[36:24] Speaker 2: literally said plug the holes. He said, grab some bandages,
[36:27] Speaker 2: plug the holes, apply compression. And that's what I did.
[36:32] Speaker 2: I went in and the first lady I saw, she
[36:35] Speaker 2: was lying on the ground and she had people on
[36:38] Speaker 2: her applying compression, but she was no one was holding
[36:41] Speaker 2: her hand. She was just looking up into the sky.
[36:44] Speaker 2: And so I held her hand and I told her
[36:48] Speaker 2: I was with her. Said my name's Kelly. I'm with you.
[36:52] Speaker 2: I'm not leaving you. I looked into right she looked.
[36:54] Speaker 2: She looked at me, and she knew I was there.
[36:57] Speaker 1: And did she survive? She didn't make it. No, how
[37:02] Speaker 1: does it affect you? Does it stop you from Did
[37:04] Speaker 1: you ever think to yourself, I'm not doing this anymore.
[37:07] Speaker 1: I'm not going to become politician. This is or bullshit.
[37:09] Speaker 1: I'm gonna I.
[37:13] Speaker 2: Had to keep doing my job. I mean, I was
[37:15] Speaker 2: with her, and then I was with the next person.
[37:17] Speaker 2: I mean, I sat with a lady who was in
[37:20] Speaker 2: deep shock and she was just looking into the distance.
[37:24] Speaker 2: I just older lady I just took her hand. I
[37:27] Speaker 2: said to you, Okay, who are you here with and
[37:30] Speaker 2: she said, that's my husband. He's lying dead on the
[37:32] Speaker 2: ground in front of us, like her eighty seven year
[37:35] Speaker 2: old husband who had escaped the Holocaust come to Australia
[37:40] Speaker 2: and got shot dead on Bond.
[37:41] Speaker 1: Eye beach Man. It's just crazy to think I was covering.
[37:45] Speaker 2: Up dead bodies. I was supporting. I was working with
[37:50] Speaker 2: first responders like so many other people that day. But
[37:52] Speaker 2: you can't. I then had to switch into leeder mode
[37:57] Speaker 2: in the middle of that massacre and take briefings from
[38:01] Speaker 2: the government, let the media notice stay clear of the
[38:05] Speaker 2: area because it was still unsafe. I had to go
[38:07] Speaker 2: out and face the cameras. I then had to support
[38:11] Speaker 2: my community, and I didn't even contemplate, you know, walking
[38:17] Speaker 2: away from that, even though it's been the toughest thing,
[38:20] Speaker 2: and it still is. It was five months ago, and
[38:22] Speaker 2: I have to say it's probably tougher now than it
[38:25] Speaker 2: was back then.
[38:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, because you're dealing with the aftershock. It's interesting what
[38:32] Speaker 1: you just said. The Jewish community, you know, from my
[38:35] Speaker 1: observations of the people that I know come from that community,
[38:39] Speaker 1: not just here in Sydney, but other places around Australia
[38:42] Speaker 1: have been amazing in terms of assimilation. But at the
[38:49] Speaker 1: same time, you know, they respect their traditions and their religion,
[38:53] Speaker 1: but their assimilation has been amazing. They don't walk around
[38:57] Speaker 1: saying when they go to the footy, I'm Jewish, They're
[39:01] Speaker 1: they're because they're gun on the footy and that's their
[39:03] Speaker 1: team playing the footy, or and most other community is
[39:07] Speaker 1: the same. What do you think about people politicians when
[39:12] Speaker 1: they say, you know, assimilation, I don't believe. You know,
[39:15] Speaker 1: this community should be has to be, should have to
[39:18] Speaker 1: assimilate into Australia, but they should be able to maintain
[39:22] Speaker 1: their position in wherever country they come from and stick
[39:26] Speaker 1: to their own community and not assimilate for the rest
[39:28] Speaker 1: of the country. What do you think about that? And
[39:31] Speaker 1: you know the politics I'm talking about Tony Burke, he
[39:35] Speaker 1: has said that he's not a fan of assimilation.
[39:38] Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you have to. Like that doesn't mean you
[39:41] Speaker 2: have to give up your culture and food and your faith.
[39:45] Speaker 2: Like that's fantastic. I love the fact that we have
[39:49] Speaker 2: that breadth of cultures and faiths in our city, but
[39:52] Speaker 2: there has to be something that ties us all together,
[39:57] Speaker 2: and that is our love for this country, termination to
[40:01] Speaker 2: work hard for it, and our ability to make friends
[40:04] Speaker 2: across the divide. And that has been the story of
[40:09] Speaker 2: our country. So if people are coming here and they
[40:12] Speaker 2: are not doing that, then why have you come here?
[40:17] Speaker 2: Like why are you here? You can't come to this
[40:19] Speaker 2: country and try to change us. You can help us learn,
[40:25] Speaker 2: you can help us enjoy your food and.
[40:29] Speaker 1: Your cultures are going to enjoy it, and then fabulous
[40:32] Speaker 1: be part of it.
[40:33] Speaker 2: That's what our country is all about. If you're coming
[40:36] Speaker 2: here and you're putting up the proverbial middle finger to
[40:39] Speaker 2: our country and you're trying to change our system of law,
[40:41] Speaker 2: or you're not wanting to try, then see you later.
[40:46] Speaker 1: What kind of that brings me back to the game
[40:48] Speaker 1: of division?
[40:48] Speaker 2: Though I don't think that's divisive. That's all about inclusive.
[40:54] Speaker 1: What you say is inclusive. Assimilation is inclusive. But I'm
[40:59] Speaker 1: saying that when you say to someone a cohort of people,
[41:04] Speaker 1: if you're a senior politician, that I don't believe in
[41:08] Speaker 1: assimilation that creates division by nationality or by religion or
[41:14] Speaker 1: by culture. It's a bit like what I was saying
[41:18] Speaker 1: earlier on about saying when the budget comes out and
[41:22] Speaker 1: a government says the older generation has stolen from the
[41:25] Speaker 1: younger generation, that's politics of division. Does your party stand
[41:31] Speaker 1: for that type of politics or another type of politics?
[41:35] Speaker 1: But where do you sit?
[41:37] Speaker 2: Well, obviously inclusiveness, But I don't think it's divisive to
[41:42] Speaker 2: call out the obvious. And I think it is obvious
[41:44] Speaker 2: that this younger generation is being robbed of opportunity, and
[41:48] Speaker 2: it is our job to call it out and be
[41:50] Speaker 2: quite clear about that.
[41:51] Speaker 1: But should you punish one generation against the other, like
[41:55] Speaker 1: should we punish the older generation?
[41:58] Speaker 2: Like? I see, it's not that. I don't think it's
[42:00] Speaker 2: the older generation's fault. I think it's the government's fault
[42:03] Speaker 2: totally so, and we can call that out clearly as well.
[42:08] Speaker 2: But it is.
[42:10] Speaker 1: Do you think they should say we got it wrong.
[42:12] Speaker 1: We the government got it wrong, and we're going to
[42:14] Speaker 1: try and fix it for you younger generation. We got
[42:16] Speaker 1: it wrong.
[42:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, we've let you down. We've let down the younger generation,
[42:22] Speaker 2: who are hard working, decent, fantastic young people. You know
[42:26] Speaker 2: they are this young generation? Is they smoke less than
[42:31] Speaker 2: us than we used to do it at their age,
[42:33] Speaker 2: and drink less. They actually take fewer drugs. They're committed
[42:37] Speaker 2: to social service. They do it in different ways than us,
[42:40] Speaker 2: but they are empathetic and they want opportunities.
[42:44] Speaker 1: They care about each other too.
[42:46] Speaker 2: And they care about each other, and we are letting
[42:48] Speaker 2: them down and that they have ideas and they're innovative
[42:52] Speaker 2: and we need them if we're going to be a successful, smart,
[42:56] Speaker 2: entrepreneurial country. And this is where I believe that we
[42:58] Speaker 2: have have taxed opportunity through this budget and that's why
[43:02] Speaker 2: I think it is bad.
[43:03] Speaker 1: Do you think New South Wales has an advantage over
[43:07] Speaker 1: other places in Australia or anywhere else in the world
[43:09] Speaker 1: for that matter, to encourage these young people to set
[43:14] Speaker 1: up here and stay here and work here and build
[43:16] Speaker 1: here as opposed to see later I'm off to Singapore.
[43:20] Speaker 1: I'm going to go to New Zealand where it's zero
[43:22] Speaker 1: a couple of games tax are I'm going to go
[43:23] Speaker 1: to San Francisco where it's only fifteen percent. Do you
[43:26] Speaker 1: think New South Wales underneath your leadership could do it?
[43:31] Speaker 2: Yeah? Look, I want to return New South Wales to
[43:35] Speaker 2: being the premier state, a place that attracts investment but
[43:38] Speaker 2: also attracts ideas that we don't have our young people
[43:42] Speaker 2: saying it's too hard, there's too much compliance where we're
[43:46] Speaker 2: shutting up shop. I mean, we're seeing the viability of
[43:49] Speaker 2: innovative startup hubs like fish Burners collapsing under this current
[43:53] Speaker 2: labor government. We're seeing grants cut. We should be investing
[43:58] Speaker 2: in this area. We need to be harnessing AI for productivity,
[44:02] Speaker 2: especially in the public service. When I say productivity, making
[44:06] Speaker 2: people's jobs easier and more enjoyable, not cutting jobs, reinvesting
[44:10] Speaker 2: that dividend into our frontline workers. I spoke to our
[44:15] Speaker 2: police officers this week at their big conference. You know,
[44:18] Speaker 2: they spend so much time on paperwork. There are ways
[44:21] Speaker 2: we can simplify that so quickly they become uber drivers
[44:24] Speaker 2: for correction services. They sit at their desk, they come
[44:27] Speaker 2: in on their days off to do their paperwork. In
[44:30] Speaker 2: this day and age, that shouldn't be necessary. You know,
[44:32] Speaker 2: there are so many things we can do to drive
[44:35] Speaker 2: greater productivity in our state, and a lot of them
[44:38] Speaker 2: aren't tough. But at the moment we are sending people off. Sure,
[44:42] Speaker 2: we are not giving young people a reason to be here,
[44:45] Speaker 2: and we have to change that.
[44:47] Speaker 1: And how is the Liberal Party in New South Wales
[44:51] Speaker 1: relationship with the net's going in a coalition. Yeah great,
[44:57] Speaker 1: because we all look at the at a federal level
[45:00] Speaker 1: and like everyone's attacking each other. But how are you
[45:03] Speaker 1: guys going.
[45:04] Speaker 2: I love the NATS. We've got a great leader in
[45:06] Speaker 2: Gurmesh Singh in our state, have great relationships. We we
[45:11] Speaker 2: have all team meetings when we have parliament on their
[45:14] Speaker 2: staff mixes with ours. We we have genuine interest in
[45:21] Speaker 2: supporting each other and and coming up with policies that
[45:24] Speaker 2: are aligned. So yeah, and you know they I love
[45:30] Speaker 2: going out into our regional communities. You know, last eastro
[45:33] Speaker 2: went out right way out back past an Ingen and
[45:36] Speaker 2: saw a lot of the issues that they're facing, you know,
[45:39] Speaker 2: with pest control, with the drought and and and came back,
[45:45] Speaker 2: you know, and talked to the NATS about what we
[45:46] Speaker 2: can do about these issues as well. So, you know,
[45:49] Speaker 2: I think people in the city there's this perception that
[45:53] Speaker 2: there's a divide. I feel like even city dwellers in
[45:57] Speaker 2: our country just understand how valuable it is to support
[46:00] Speaker 2: our regional communities. The people that feed us, put food
[46:04] Speaker 2: on our plates, dig up the minerals have those challenges
[46:08] Speaker 2: that really outweigh many of the challenges we have in
[46:12] Speaker 2: the city and as a country girl, that's very authentic.
[46:15] Speaker 1: None of us, by the way, would be able to
[46:17] Speaker 1: do it what they do. None of us here in
[46:19] Speaker 1: the city, in the metro areas are prepared to go
[46:22] Speaker 1: and do what they do.
[46:23] Speaker 2: So they're the true Australia.
[46:25] Speaker 1: They're unbelievable. Kelly. The elections in twenty twenty eight, I think.
[46:30] Speaker 2: It's in twenty twenty seven, about ten months away.
[46:32] Speaker 1: Ten months away. What's behind you if you've got enough
[46:36] Speaker 1: a bench strength sitting behind you to bring this forward
[46:40] Speaker 1: and get this done.
[46:41] Speaker 2: Enormous bench strength. What people forget in New South Wales
[46:45] Speaker 2: is it's a minority labor government. If we hold on
[46:48] Speaker 2: to all of our seats at the next election, we
[46:50] Speaker 2: just need to flip six to win. That's how close
[46:53] Speaker 2: it is. And so in my team, I've got this
[46:55] Speaker 2: mix of former government ministers, you know, years and years
[46:59] Speaker 2: and years mult applied of government experience, but also a
[47:02] Speaker 2: lot of young people. Got ten millennials, got three women
[47:07] Speaker 2: having one just gave birth recently, another two very shortly.
[47:10] Speaker 2: We've got people living the lives of the constituents that
[47:13] Speaker 2: they're representing. So the diversity is great, almost a gender
[47:18] Speaker 2: split that's almost half half in New South Wales as well.
[47:22] Speaker 2: Like we match fit. We're ready to get back into government.
[47:25] Speaker 2: But the challenge is going to be to tell people
[47:27] Speaker 2: why and why they need to return their vote to us.
[47:29] Speaker 2: And it's the challenge is huge. I don't underestimate it.
[47:33] Speaker 2: It's going to be massive. But I just have to
[47:36] Speaker 2: keep running hard.
[47:37] Speaker 1: And at what point? I mean, you're a young woman.
[47:41] Speaker 2: But it's thank you for that.
[47:43] Speaker 1: Well you are relatively very old some days, but it
[47:47] Speaker 1: does take energy and you've got your own family. Do
[47:51] Speaker 1: you ever film? Oh my god, this is exhausting, and
[47:57] Speaker 1: what do you do? What does Kelly Sloane then do
[47:58] Speaker 1: to get yourself backup on the horse? What do you do?
[48:02] Speaker 2: Last night? As an example, I just went for a
[48:04] Speaker 2: really long walk with the dog that he was all
[48:07] Speaker 2: just stuff and finding moments of silence. I need that
[48:11] Speaker 2: because there's a lot of noise, a lot of people
[48:14] Speaker 2: talking at you with you, a lot of things to canvas.
[48:19] Speaker 2: And that's again where that journalism career helps me. Juggling
[48:21] Speaker 2: lots of balls, triaging what's important. But you find an
[48:26] Speaker 2: energy that you didn't think you had, Like I jump
[48:28] Speaker 2: out of bed and I'm full of beans. I've got
[48:30] Speaker 2: a lot of energy and it's a taxing job, but
[48:35] Speaker 2: you get the energy from the people, you see. And
[48:38] Speaker 2: people are looking for a reason, They're looking for hope,
[48:41] Speaker 2: they're looking for opportunity. They want a strong opposition. Even
[48:46] Speaker 2: the labor voters want a strong opposition, most of them.
[48:50] Speaker 2: And it's my job to find that energy and to
[48:53] Speaker 2: fight hard in opposition.
[48:56] Speaker 1: Yep. But you've got the big campaign coming up soon. Yeah,
[49:00] Speaker 1: that's going to be full on mat. How long does
[49:04] Speaker 1: a campaign go for? Like, is it six months?
[49:07] Speaker 2: Pypically about three months, So after the January Long weekend,
[49:11] Speaker 2: the Australia Day Long weekend, it's game on right and
[49:15] Speaker 2: we go hard. The technical period of campaigning I think
[49:18] Speaker 2: is about three months. But the campaign, you know, has
[49:22] Speaker 2: already started for me. You know, we need to work
[49:25] Speaker 2: every day like we're in campaign mode and start building
[49:30] Speaker 2: up our war chest of policies and ideas, figuring out
[49:33] Speaker 2: how we're going to sell them, how people learn about me.
[49:37] Speaker 2: A lot of people don't know me yet. It's my
[49:39] Speaker 2: job to get out there and say hi, and then
[49:43] Speaker 2: and bring the team with me, because I've got an impressive,
[49:46] Speaker 2: incredibly impressive team.
[49:48] Speaker 1: Do you think it's going to be We're going to
[49:49] Speaker 1: be in New South Wales in the next election, more
[49:54] Speaker 1: presidential style election. In other words, we're going to vote
[49:57] Speaker 1: for the party, for the leader of the party that
[49:59] Speaker 1: we know, you know, as opposed to I'm going to
[50:03] Speaker 1: vote for my local member in my case, is you anyway?
[50:05] Speaker 1: But if I'm outside of your area, because I really
[50:08] Speaker 1: like Kelly Sloan, therefore I don't even know my local member,
[50:11] Speaker 1: but I'm going to vote for that Liberal Party member
[50:13] Speaker 1: because I like Kelly Slogan. Do you think we're going
[50:14] Speaker 1: to have one of those sorts of state elections? Well,
[50:17] Speaker 1: I think Slime versus.
[50:19] Speaker 2: Mins, there'll be a bit of that for sure. And
[50:22] Speaker 2: I think Men's already, by standing up and distancing himself
[50:26] Speaker 2: from Albow, has really flagged what their strategy is. It'll
[50:30] Speaker 2: be Min's and maybe a little small Labor logo in
[50:33] Speaker 2: the corner. They will talk more about him as the
[50:36] Speaker 2: presidential style campaign rather than attaching themselves to Labor. I
[50:42] Speaker 2: will be seeking to promote my team in everything I do.
[50:45] Speaker 2: You know, I can he's mister nice guy. I can
[50:48] Speaker 2: be mister nice girl. That's you know, that's a neutralizing factor.
[50:52] Speaker 2: Maybe I hope, but but that might not be the solicies.
[50:56] Speaker 2: People value first thing, they value their local member, and
[50:59] Speaker 2: if they have a hard working local member, that will
[51:02] Speaker 2: override pretty much everything else, particularly in our regional and
[51:05] Speaker 2: out of metropolitan seats. People want ideas, and they want
[51:09] Speaker 2: hope and they want vision, and that's where I think
[51:13] Speaker 2: will be successful in the lead up to this next
[51:15] Speaker 2: election campaign.
[51:16] Speaker 1: Well, ken I san good luck. I'm going to be
[51:18] Speaker 1: watching this with a great deal of not only enthusiasm
[51:22] Speaker 1: but interest. And if you want to come back on
[51:24] Speaker 1: closer to when the election periods starting, obviously I'll offer
[51:28] Speaker 1: the same demins, but we won't do it one on
[51:31] Speaker 1: one debate. But maybe we get him in close proximity
[51:33] Speaker 1: a bit like I did for the federal election. I
[51:35] Speaker 1: had Peter on, Peter Dutton on and I also had Albanesium.
[51:39] Speaker 1: But we'd love to do that in twenty twenty seven.
[51:42] Speaker 2: I really enjoyed the chat.
[51:43] Speaker 1: Good luck to you, Kelly.
[51:44] Speaker 2: Thanks

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