‘Someone has to do something’: Liberals turn on Speakman’s office

Paranoia is a word Liberal insiders often use when describing the office of Opposition Leader Mark Speakman.

“They’ve developed a bunker mentality. There’s so much paranoia, they don’t trust anyone,” one Liberal source said.

It has become both an explanation for and a manifestation of the problems facing the under-siege Liberal leader, according to 15 frontbenchers, MPs, staffers and party members, 15 months from a state election.

Those who spoke to the Herald did so on the condition of anonymity to relay confidential discussions.

Speakman has faced considerable turmoil since he replaced Dominic Perrottet as Liberal leader after the 2023 election loss. But the Cambridge-educated silk now stares down the barrel of a leadership crisis.

Insiders have concerns about the siloed and paranoid nature of Speakman’s office, the lack of a coherent line of attack against the government, and a perceived absence of ways to develop policy.

Those concerns have been exacerbated by polling released by lobbyist PremierNational, which showed the Coalition’s primary vote languishing at 30 per cent, the latest in a string of bad polls.

Some MPs believe Speakman must be replaced before the year ends. But first-term frontbencher Kellie Sloane is not yet convinced she should take charge.

“People are at the point where they feel someone has to do something. I don’t think it’s a matter of nothing to see here any more,” a senior source said.

Two Liberals said there were plans for NSW moderate MPs to meet this weekend.

The office paranoia

Many trace the party’s problems to Speakman’s office.

In October, one of the opposition leader’s staffers, a former chief of staff to two ministers, resigned. She told colleagues she felt underutilised, and that she had been given no agency unless commissioned by Speakman’s chief of staff, Cheryl Gwilliam.

Liberal sources say the episode represents a microcosm of the issues confronting Speakman before the final sitting fortnight of 2025 – potentially his last as leader.

“They’ve built a silo because they’re afraid of leaks and anything getting out. But it also prevents things getting in,” a Liberal source said.

A significant issue was the team Speakman had built around him, three sources said.

One frontbencher said Speakman’s office is “not set up in an optimal way”, while another said it has “become a very significant part of the problem”.

No one among the Liberal leader’s nine staff is dedicated to undertaking research, usually a staple of opposition offices as they dig up damaging stories on the government and its MPs. Instead, Speakman has an economist on staff.

In response to questions Speakman said: “My aim is a collegiate, inclusive office with open, robust and innovative discussion. I have a flat office structure and an open-door policy for all staff. All my staff, particularly my chief of staff, work tirelessly to support me to hold a do-nothing government to account and to develop bold policies to get NSW moving.”

Speakman said the opposition was “well advanced for this stage of the electoral cycle”, and shadow ministers and their staff had been “actively preparing policies in their portfolios”.

Gwilliam, who served as Speakman’s chief of staff in government, has copped criticism from MPs in the past. Some believe she does not effectively counter Speakman’s perceived shortcomings. Others feel she micromanages staff and acts as a gatekeeper to the Liberal leader.

“The solution is Cheryl. Maybe her time is up,” a Liberal frontbencher said.

Gwilliam declined to comment.

Policy problems

Shadow ministers and MPs have grown anxious about the lack of process and progress on policy formulation, raising it during a caucus meeting in mid-September.

“Robbo [Liberal MP Anthony Roberts] got up in party room and questioned the lack of policy development,” according to an MP.

As far as shadow ministers can tell, the two-step process involves filling out a template document with the idea, then holding one-on-one meetings with Speakman to discuss policy.

Some have left those meetings disheartened, saying there did not appear to be an overarching direction.

“Policy development begins and ends with shadows meeting with Speakman,” a senior Liberal said.

Some said ideas they had bowled up to Speakman’s office had been pared back so far they no longer represented their original intent. One MP described the office as the “Bermuda Triangle” of policy.

“It’s where good ideas go to die,” a Liberal source said.

A source said there had been little sustained critique of the government. In an interview with The Australian last week, Speakman said the party could not be “Labor-lite or woke” and that it needed to be focused on issues that mattered, “like cost of living, housing, transport”.

Other MPs said their ideas had been broadly supported by Speakman, with few qualms.

Speakman allies point to three zoning policies over the past two months: redeveloping Long Bay Jail, building 15,000 homes along a rail corridor in the inner west, and revising the Camellia-Rosehill Place Strategy to build 10,000 homes.

“Mark does take a while to think things through. He doesn’t make decisions fast. But that means his risk of making a wrong decision is low,” a senior source said.

One senior Liberal said there were three other cases of MPs successfully pitching policy: Sloane’s bill on illegal tobacco, Felicity Wilson introducing legislation to prohibit deepfake sexual material, and the introduction of tougher penalties for desecrating war memorials by Robyn Preston.

Politics

An equal or greater problem was the lack of a clear political strategy, a source said.

To address this perceived shortcoming, Speakman brought on one of Matt Kean’s former staffers as director of strategy but the staffer had little input into question time, media or policy. Instead, he was tasked with helping MPs sandbag marginal seats.

“Overall we haven’t improved in two years,” one Liberal source said. “[Speakman’s] media lines haven’t gotten sharper, question time is a mess, and the process for doing things hasn’t gotten better.”

One senior Liberal said: “Speakman should have changed his office a year ago. Maybe it’s too late now.”

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.