NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane’s new-look frontbench will not win her the next state election. The task is too big. There is too little time, too many seats to seize.

Kellie Sloane laid flowers with Chris Minns at the Bondi Pavilion after the shootings. Credit: AP

But what the opposition leader has managed to do in her shadow cabinet reshuffle is future-proof the Liberals. Sloane will not admit it but her senior operatives do. The NSW Liberals, along with their National partners, are playing the long game and laying the groundwork for a 2031 win.

When the Coalition lost the 2023 election, after 12 years in power, there was a silver lining. Out with the old, in with the new. While plenty of wise heads – ex-planning minister Rob Stokes, then health minister Brad Hazzard, former customer services minister Victor Dominello and ex-transport minister David Elliott – bowed out, their exits allowed for generational renewal.

After that election, there were five Liberals aged under 35, and several other Millennials in the Coalition team. Since then, two more have been added in byelections. James Wallace replaced former environment minister Matt Kean as the MP for Hornsby and........

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