Thank you, Chair. And let me add my appreciation for your service to our Party, not only as Chair of the Management Committee, but over many years and decades of contribution.
Members of the Management Committee, delegates, friends – our Liberal family.
Thank you.
It is a privilege to stand before you as the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and NSW Opposition.
I want to begin by thanking Mark Speakman for his tireless leadership and commitment to our cause.
Mark is a compassionate, conviction-driven Liberal who held our team together and navigated difficult terrain. His leadership has set the foundations for the next 15 months, and I know he will continue to play a valuable role as we approach March 2027.
To my Parliamentary colleagues here today, thank you again for the trust you have placed in me.
I’m proud of our team – one the most impressive in the country. A mix of experience – former government ministers and fresh faces. Six of our team under the aged of 40. Broad life experience. Read to govern again.
To my deputy, Natalie Ward, thank you for your support and partnership – I am proud to stand alongside you.
As a team, we owe it to everyone in this room, and to every person across our great state, to put in the hard work. To stay focused on the people of New South Wales: their concerns, their ideas, their aspirations.
And to every Liberal Party member here today – thank you. I speak for all of my colleagues when I say we would not be here without your commitment, dedication and hard work.
I want to acknowledge our great friends in the Nationals. We are stronger together. The new leader Gurmesh Singh and I will not just be coalition partners, but firm friends as we chart a course to victory together.
We have a monumental task ahead of us in the next 15 months, and we will need every one of you by our side. This year has been challenging – one of the hardest. But we are here. Not only with an opportunity before us, but with an obligation to rise to this moment and meet it head-on.
We owe it to our Party.
We owe it to our State.
And we owe it to Australia.
We can win this
Friends,
We are 15 months away from the next state election.
The task ahead of us is huge.
Many have already said it can’t be won. In fact, history would suggest it can’t be won.
But I didn’t put my hand up for this job to take a back seat to history.
I’m here to make history.
New South Wales needs a strong alternative government.
An Opposition that holds Labor to account and puts the interests of the people of this state first.
Because under Chris Minns and Labor, we are seeing a government that reacts instead of leads.
A government that is slow to deliver.
A government that is becoming defined by excuses rather than outcomes.
A Government without vision.
Infrastructure investment is being cut. Cost-of-living support has been wound back. Housing shortages are getting worse. Pressures in our hospitals are intensifying. Services that families rely on are becoming less dependable.
The people of NSW deserve better.
They deserve a government with a clear plan for the future and a commitment to deliver for families, households and businesses across our state.
That is exactly what we are offering.
Under Chris Minns and Labor, New South Wales is stalling. NSW Labor has paused, delayed or cut projects that are fundamental to our long-term prosperity. The momentum that once drove our state forward has been allowed to drift.
The Liberal Party has a plan to change that. A plan to build the infrastructure our communities need, to deliver the essential services our families rely on and to restore the economic confidence that will shape the next decade.
The Liberal Party I lead will drive an agenda focused on keeping the infrastructure pipeline moving, including new Metros, road links and regional transport.
On delivering practical cost-of-living relief.
On strengthening our frontline services.
On modernising the public service so it works for the people it serves.
On delivering more housing in the right places.
And on maintaining responsible budget management.
This is the long-term plan New South Wales needs. And under my leadership, it is the plan the Liberal Party will deliver for the future of our state.
I’ll come back to this soon – but first, let me tell you a little bit about myself.
I live in one of the most heavily populated city electorate, but I’m a country girl at heart.
I grew up with a very service minded family in regional South Australia.
First in the tuna-fishing town of Port Lincoln and then in the Barossa.
Mum and dad were always involved in local community and sporting groups.
They taught me that you put family and community before yourself.
Those early lessons of family and community shaped my life and they remain core to the values I have brought to my time in Parliament, and that I will bring as Leader of our Party.
Before entering Parliament, I built a career in journalism that spanned almost two decades. I started in ABC radio, then moved to ABC TV and later to the Nine and Seven Networks.
I told the stories of everyday Australians, often in moments of crisis or uncertainty, and I learnt the importance of truth, transparency and personal accountability in public life. I saw first-hand the power of good government, but also the consequences when government falls short.
I later served as the National CEO of Life Education – Healthy Harold – working to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people.
As I said in my first press conference, despite all these jobs my most important job is as a mother and wife.
My husband Adam and I have three teenage boys.
They are our purpose.
They are the reason I want to make this state a better place
I want that for every single young person in NSW.
That they can hope for a better future and opportunity.
My story is grounded in the principles that define the Liberal Party.
We believe in aspiration.
We believe in backing people to succeed.
We believe in rewarding effort, championing enterprise and ensuring that government serves the public, not the other way around.
Those values shaped my upbringing, guided my professional life and drive my work in Parliament today.
New South Wales cannot afford a government that is not ready for the future.
Yet that is exactly what we have under Chris Minns. Labor is a government without direction and without purpose.
It is a government that has allowed drift, delay and short-term politics to overtake vision and long-term planning.
The result is broken promises, missed opportunities and mounting costs for every family, household and business in New South Wales.
Labor has slashed the infrastructure pipeline at the very moment the state needs it to grow. Investment has been halved over the forward estimates. Metro West delayed and a clear commitment to no new Metro lines. Regional road upgrades cut. Western Sydney communities left without the transport links they were promised.
These choices do not just stall projects. They kill jobs, choke productivity and leave fast-growing communities stranded.
For all Labor’s talk on housing – completions are down while demand surges. First Home Buyer Choice scrapped. Taxes and charges on new homes increased. The result is fewer homes, higher prices and young families being pushed further out of reach of ownership. Labor talks about planning and housing and development – we will talk about building homes and communities.
On cost of living, Labor abandoned the very supports families relied on. Active Kids, Creative Kids and Back to School vouchers axed.
Labor even cruelly cut support for couples with fertility issues, making it harder for people to start their family.
Our health system is under strain, with countless stories on our screens of people sleeping on the floors of emergency departments and elective surgery waiting times blowing out to be worse than they were before COVID.
When it comes to Labor’s Budget – debt is heading towards $200 billion by 2028, the highest in our state’s history.
There is no credible path to surplus, no plan for repair and no protection against future shocks. And when Labor runs out of money, it comes after yours.
Across the public sector, there is no innovation agenda, no productivity plan and no technology strategy to support frontline workers.
The Minns Labor Government is not ready for the future. But your Liberal team and I are. And that is the choice New South Wales faces in 2027.
You will hear me talk a lot about families, because they are critical to the future success of our state.
Without strong families, we do not have strong communities.
And when I say families, I am not limiting that to the traditional model. Families come in many shapes and sizes.
They deserve to be empowered. They deserve every opportunity to succeed and thrive. We should reward hard work and unlock opportunity wherever we can.
Because this has always been central to who we are as Liberals – that is what sits in our Liberal DNA.
Robert Menzies spoke of the forgotten people who shoulder the real responsibilities of national life.
John Howard reminded us that the strength of the nation begins in the strength of the household.
Those principles still matter. Supporting families is not only sound policy, it is our duty. It will guide the agenda we take to the people of New South Wales.
On day one in the job, I gave my pledge to the people of NSW that families would be at the heart of everything we do.
New South Wales needs a practical and future-focused plan that delivers for NSW families.
A plan built on disciplined financial management, long-term thinking and a commitment to making life easier now while creating opportunity for the years ahead.
That is the plan the NSW Liberals will take to the people.
Our approach will be anchored in delivering reliable services, responsible infrastructure and a smarter, more productive public sector – one that protects jobs and delivers better outcomes for our State.
Our Plan will set the foundations for a thriving state built on strong economic management.
Our Plan will once again build transformational infrastructure that keeps NSW moving and improves daily life.
Our Plan will deliver healthier and safer communities supported by preventative health and modern service delivery.
We will be a government that listens, plans and delivers.
A government that rewards effort, supports families and backs business.
Our first priority is infrastructure and economic growth. New South Wales cannot afford a slowdown. We will restore the long-term pipeline, expand Sydney Metro and strengthen regional transport links so that jobs, productivity and connectivity grow across the state.
Our second priority is to lift the standard of living through more housing and practical cost-of-living relief. We will increase supply with planning reform, incentives for downsizing and reduced taxes and charges on development. We will reinstate First Home Buyer Choice, deliver Active Kids.
Our third priority is renewing our public services and improving the health system.
As the Shadow Minister for Health, I made it clear that public health and community safety must always come before commercial interests and organised crime.
One of the most serious threats facing our communities is the rise of illicit tobacco. It is fueling violence, driving criminal activity and undermining the integrity of our health system.
I led the work on a comprehensive legislative package to crack down on illegal tobacco, strengthen enforcement powers and hold offenders to account.
These laws will shut down the illegal stores and go after the organised crime gangs behind them.
That legislation was drafted by the NSW Liberal Opposition and adopted by the Minns Labor Government because it was the right policy for New South Wales.
It shows that even from Opposition the Liberal Party can deliver reforms that improve the lives for people here in New South Wales and builds a healthier and safer state.
My colleagues have shown that. Alister Henskens on crime. Robyn Preston on tougher laws for the vandalism of memorials.
We will build on this by strengthening preventative care, improving chronic disease management and improving surgery wait times.
Under Labor, at Liverpool Hospital, patients are waiting 381 days for surgery.
An additional 172 days since the Coalition left Government.
We will work with doctors and the private sector to reduce wait lists, so patients get their surgery sooner.
We will leverage technology to reduce pressure on frontline workers and improve reliability.
And we will cut red tape to boost productivity, streamline agency operations, support small business through payroll tax relief and reinstate Business Connect.
Our commitment is simple.
We will reduce pressure on households and businesses, deliver reliable services, build the homes and infrastructure our growing state needs and ensure New South Wales works for you.
It has been a busy week since I became Leader, but it has also been energising.
I have met with families, small business owners and community leaders across Sydney and I’ll travel to Regional New South Wales in the coming weeks.
They have all told me the same thing. They want a government that listens. They want a government with vision. They want a government that understands the pressures they face. And they want a government that does not waste your time, money or opportunity.
I am under no illusions about the work ahead.
The road to March 2027 will be demanding.
It will take discipline, unity and relentless focus.
But I believe deeply in our Party, in our values and in our capacity to rise to this moment.
We have done it before. And we will do it again.
We will win because we stand for aspiration.
We will win because we back families and reward effort.
We will win because our plans are practical, credible and grounded in common sense.
And we will win because the people of New South Wales deserve a government that works for them.
So to every member of our Liberal family, I say this.
Stand with me. Stand with your candidates. Stand with your communities.
Over the next 15 months, we will take our message, our plan and our values to every corner of this state.
We will fight for every seat. We will fight for every vote. And together, we will deliver a Liberal Government for New South Wales in March 2027.
Thank you.
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Executive Manager Media Engagement Economy and Corporate Affairs Nick Kaiser with owner Janet Newton at Yellow Door Kitchen.Executive Manager Media Engagement Economy and Corporate Affairs Nick Kaiser said City of Newcastle is working to expand the range of bookable tourism experiences in Newcastle to meet growing demand.