Little India trip for new leader on journey for votes

Kellie Sloane has used her first public trip as her state's opposition leader to tour multicultural suburbs as she seeks to win over voters who have deserted her Liberal colleagues.

The 52-year-old first-term MP from Sydney's well-off eastern suburbs took over the leadership of the NSW party on Friday after Mark Speakman stepped down.

She became only the third woman to lead the party's NSW branch.

Ms Sloane toured Little India in western Sydney's Harris Park on Saturday as part of her inaugural public outing since taking the job.

She met with business owners before pledging to continue to build up the Parramatta region, in Sydney's diverse middle and outer-ring suburbs, if the Liberals were successful at the 2027 state election.

"We know that Parramatta is the second CBD in Sydney ... I believe in the promise of Parramatta," she told reporters in the suburb on Saturday.

The former TV journalist and charity boss faced heckles during her visit, an indication of the challenge she will face to draw wide appeal while representing the affluent electorate of Vaucluse.

"You stroll into Parramatta thinking you're going to get people to vote for you, we know that all you care about is the rich," one heckler said.

Ms Sloane offered to hold court with the protesters, before telling reporters: "I'm someone who's always happy to have the hard conversations and I'm here to listen."

Her elevation comes as the Liberals work to repair their brand with multicultural communities after a disastrous federal election campaign in May and disparaging comments about immigration from Canberra-based colleagues.

They included Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price accusing the federal Labor government of bringing in more Indian migrants to bolster their vote.

Senator Nampijinpa Price was dumped from the front bench after refusing to apologise for the comments and failing to back Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

Ms Sloane said she hoped her win would not be strictly seen through the lens of gender as she joined Ms Ley and recently appointed Victorian Liberal Leader Jess Wilson in attempting to turn the party's electoral fortunes around.

Standing alongside deputy Natalie Ward after her ascension to the job on Friday, Ms Sloane said she hoped the female leadership team would encourage more women to enter politics.

She rejected the need for gender quotas to win back voters, especially with women abandoning the federal coalition at May's federal election.

However, she declared she was open to the conversation in the future.

Monash University politics lecturer Blair Williams said the election of two moderate women leaders within days comes at a time when the party needs a boost.

"It sends a message to voters that the NSW and Victorian Liberal parties are beginning to confront their longstanding problems with women and young people," Dr Williams said.