NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman is set to spend his first full day in the job, and is optimistic about his party's chances at the next state election in four years.
Cambridge-educated barrister and Cronulla MP Mr Speakman took the top job at a party room meeting on Friday, ending weeks of speculation around who would lead the party after premier Dominic Perrottet.
The 63-year-old has ambitions for a Liberal win at the next state election in 2027, but says the party needs to reach out to women and young people and modernise its approach.
"I am here to win the next election," the former NSW attorney-general said on Friday.
"I'm not here to be a placeholder. I'm not here to keep the seat warm for someone else. I am here to win the next election and that's what I'm determined to do."
Mr Speakman vowed to represent the state in all corners.
"In challenging times we will continue to work hard for the people of NSW and keep fighting for the needs of communities from Albury to Port Macquarie, and from Vaucluse to Broken Hill," he said.
Mr Speakman's elevation was welcomed by Premier Chris Minns, who believes the pair will be able to forge a relationship across the political aisle free from ugly personal attacks.
"Being a good government means that you need to have a good opposition ... I think that's a good thing in a functioning democracy," Mr Minns said on Friday.
"I can say from his first day on the job, I've got enormous respect for Mark and I wish him all the best."
Mr Speakman said his goal as the former attorney-general was to be constructive, collaborative and activist, and that would be his approach in opposition.
"After 12 years in opposition, Labor have only been able to achieve minority government on an extraordinarily narrow platform. We intend to operate as a constructive opposition - offering support where it is warranted, and holding the government to account where they fail the community," he said.
The leader also acknowledged the Liberals have faced challenges at the state and federal level over the past 18 months but he believed the party's core policies were "timeless".
"We certainly have to reach out to women, reach out to young people, reach out to culturally diverse people, and if that's modernising then we have to modernise, but at the end of the day, our basic principles are sound," Mr Speakman said.
The Liberal-National coalition will enter the parliament with 36 members in the lower house against a Labor government governing in minority with 45 seats.
The Liberals would not rule out doing deals with controversial One Nation MP Mark Latham, with the balance of power in the upper house on a knife edge.
