NSW Liberal leader Kellie Sloane and federal leader Sussan Ley made their historic appearance at the party’s state conference in Sydney on Saturday, rallying their base for a families-focused offensive against their respective rival Labor governments.

Just nine days after Sloane was anointed leader, the first female duo to helm the state and federal party entered the Grand Ballroom at the Sheraton on the Park to a standing ovation from the Liberal faithful. But Sloane’s predecessor, Mark Speakman, was not among them.

Sloane vowed to defeat Labor Premier Chris Minns at the next election, scheduled for March 2027, with a campaign that meant “families would be at the heart of everything we do”. She used the words “families” and “family” 20 times in her 20-minute speech.

“Many people have suggested to me that it can’t be won, and history would say that it can’t be won,” the Vaucluse MP and former journalist said.

“But let me tell you this: I did not put my hand up for this role to be a back-row seat to history because I want to change history with our team.”

Sloane thanked the absent Speakman for his leadership, calling the Cronulla MP a friend and a strong part of the party’s campaign over the next 16 months. She touted her “youthful team”, with six Liberals under 40 in NSW parliament.

Her pitch to voters included expanding the Sydney Metro and regional transport links, increasing housing supply through planning reform, reducing taxes for developers, and reinstating Active Kids vouchers.

She claimed her party was “leading from opposition”, with Labor doing a “copy-and-paste” job on several Liberal bills, including her own strategy to tackle illicit tobacco, and legislation to protect historic monuments, which she credited to MP Alister Henskens.

Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley used her address to attack the Albanese government’s pursuit of emission targets that she said were crippling domestic manufacturing and driving up household costs.

“We are losing our sovereign manufacturing capability under this government’s energy policy and it is frightening and we have to fight it,” Ley said.

“Every dollar that Labor spends is $1 that you have to pay and I want to put that dollar back in your home [so] when you decide what you spend on, you do a whole lot better than the government does,” she said.

Ley also promised that the Liberal Party would release its migration policies principles by the year’s end, telling party members that “population balance is all wrong” and blaming immigration for pressures on cities, schools, hospitals and public transport.

“I want to make it very clear, this is not about any migrant or migrant community. This is about failure of infrastructure, failures of infrastructure at every single level,” Ley said.

A few blocks away, in Hyde Park, an anti-immigration rally, ‘Put Australia First’, would soon get under way, as would a counter-protest, ‘Stand Against Racism’.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.