Elizabeth Lee hurt by 'insulting' claims she is a 'puppet' for Zed Seselja

Ms Lee will mark one year as the territory's opposition leader on Wednesday, after she was voted into the role following the Liberals' 2020 election loss.

As she reflected on the year, Ms Lee said the COVID outbreak definitely stood out among a host of challenges.

However, she said criticisms around her power in the party had hurt.

"This is a thing that really, really hurts and it actually hurts more than anything else," Ms Lee said.

"Whenever political opponents try and portray this or push this line about Zed secretly pulling the puppet strings on me, that is extremely insulting.

"I got to this position because I worked hard for it, in fact I would say I worked harder than most people with the different barriers I've had and to be relegated by my political colleagues as somebody who is a puppet is extremely, extremely insulting.

"But also, what signal does this send to other women, especially women from diverse backgrounds ... yes, you can get to the top of your profession, you can be elected leader and yet there are going to be political opponents who tell you that you are being controlled by a white man.

"To be completely frank, it pisses me off."

Senator Seselja, a former ACT opposition leader, wields a lot of influence within the ACT branch of the Liberal party.

He is from the conservative wing of the Liberal party while Ms Lee is from the moderate wing.

At various points over the past year, Labor and the Greens have seized upon Senator Seselja's influence in the party to criticise the Canberra Liberals.

This has been present with the debate to restore the territory's right to legislate on voluntary assisted dying, which is supported by Ms Lee and the Canberra Liberals but not Senator Seselja.

Ms Lee was elected to be the leader of the Canberra Liberals after former leader Alistair Coe stepped down following the election loss.

She and deputy opposition leader Giulia Jones are the first all-female leadership team in the history of the ACT parliament.

Ms Lee claimed the party's education strategy, introducing laws to strengthen bail laws for people who attack frontline workers and an exposure draft bill on making domestic violence an aggravating offence as wins.

But Ms Lee said her successful Australian-first bill to clearly outlaw stealthing was a highlight of the year.

"It's difficult in opposition to get legislation up, because obviously the numbers aren't on your side but for this bill, I think it was an important step for the ACT assembly as a whole to demonstrate when it comes to issues like this, there is no room for politics," she said.

"I am very grateful for the support I received across the board from all my assembly colleagues because it did pass with unanimous support."

However, challenges continued to be present and Ms Lee said she had been confronted with racism since becoming leader, both online and in public.

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"Being the first Korean Australian elected member and being the first Asian Australia leader of a major party does have its challenges," she said.

"I would be lying if I said we didn't even get any racist, sexist, misogynistic comments and it happens, and it's really sad because you want people to judge you for an elected representative but there are some who will judge you for your ethnicity or your gender and that can be hurtful."