Australian Opposition Leader Sussan Ley sacked a senator from her shadow ministry on Wednesday, for making "deeply hurtful" comments about Indian immigrants and then refusing to endorse her leadership.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, a Liberal Party member from the Northern Territory, had singled out Indian immigrants during a radio interview last week.

Price, who held the portfolios of defence industry and defence personnel in the shadow cabinet, refused to apologise for the comments despite condemnation by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, her own party and members of the Indian community.

Ley said she had sought Price’s resignation because she "failed the test" of high standards expected of a shadow minister.

"Senator Nampijinpa Price made comments that were deeply hurtful to Indian Australians," Ley told a press conference on Wednesday.

"The comments were wrong and should not have been made. And despite being given the time and space to apologise, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price did not offer an apology."

In a statement, Price said she had accepted Ley’s decision and stressed that she did not intend to disparage the Indian community but wanted to raise concerns over "the magnitude of migration".

Her remarks about one of Australia’s largest minority groups followed nationwide anti-immigrant protests that in part, blamed Indian immigrants for cost-of-living pressures.

She suggested they were arriving in unsustainable numbers and that many tended to vote for Albanese’s centre-left Labour Party.

At a press conference earlier on Wednesday, Price vowed not to be "silenced" on immigration and refused to say whether she supported Ley’s leadership.

Hours later, Ley said, "Confidence in the leader is a requirement for serving in the shadow ministry."

Price had defected to the Liberal Party from the Nationals after the conservative opposition coalition’s defeat in the general election held in May.