Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has written to Liberal leader Sussan Ley calling for action to stop leaking and backgrounding against Liberal MPs.
Senator Price condemned the leaks that led to reports in the Nine papers revealing alleged details from Peter Dutton's confidential interview with the Liberal election campaign review — much of it highly critical of Liberal MP Andrew Hastie's performance in the last parliamentary term.
Having herself been criticised by colleagues over her false claim — and subsequent refusal to apologise — that Labor was importing Indian migrants to boost electoral support, Senator Price told 2GB on Wednesday the party was beginning to resemble a rabble to those on the outside.
"Our party's got to get its act together," she said. "It's got to stop. There's been commentary on the fact that we look like a clown show."
Senator Price, who was sacked from the shadow cabinet last month after failing to support Ms Ley's leadership, said she sympathised with Mr Hastie, who stood down from the shadow cabinet last week following a split with Ms Ley over immigration. She described the West Australian MP as a "man of principle" who has her full backing.
"I know what it's like to … feel like you don't have the support of some of your colleagues," she said.
The leak of Mr Dutton's alleged criticism of Mr Hastie has drawn headlines, with some conservative commentators — already sceptical of Ms Ley's leadership — suggesting the timing was orchestrated by internal opponents of the right-wing MP to undermine him and his leadership ambitions.
The source of the leaks remains unknown.
Reiterating her oft-frustration with many in media — a stance previously expressed during an attack on the ABC on election night — Senator Price said: "The leaking of a verbal submission to, quite frankly, lazy journalists is ridiculous.
"It's another attempt at a pile-on on Andrew Hastie and also verballing our former leader, Peter Dutton, and something has to be done," she noted.
"I've written to our leader about my concerns about backgrounding and about leaking to the media."
The opposition suffered heavy losses at the May election, sparking debate over the party's direction. Conservative figures, including Senator Price's ally, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and his former chief of staff turned TV host, Peta Credlin, have urged the Liberals to double down on culture war issues such as migration and climate action.
Moderates, however, argue that the party's poor showing in metropolitan areas shows the need to move away from divisive rhetoric.
Senator Price, who defected to the Liberals after the election, said the party must focus "on serving the Australian people instead of feeding leaks," calling them "juvenile" and saying she was "pretty over it".
"There are those of us who want to get on with the job of serving the Australian people and a campaign to bring down this wretched government, which is driving this country into the ground," she said.
Both Mr Hastie and Senator Price have been outspoken on immigration, linking it to wider commentary on culture.
Last month, Mr Hastie said immigration was making Australians "feel like strangers in our own home," evoking British white supremacist Enoch Powell's infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech, where he used the word in the same context.
Senator Price has refused to apologise for her comments on Indian immigration and has doubled down since her sacking, saying she would not be silenced on issues supported by "millions." Last month, she argued both "Labor and the Greens treat culture as disposable".
"They undermine and rewrite history, mock tradition and replace unity with division," she said. "Without a strong cultural identity, no economy will stand. Without social cohesion, no defence force can hold."
