Liberal frontbencher James Paterson has demanded an end to the party's "mass public therapy session" and warned that a Nigel Farage-style populist turn could destroy the party, sending Opposition Leader Sussan Ley a message to unite the Coalition and set its sights on Labor.

The Victorian opened up a new line of attack on Anthony Albanese, whom he compared to a "petty despot" for his proposed crackdown on freedom of information, slashing of opposition staff numbers, and what Paterson described as the prime minister's "deeply weird ... obsession" with making Labor the natural party of government.

In a blunt and expansive speech at a time when Ley is battling disunity, one of the opposition's top performers countered the perception that the Liberals must morph into a populist outfit or turn into a "souless" teal-like party that only talked economics and gave up on cultural arguments.

Accepting the progressive agenda on energy, migration and social policy "wouldn't mean culture wars stop", Paterson declared at Tuesday night's Tom Hughes Oration in Sydney.