The Liberal Party must move "back to the centre" and progressive members should stand up and be heard to ensure Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is not held hostage to the hard right of the party, Ms Photios told Fairfax Media.

Her unvarnished comments, which will likely have internal ramifications for Mr Photios as the longtime leader of the left or "moderate" faction in NSW, have given an insight into the depth of feeling raging inside the party in a week in which Mr Turnbull was again forced to retreat from a public debate under threat of insurrection from within his own ranks.

"Debate in the Liberal Party is being shut down by a vocal minority of conservatives who are subverting the democratic process," Ms Photios said, singling out former prime minister Tony Abbott and South Australian senator Cory Bernardi as among those "ideologically-driven" Liberals who wield disproportionate influence.

"The Prime Minister's job is to represent the entire country not just the conservative base and more than 70 per cent of Australians want to see action on climate change.

"Josh Frydenberg and Malcolm Turnbull did not propose a policy this week, they proposed having a debate about what is the best policy to reduce emissions. Why are the Liberals, the party of business and markets, stopping a new innovative sector [renewable energy] from growing? It's completely hypocritical."

Mr Abbott has led a fierce campaign against lobbyist powerbrokers in NSW like Mr Photios and his business partner, Nick Campbell, who Mr Abbott blames, in part, for his toppling as leader.

Ms Photios, who joined the Liberal Party in 2004 as a 19-year-old, quit her membership a fortnight ago because she knew she would be expelled when she went public with her grievances.

But she also took aim at Mr Turnbull, a close confidante of Mr Photios, and even the moderate faction.

"If no one has Malcolm Turnbull's back, he's going to go where he's pushed," she said.

"Tony Abbott and Cory Bernardi have taken the agenda and no one has said: 'That's wrong, that's stupid, that's not what we stand for'."

Mr Photios sought to head off any claim his wife had been sent out as his proxy in a factional war.

"Kristina is a very passionate believer in climate change and the causes of problems with the environment and I will fight strongly for her right to express her views as an individual," he said.

"She's no longer a member of the party, a decision she took, and accordingly she does not speak for the party and, for that matter, for me. There will always be differences of policy and emphasis in a family and I fundamentally defend my wife's right to have her views and to fight for what she believes in, given that she's speaking as an individual and not as a spokesperson for the party."

A Liberal MP agreed that some within the left feel that "enough is enough" but warned against "following the reactionaries down the rabbit hole".

Ms Photios said she became dejected after Liberal MP Russell Broadbent stood up in Parliament last month to denounce a "diatribe about the rise of Islam" delivered by fellow Coalition MP George Christensen.

"Russell Broadbent should have been the first wave of Liberal MPs standing up and going public, but nothing, no one backed him," she said.

In what could be interpreted as a veiled criticism of her husband, Ms Photios said the moderate faction had not asserted itself enough.

"There's no point in having the numbers if they don't translate into policy and into the direction of the party," she said.

Ms Photios, a graduate of the selective Sydney Girls' High School who went on to roles with Macquarie Bank and Optus, said she was "terrified of climate change".

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