Moderate Liberal Andrew Bragg, who defied Peter Dutton to support the Voice to parliament, will reignite a culture war when he calls for a major change to acknowledgments of country to also include Australia’s British and migrant history.

Bragg will draw on Indigenous intellectual Noel Pearson’s notion of Australia’s “three stories” – Indigenous, British and postwar migrant – to argue for the change during a speech on Monday to the conservative Centre for Independent Studies, while he also lashes Labor for failing to move on from the Voice to parliament referendum defeat.

“Sometimes a welcome or an acknowledgment occurs without the national anthem or any other words, and so we only hear part of the rich Australian story,” Bragg will say, according to a draft of his speech.

“I worry we have lost a love of our country and this loss means trouble ahead for Australia. We need more to coalesce around. We need to do more to bring Australians together.

“We should also acknowledge that the British laid the groundwork for the most successful democracy on Earth”, Bragg will say, and “we should also acknowledge that Australia is the most successful diverse nation on Earth”.

“There should be something for every Australian at our civic occasions. We are all part of the Australian story.”

Moderate and conservative Liberals are locked in a tug-of-war over climate change, migration, and cultural and national identity, as both sides vie to wrest control of the party following the catastrophic May election loss.

Bragg has come under fire from right-wingers in his own party, including leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie, after he urged colleagues not to overplay the link between the housing shortage and high migration.

But Bragg’s criticism of the current form of Indigenous acknowledgment points to common ground between Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s moderates and Hastie’s conservative wing.

Welcomes to Country are performed at key events by recognised Indigenous elders on their ancestral lands, drawing from an ancient practice where Indigenous tribes would ceremonially welcome one another as they passed through different territories. Acknowledgments, on the other hand, are usually made by non-Indigenous Australians at their own discretion, as a sign of respect at the beginning of events or speeches.

Former Coalition Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt, a leading Voice advocate, told this masthead that many Indigenous figures had been struggling to get in touch with Labor ministers since the referendum.

Labor has announced more practical measures around economic empowerment since the Voice vote, including $70 million for First Nations clean energy projects.

“There’s been this incredible level of silence on options and pathways towards reconciliation and towards closing the gap,” Wyatt said. “There was no plan B after the Voice.”

More than two years after the failed Voice to parliament referendum, which Bragg supported against the wishes of the party, the NSW senator said Labor had “nothing to say about Indigenous affairs”.

Infighting in the Liberal Party has led to chatter about disenchanted Liberals outside the parliamentary party linking up with the teal independent movement.

The only Liberal to defeat a teal, Tim Wilson, downplayed the talk, saying on social media it was a “con” because the crossover between teal and Liberal voters was low. “Don’t be conned, this is stupidity on stilts,” Wilson said. Bragg is also focused on reviving the Liberal Party, not splitting it.

After a damaging fight over net zero, debate inside the party has turned to migration. Ley moved to head off debate by fast-tracking a set of policy principles to be released before Christmas.

Bragg has been speaking publicly to ensure the migration policy does not offend migrants by tying inflows to housing. Hastie, who quit the frontbench over migration, took issue with Bragg on Thursday.

“Andrew Bragg is OK to ventilate these views,” Hastie said on 2GB.

“Suffice to say, I don’t agree with him, and I do think we need to take some fairly significant reforms to the immigration portfolio.”

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