Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he is leading the Liberals as Sir Robert Menzies always wanted.
"In 1944, Menzies went to great pains not to call his new political party, consolidating the centre right of Australian politics, 'conservative' - but rather the Liberal Party, which he firmly anchored in the centre of Australian politics."
His speech to the British research centre, the Policy Exchange, is seen by many as a response to former prime minister Tony Abbott, who has been publicly pushing for the government to adopt more conservative policies.
But in his speech, Mr Turnbull used Mr Abbott's own words to argue for his brand of centrist leadership.
"The sensible centre, to use my predecessor Tony Abbott's phrase, was the place to be. And it remains the place to be now."
The speech has been praised by many in the government, including cabinet ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne.
But not everyone is impressed.
Former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett says the speech has only inflamed the recent, very public tensions in the party.
He told ABC Radio Mr Turnbull should not have stirred up more Liberal infighting while he was overseas for the G20.
"It just seems to me to be an appalling lack of political judgement. Why would you do it? Why would you do it from overseas? Why would you throw a can of petrol on to a fire?"
But the Prime Minister has found an ally in the newly appointed president of the federal Liberal Party.
Nick Greiner is a former New South Wales premier.
He agrees with Malcolm Turnbull that the Liberal Party should be pragmatic, and appeal to the political centre.
He's told the ABC Tony Abbott's policy ideas are never going to happen, and blamed the former leader for the Liberals' lacklustre results in recent opinion polls.
"I think Tony plus a range of the media have certainly contributed. Everyone knows in Australian politics that disunity is essentially political death. And understandably, it's the desire of the media promote conflict, if you like, rather than promote the sort of government measures and successes of the last 12 months, of course that's contributed to the polls. I think it would be idle to pretend otherwise."
For Senator Cory Bernardi, the speech reinforces the message he's been sending since February, when he defected from the Liberal Party to form his own Australian Conservatives group.
He says there are many conservatives within the party who are troubled by the Prime Minister's speech.
And he has a simple message for those people.
"If you're a conservative, and you're not welcome in the Turnbull Liberal team, you need to come to the home of conservatism and that is Australian Conservatives, you will always be welcome there."
