Shadow immigration minister Paul Scarr has issued a pointed and public warning to his Liberal colleagues not to use the immigration debate to “inflame emotion” a week after Andrew Hastie quit the front bench after an ugly split over the issue.

Mr Hastie held the senior Home Affairs portfolio but believed that leader Sussan Ley had ordered him to leave immigration policy development to Senator Scarr, who is seen as having more moderate views on the issue.

Migration was also at the core of the dispute that saw Jacinta Nampijinpa Price dumped from the shadow ministry in September.

Senator Scarr used his first major speech in the portfolio, to the National Migration Conference on Friday, to say that immigration policy must be in the national interest.

“But, more than that, the debate in re

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