Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has vowed to keep speaking out on migration issues after she was sacked from the shadow cabinet.

“My concern — as it is for millions of Australians — is Labor’s mass migration agenda and its ramifications,” Price said late on Wednesday.

“My concern is not migration itself — it’s the magnitude of migration.

“Migration at the current scale and pace is putting excessive pressures on housing, infrastructure and services.”

Her sacking came hours after she failed to endorse Sussan Ley’s leadership of the Liberal Party and continued to refuse to apologise for her controversial comments about Indians.

Ley axed the NT senator from the front bench late on Wednesday after a week of controversy over Price’s comments on Indian migration to Australia.

Prince had said the federal government was boosting Indian migrant numbers to bolster its vote.

On Thursday, Ley issued a personal apology to Indian migrants, after previously declining to issue a formal apology at a party level.

“I take this opportunity as leader of the Liberal Party to apologise to all Indian-Australians and indeed others who were hurt and distressed by the comments that were made,” Ley said.

“May I reaffirm my strong support for all our migrant communities, for the values that they bring to this country, for the contribution they make and for choosing to come to Australia.”

She said Price remained a “valued member” of the Coalition despite her sacking from shadow cabinet.

“I know [she] has contributed much in public policy and debate in this country, and will continue to do so,” she said in Hobart on Thursday.

Ley said a decision on who would replace the Price, who was defence industry and personnel spokeswoman, in shadow cabinet would be made in due course.

She refused to answer questions about whether Price would return to the front bench at a later stage, after some Liberal colleagues said it was only a matter of time.

Price defected from the Nationals to sit in the Liberal party room shortly after the Coalition’s election defeat in May.

Banished to the back bench, but Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is still welcome in the Liberal Party. Photo: AAP

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said the axing was disappointing, but he was confident his Senate colleague would return to a prominent position within the party.

“It was self-evidently not an edifying week for the Liberal Party and we are concerned about the way in which Indian-Australians heard that discussion and felt about that,” he told Sky News.

“Political careers are not linear any more, they have fits and starts, forward steps and back steps, and I’m confident that Jacinta will be back in a prominent role in the front bench.”

Deputy opposition leader Ted O’Brien said Price was free to speak out on issues, but her comments had to be dealt with and Ley had made the right decision.

“Jacinta expressed herself authentically with deep regret for what her words had meant to a lot of Indian Australians,” he told ABC TV.

“Of course, as time went on, it was very clear that stronger words were called for.”

-with AAP