Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will hold an urgent stocktake meeting on counter-terrorism policy next week as he seeks to reach out to Muslim Australians as the nation's frontline against extremists.
In his first full press conference since the shooting of Curtis Cheng in Parramatta, Mr Turnbull began reframing the national discussion about extremism away from his predecessor's often hard-edged security rhetoric.
Repeatedly stating he was calibrating his language carefully on advice from security agencies, Mr Turnbull said that "mutual respect" was the cornerstone of Australia's success as a multicultural country.
"Mutual respect is the glue that binds this very diverse country together," he told reporters in Sydney on Friday. "It is what enables us to be so successful."
Mr Turnbull, who spoke to British Prime Minister David Cameron about terrorism on Thursday night, said he was asking security officials to convene in Canberra next week to talk about "what we need to do better" to tackle the issue.
Sources described this urgent meeting of senior officials from across the country as a "stocktake" of existing policies.
It will be attended by senior law enforcement and counter-terrorism officials including NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, Victoria's Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin and led by the Counter-Terrorism Co-ordinator Greg Moriarty. ASIO head Duncan Lewis will also attend.
It is understood that the Turnbull government will emphasise the role of state and territory authorities and also community leaders as those who are at the coal-face in the fight against extremism, moving the discussion away from the tougher national security language Tony Abbott used.
There was frequent criticism from within the Muslim community that the former government was too heavily focussed on law enforcement and did not devote enough energy to social cohesion and prevention. Fairfax Media understands this was a view increasingly shared by some within the national security community as well, amid fears that alienating Muslims was counterproductive to their work.
Mr Turnbull made a pointed remark during his press conference about how "everything" he was saying was "carefully calculated to support the work of our security agencies".
In a direct message to those planning anti-Islam rallies, Mr Turnbull asked, "if you're supporting an approach of disrespecting or of hating, or of vilifying another group in the community, how can that possibly be anything other than contrary to our national interest?"
The Prime Minister said that people who tried to tag all Muslims with responsibility for the "crimes of a tiny minority and convert that into a general hatred of all Muslims" were undermining anti-terrorism efforts.
"Those who do that are making the work of the police and security services ... much harder."
When asked if people who don't like Australian values should leave the country, Mr Turnbull replied: "It's is not compulsory to live in Australia.
"If you find Australian values unpalatable, then there's a big wide world out there."
In similar comments earlier on Friday, Labor leader Bill Shorten said "if you really hate Australia, you should go".
Both leaders echoed the words of Parramatta mosque chairman Neil El-Kadomi, who in a Friday sermon told worshippers: "if you don't like Australia, leave".
Mr Shorten also said that extremism would not be tackled by rallies such as those planned for the weekend.
"This country will never have a great future if we have majorities encouraged to pick on minorities."
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane called for calm ahead of protests planned outside mosques in Parramatta and Bendigo.
"No one should be taking the law into their own hands," he said.
"People should not be judging entire communities based on the extremism of a few."
