Malcolm Turnbull has rejected George Christensen’s call for an end to immigration from countries experiencing violent extremism and Pauline Hanson’s anti-Muslim rhetoric, describing it has “fundamentally wrong”.

In a week when Hanson called for a halt to all immigration and suggested every Muslim should prove they are not radical, the prime minister delivered a robust defence of the Australian Muslim community.

He warned of the danger of divisive anti-Muslim statements, including from his own backbencher Christensen.

After her first speech, the One Nation leader told Sky News she placed Muslims “all in the one basket” because it was impossible to define who was radicalised. Christensen said he was concerned at the rise of “Islamism” in Australia.

He told parliament on Thursday: “Many immigrants entering this country in recent years do not share our Australian values.

“There are other countries that they would find less offensive, countries where they could enjoy a similar level of oppression and violence of which they’re accustomed to what they want.

“It is not necessary to travel halfway around the world and come to Australia and demand that Australians change their culture, society and laws to match those of their former homeland.”

But, in an interview on 3AW on Friday, Turnbull said it was fundamentally wrong to tag all Muslims with the crimes of a few and it would be playing into the hands of extremists to alienate Australian Muslims.

“Tagging all Muslims with the crimes of a few is fundamentally wrong and it’s also counterproductive,” Turnbull said.

“The most valuable tool our security services have to keep us safe is intelligence. They need to know what is going on. The way they find out what is going on is talking to the community and in particular the Muslim community.

“Seeking to demonise or denigrate all Muslims or seeking to alienate all Muslims and suggest they are somehow not part of Australia or shouldn’t be in Australia, that is exactly what the extremists are saying to the community.

“All of us, in the nation’s interest, [need] to say we are the most successful multicultural society in the world. Australian Muslims are part of that successful multicultural society.

“You are born here, you are part of the country, you are included and what we need is their support, as we need support from all Australians to work together to defend ourselves against terrorism.”

Turnbull said he was not going to “run a commentary on George” but immediately contrasted Christensen’s opinion with the government’s decision – taken under Tony Abbott – to accept 12,000 refugees from Syria.

“There is no country in the world that is more racked by terrorism than Syria,” Turnbull said.

“We are taking a substantial number ... 12,000 in due course, in one program alone from the Syrian conflict zone. These are people from oppressed minorities, these are people who have been victims of terrorism.”

Turnbull said while Australia’s immigration policy was non-discriminatory, he acknowledged there was community concern about terrorism and that there were people in Australia who “seek to do us harm”.

Turnbull said the government paid great attention to security issues and named Islamist terrorism in the region as Australia’s immediate challenge.

“Having said that we pay great attention to security considerations and obviously with Islamist terrorism, and that is a fact, there is no point being mealy-mouthed about it,” Turnbull said.

“Not all of the terrorism in the world is motivated by Islamist ideology but a great deal of it is – in fact most of the immediate challenge in our region is motivated by that, so we do pay very close attention to security.”

Christensen made the comments in the parliament’s adjournment debate late on Thursday.
“I am concerned about the rise of Islamism in this country and those who are willing to commit violence in the name of that ideology and I think we should consider some tighter controls on borders such as restricting immigration from countries where there is a high prevalence of violent extremism and radicalism,” Christensen said.