Mr Morrison says the man behind the attack was a terrorist and dismisses claims he was suffering from mental health issues as an "excuse."
Muslim community organisations have criticised Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other politicians over the way they are discussing Islamic communities' role in stopping attacks like last week's Bourke Street killing in Melbourne.
Hassan Khalif Shire Ali fatally stabbed one man to death and injured two others after fire-bombing his car in Bourke Street.
Source: Twitter
His family says he had suffered from mental-health issues for years, refused help and was deteriorating.
But Mr Morrison has told Network 10, while other issues were relevant, Mr Shire Ali was also an "extremist" who committed the act of violence because he had been "radicalised" and he could not be excused.
The Prime Minister refutes criticism he is using the issue for political gain.
File: Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Indonesia, shortly after he became PM. Source: AAP
"That is the same lame, old, tired excuse for not dealing with this problem as has always been served up, and, whether it's Anne Aly saying it or whether it's someone else in the community saying that I don't believe that's where the majority of decent, hard-working, respectable Australian Muslims are at. They want their community to be safer. And there are people coming into their community, and they are infecting their young people and others with hatred and false teaching, which is taking them off the path. Now that has to be called out, and it has to be stopped."
Mr Shire Ali was known to federal police and had his passport cancelled in 2015 amid concerns he planned to travel to Syria to fight with I-S, but his family maintains he was not a terrorist threat.
In a note handed to reporters, the family has urged political leaders to stop turning his death into a political game.
The family says he had no connection with terrorism but was simply crying out for help.
Mr Morrison says he wants to work with Islamic communities to ensure they are aware of when and where people can be "radicalised," as he terms it.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has echoed those sentiments, saying Islamic communities should provide authorities with more information about those in danger of it.
But Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton says the Islamic communities already provide authorities with good information.
Aumenta presencia policial en Melbourne Source: SBS
"We do get tremendous support from a range of areas. Certainly, in Victoria, the Board of Imams, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Somalian community ... community leaders have condemned the violence. We continue to get information from all parts of society, and we're very pleased with the relationships we have. Clearly, we want to get the most information we can, but those people I've mentioned, those areas, they are providing support to us."
The Australian National Imams Council is among a number of Muslim organisations accusing Scott Morrison of politicising the attack.
The council, calling the attack a national tragedy, says it is outraged by the Prime Minister's comments linking Islam to a radical and dangerous ideology.
Over the weekend, Mr Morrison said, while he supported religious freedom, extremism needed to be called out.
He described extremist Islam as the most dangerous threat posed by religious extremism in the country.
The Imams Council's deputy secretary Sheikh Alaa El Zoqom has told SBS Radio's Arabic 24 program the council condemns Mr Morrison's remarks.
"Comments like these, and linking terrorism and extremism to the religion of Islam, is a very dangerous matter because it negatively impacts the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Australian society."
Australia's Grand Mufti has also rejected the Government calls for Muslim community leaders to do more.
Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed told Arabic 24 the comments by the Prime Minister and his Home Affairs Minister constituted serious discrimination against Australia's Muslim communities.
Islamic Council of Victoria vice-president Adel Salman says he is also disappointed Mr Morrison thinks the Muslim communities are not helping enough.
"And I don't know what he's referring to, in terms of what more the Muslim community can be doing. Interestingly, with this particular individual who committed the attack on Friday, he'd been watched by the security services for a long time. They were well aware of him. So I'm not sure why the Prime Minister is suggesting the Muslim community should be doing, could be doing, more, and we don't accept the premise that we are somehow culpable in all of this. We are as horrified by these attacks, and we believe it's unfair that the Muslim community is isolated, in a sense, and stigmatised because of the acts of individuals, whether they be Muslim or otherwise."
Indian Australian Zulfi Syed is an independent candidate for Tarneit constituency in Victorian parliamentary elections.
He says, “I don’t like involving religion in such matters, if one Muslim has done something wrong it doesn’t mean all Muslims are bad.”
Source: Supplied
Zulfi Syed told SBS Hindi ‘Immigration laws should be tightened and we should be careful about asylum seekers, I am not saying no to them but its good idea to keep an eye on them.”
