Two MPs - one Liberal and one Labor - whose western Sydney electorates include a significant Muslim population, agree there's a greater need to reach out to young people to curtail radicalisation.
Liberal Fiona Scott said on Saturday mosques and families were the frontline and needed to be the ones to call the police when they saw children being radicalised.
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare said youth outreach services needed to be strengthened for better collaboration between organisations and Muslim groups.
This follows the murder of a police worker outside Parramatta police station last week at the hands of a Muslim teenager who was himself shot dead.
That prompted anti-Muslim protests in Parramatta on Friday and in Bendigo on Saturday.
Mr Clare said many good people in the Muslim community were fretting that they would be blamed for the bad actions of one young man. Non-Muslim people were worried for themselves and their children.
"There has been a lot of talk here but not a lot of action. We have to look at what turns a teenager into a terrorist and what are the sorts of things that government can do, working with people right across the community, to tackle the problem," he told Sky News.
Mr Clare said Labor in government did not do this perfectly and it was not being done perfectly now.
This started at school and talking to pre-teens gave a much bigger chance of producing a positive outcome.
But work was also needed on the streets and in communities, like the youth outreach work by Father Chris Riley's organisation.
To counter the radicalisation message, young smart Muslim men and women were needed on the streets.
"Youth outreach services need to be massively boosted. It is a very practical way to get on the ground and get a message to young people that the sort of things that we have seen overseas and here in Australia are just not on," he said.
Ms Scott said that sounded like a good idea.
"It is that social side that we do need to look at," she told Sky News.
Ms Scott said a united effort was needed to find a solution and the Islamic community was coming on board.
"We have to ensure that these families when they see their children being radicalised that they are the one who pick up the phone to the Australian Federal Police or their local police. The mosques and the families and the Islamic community are the frontline here," she said.
