Australia’s Grand Mufti has personally thanked Labor MP Tony Burke for defending him during a speech to Federal Parliament, showing how closely the Islamic cleric is following the political debate in Canberra.

Ibrahim Abu Mohamed has come under fire for initially failing to condemn the Paris terrorist attacks, with Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg describing it as a “graphic failure” of leadership.

On Monday, Mr Burke slammed Mr Frydenberg’s comment as “needlessly aggressive in its tone, illogical in its substance and self-defeating in its impact” and accused him and other MPs of “stoking division” by attacking Dr Ibrahim.

“The language of a minority of other members of Parliament looks like a coordinated attempt to ignite a sectarian debate,” he said in the chamber.

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The ABC understands Dr Ibrahim called Mr Burke’s office following that speech and visited Parliament House on Tuesday to thank him in person.

Shortly after the Paris attacks, Dr Ibrahim issued a statement partly blaming racism and Islamophobia for terrorism but he later made a clarifying statement, saying there was no justification for the taking of innocent lives.

Mr Frydenberg delivered a stinging rebuke of Dr Ibrahim on the weekend and called on more moderate Muslim leaders to speak out against extremism.

“We need to acknowledge the significance of this threat, to acknowledge that religion is part of this problem,” he said.

“We need to deal with it at the hard edge with the military response, but also we also need to deal with it with a counter narrative.”

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said while he was offended by Dr Ibrahim’s initial response to the Paris attacks, he did not believe there was a problem with the Muslim religion.

“I think it’s a problem with extremism and those people who seek to take the cover of Islam and misrepresent it into something it’s not,” he said.

“We need to have an open, an honest debate, there’s no sense in saying it’s OK for young people to be radicalised, that it’s OK for people here in leadership positions within the Islamic community not to condemn these terrorist attacks.”